The Sephardic Brotherhood was proud to lead a joint Sephardic Delegation trip with the Sephardic Adventure Camp to our sister community in Mexico City. The Sephardic Community of Mexico City is an incredibly vibrant, warm, and active center of Jewish life. With approximately 1,000 member families, it is uniquely de los muestros (of our own) with almost all its members deriving their lineage to the Ladino-speaking immigrants of Greece, Turkey, the former Ottoman Empire, and the Balkans.
Family names like Arditi, Chicurel, Calderon, Behar, and others classic Sephardic names in our American community are common, and the community is proudly distinguished from the three other major communities of Jewish Mexico: the Syrians from Damascus (Shami), Syrians from Aleppo (Halabi), and Asheknazim. The vast majority of Sepharadim immigrated to Mexico around the turn of the 20th century, with a major influx starting in 1924 after the passage of US Immigration Act, which nearly halted all migration of Sepharadim from the Ottoman Empire. This diverted many members of our Ladino-speaking communities to other parts of the world, including Cuba, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and of course Mexico City.
David Benezra, a member of the Sephardic Brotherhood and Vice Chair of the Sephardic Adventure Camp, joined me in leading this incredible trip. We were welcomed with hospitality and kindness, it was as if we had returned home. Our first day presented a whirlwind tour of the community, beginning with Shaharit Morning Services at the Central Synagogue and a delicious Sephardic-Mexican fusion breakfast. This was followed by a full tour of the Sephardic Community Center, a gorgeous facility completed in 2000 and designed by world renowned architects from the community. After that, we received a full tour of the Colegio Hebreo Sefaradi, the Sephardic Community’s K-12 School.
Led by the School Director and School Board Chair, we were able to discuss a number of wonderful opportunities to collaborate, including developing an annual recruitment process for local students to attend our Sephardic Adventure Camp in the summers. Following a delicious meal, we were given a private tour by Chief Rabbi Moises Chicurel of the community’s Central Synagogue, Midrashim (learning Centers), and Kal Chika (Little Synagogue), including a special moment where he showed us a Sephardic Sefer Torah believed to be dated from the 1500s! After a productive 2 hour long discussion with the Sephardic Community’s Board of Governors, we exchanged special gifts on behalf of the Sephardic Community in the United States, including copies of the Zehut Yosef Sephardic Siddur, our standard prayer book in the Ladino-speaking world. By the time we finally arrived back at our host’s home, it was past midnight!
What was perhaps the most spectacular experience of the 4-day trip, however, was of course our time spent enjoying Shabbat with the community. At Friday night services with 150 people in attendance, Rabbi Chicurel gave David and I the honor of speaking to the entire community about the Sephardic Brotherhood and Sephardic Adventure Camp. We were warmly welcomed, and met dozens of people excited by the prospect of the Sephardic Birthright Trip to Israel, Tours of Jewish Greece, our Young Professionals Network, and of course sending their children to our summer camp.
During Shabbat morning services, we heard the beautiful reading of Hazzan Haim Bitchachi, the longtime cantor of the community. Trained in Istanbul by Sephardic Hazzanim, Hazzan Bitchachi’s breadth of cantorial knowledge and style made us second guess if we were in Mexico, or instead had somehow been transported back to a synagogue in the Ottoman Empire. His voice was amazing! He, Chief Rabbi Chicurel, and Rabbi Abdo are excited to contribute to Zemirot.org, our international database of Ladino-Sephardic and Romaniote liturgy from our communities. Of course, Shabbat featured delicious Sephardic foods like stuffed grape leaves, huevos haminados, stuffed zucchini, and so much much more courtesy of the Rubissa Chicurel. With wonderful Ladino songs at the communal Kiddush and over Seudat Shelishit, we were able to close out our trip looking forward to many more good things to come.
We owe a special thanks to Chief Rabbi Moises Chicurel and President David Litchi for their incredible assistance and guidance throughout our trip, and Si Kere El Dio, are excited about the many new opportunities for direct collaboration and resource sharing in the future!
Comments