Editor's Note
Bridges between Past, Present and Future Sephardic Cultures, Literatures and Identities
The new issue presents four papers delivered on January 6, 2013 at the Sephardi-Mizrahi Caucus session of the Modern Language Association of America's annual meeting in Boston. The session was proposed, organized and moderated by Johann Sadock of Boston College, and Jane Mushabac, Gloria Ascher, and Nina B. Lichtenstein have graciously agreed to have their papers published in this special issue of Sephardic Horizons, which thus bears the same title as the meeting, "Bridges between Past, Present and Future Sephardic Cultures, Literatures and Identities.” This gave the presenters, myself included, the invitation to seek out or create bridges among very diverse aspects of Sephardic identity, which is after all still threatening to atomize itself under the pressures of modernity. We hope you will enjoy the results of this meeting of minds.
Many thanks to Gloria Ascher, Jane Mushabac, Nina B. Lichtenstein, Matilda Koen-Sarano, and Rivka Abiry, for their prose and poetry, to David Almaleck Wolinsky for his kind volunteer assistance with editing this issue, and Elliott Blufer for web services and help with fundraising.
Thanks also to Andrew Septimus for setting up the Indiegogo site, and to the rest of the fundraising team, Elisa Septimus and Elliott Blufer. Sephardic Horizons' successful fundraising campaign to raise enough money for a part-time editor closed on July 4. Anyone who still wishes to contribute is welcome to do so via the “Donate" page on our website. The journal has been growing, its readership increasing, as well as the amount of work involved, so we extend heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed so far, including the following:
Sponsor: (Sultan/Sultana) ($180 or more)
Edward Cohen
Anonymous
Donor: Parnas ($75 or more)
Andrew and Elisa Septimus
Yvette Chalom
Bension Varon
Anonymous (several donors)
Supporter: Mazalozo ($18 or more)
Joel Bressler
Joseph and Renée Septimus
Luna Cataveras
Gila Griner
Alberto Sadun
Stanley Max
Mark Lazerson
Jean-Claude Belaïsch
Stacy Beckwith
Jane Mushabac
Rabbi Marc Angel
Stanley and Miriam Habi
Moshe Shaul
Reuben Cohen
Bruno Lumbroso
Robert Levy
Ralph Tarica
And many anonymous donors
Future issues are slated to bring contributions by two Hebrew University scholars--an interview with David Bunis by Ralph Tarica on the origins of Ladino/Judeo-Spanish/Judezmo, and an article in genealogy by Matilde Tagger; articles by René Karsenti and Albert Karsenti on the exodus of the Jews from Algeria; and studies by David Meghnagi and Paul Hagouel on Sephardim in the Holocaust. Yael Halevi-Wise will also be contributing an expert analysis of A. B. Yehoshua’s latest novel, The Retrospective [Hesed sefaradi].Look out for them soon! Future reviews include the following: Edna Aizenberg and Margalit Bejarano, Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas ; Aviva Ben-Ur, Sephardim in America; Renee Levine Melammed’s book, An Ode to Salonika: The Ladino Verses of Bouena Sarfatty and Maureen Jackson’s Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song; Bension Varon’s Voyage to Constantinople.
Please remember that your free subscription to Sephardic Horizons brings the journal directly to your desktop or device several times a year, and do consider making a tax-deductible donation of any amount so that we can maintain our high creative, scholarly and editorial standards.
With best wishes and many thanks, mersi muncho,
Judith Roumani
Editor