DELVE DEEPER CLASS | Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews: From 1492 to the 20th Century
via Zoom
Join us this Fall as we explore the history of Arab/Middle Eastern and Sephardi Jews in this Delve Deeper adult education course taught by Yaron Ayalon, Ph.D., Director of the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program and Associate Professor of Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies, College of Charleston (South Carolina).
Mondays from 7:30-9:30pm
9/19/22 - 12/12/22 No class: 9/26, 10/10, 10/17
All classes will be held on Zoom. (Link will be sent to those who register.)
This class will explore the history of Arab/Middle Eastern and Sephardic Jews (the Jews from Iberia) from the expulsions from Spain in the late 15th century to their lives in Israel today. We will start with Jewish life in Spain/Portugal before the expulsion and the persecution of Jews there, as well as in the Arab world (present day Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Egypt). We will continue with the dispersal of Sephardi communities and the establishment of Sephardi centers in Western Europe and, mostly, the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth century on. In the latter, Jewish life thrived in the 16th -18th centuries. Then, due to social and political changes in the 19th century, the Jewish experience in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt transformed considerably. We will explore those changes and why Zionism appealed less to Sephardic Jews in the Middle East than to their eastern European counterparts. Finally, we will discuss the second Sephardic/Mizrahi crisis, the mass migration of Sephardi-Mizrahi Jews from Arab countries in the 1940s and 50s, the destruction of many Diaspora communities, and those Jews’ experience in Israel and elsewhere in the second half of the 20th century.
To register, click here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Morty Miller at mortymiller1945@gmail.com.
Delve Deeper programs are presented in cooperation with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and area synagogues including: Congregation Beth Sholom, Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Habonim, Temple Sinai, and Temple Torat Yisrael.
