Summer News - Washington DC

Participants at our Spring public event, the Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus, at the Embassy of Spain

Our newest Brotherhood chapter has been busy this Spring with some exciting programs. In the Winter, we launched a four week Ladino 101 course for the local chapter co-taught by myself (Eitan Danon) and my colleague Aaron Shapiro. This small group met every two weeks or so to learn some of the basics of language, vocab, syntax, grammar, and gets a chance to snack on some delicious biscochos courtesy of Susan Barocas. This has been a wonderful way to build community and get to know other Sepharadim in the DC area. Special thank you to Brotherhood member Robert Capon for hosting the program in his lovely home.

In May, our DC Chapter partnered with the Embassy of Spain in Washington to organize a special public event, The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus. We had nearly 80 people join us at the beautiful Spanish Cultural Center, enjoy delicious Sephardic inspired tapas curated by Chef Susan Barocas, tasty Spanish kosher Rioja, live Ladino music from singer Susan Gaeta, and history of the Sephardic Communities of the Ottoman Empire from myself and others. THe program featured a specific public exhibit exploring the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry over 500 years, prepared in partnership with the World Jewish Congress, the American Sephardi Federation, and the Centro Sefarad Israel. We were particularly honored to have both the Spanish Ambassador to the United States Ángeles Moreno Bau and Bosnian Ambassador to the United States Sven Alkalaj (himself a Sephardic Jew) in attendance.

Special thank you to my fellow DC Chapter leaders Susan Barocas and Larry Bensignor, for all their hard work in making programs like this possible. Si Kere El Dio, we have many more exciting events coming up, including a Sephardic Community Shabbat Dinner in the Summer and our DC Ladino Day in the Fall.