-Kimmy Caplan, “‘Hutzpedika Shmutzdikah Giyyoret’: Ha-Parashah shel Nissuei Amram Blau ve-Rut ben-David” (here)
-Nissim Leon, “Halakhah ve-Populism be-Yahadut ha-Mizrahit bat Zemaneinu” (here)
-Michal Shaul, “Shikum ha-Hevrah ha-Haredit be-Yisrael be-Tzel ha-Shoah” (here)

Rav Ovadia is Haredi in that he sees modernity as the enemy. He does indeed come from a tradition of moderation, and therefore his halahic rulings are more moderate, but it is important to be careful and avoid confusing halachic moderation with adoption of the values of modernity. Rav Ovadia is not a humanist and is not a liberal, as opposed to what members of the Israeli left think of him. He might support this or that [peace] treaty, but he does not hold to essential positions of the left. His essential positions and his biggest concerns are that of the Haredi Jew.

The authors made much use of the archives of Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU). One thing that stood out was the following description of a number of pogroms that occurred in Morocco in the beginning of the 19th century. Most of us are familiar with Kishinev and Kiev pogroms, but how many of us are familiar with the following descriptions of pogroms that happened around the same time in Morocco?

The archives of the AIU provide historical documents relating to major events that have been completely forgotten by the chroniclers, such as the massacre of Jews in Casablanca and Settat in 1907 – fifty Jews were killed, hundreds injured; women and girls suffered the worst outrages and Jews were kidnapped then sold. In the Fez pogrom in 1912 more than sixty Jews were killed, fifty wounded, a third of the mellah was set on fire, the district completely ransacked and aish, a Jewish population of 10,000 souls reduced to 8000, the remainder forced to survive on charity.

The authors point on that there was a large Christian community in pre-Islamic North Africa (e.g. St. Augustine), but it wasn’t able to survive.

Physical bullying and the economic status of the dhimmi eventually wore down the Christian communities in the Maghreb. Once-flourishing Christian communities in pre-Islamic North Africa gave us one of the fathers of the Church, St Augustine, who died at Hippone (now Annaba, Algeria).

Having studied with Prof. Norman Stillman as an undergraduate, I was somewhat familiar with the history of North African Jewry, and this book will hopefully increase people’s awareness of this chapter of Jewish history.

The first annual New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair will take place on Sunday July 25, 2010 with book readings, author signings, book sales and tours at the Center for Jewish History. Hosted by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), the book fair will bring together authors and book lovers that write about and enjoy books relating to the culture, history, philosophy, religion, languages and experiences of the Sephardic Jews, past and present.

See here for details. (hat tip)

1. According to Megillat Ta’anit, from Rosh Hodesh Nisan until the eighth of the month the altar for the תמיד offering was built. (see here).
2. According to the Mishnah, Rosh Hodesh Nisan is one of the new years. (see here)
3. Many conversos from Spain and Portugal settled in these communities and this ritual was a way of both celebrating Spring and announcing the soon to be celebrated holiday of Passover.

The ritual is observed by first making a mixture made from roasted and ground wheat, barley, chickpeas, and fennel seeds. Some people add other ingredients. The parents then take olive oil and pour it into the mixture while the other members of the family hold out their pinkie finger and the oil is poured over the pinkie. The pinkie is then used to stir the mixture. For Libyan Jews it doesn’t seem to be the pinkie, just any old finger. Then a key, or another piece of jewerly, is taken and used to stir the mixture. After the mixture is stirred a blessing in said. The first version is from Djerba and is in Arabic written in Hebrew letters and the second version is in Hebrew. For the Libyan version see here.

Translation: The one who opens without a key, open for us without a key. Open for us the doors, break open from upon us the lock. The one who mixes the beshishah with a key, show favor to us you who opens all. Show favor and mercy upon us Rabbi Nissim the Egyptian.

As explained to me by Yael, according to Djerban folklore, Rabbi Nissim the Egyptian is none other than Elijah the Prophet, a figure associated with Passover. See here (short/Hebrew) and here (long/Hebrew with English summary) for a description of the background for this association.

I’ll tell you how the בשישה tastes after this evening.

Update: Here are some pictures from our בשישה ceremony. If you add enough sugar it tastes fine.

Marc Shapiro in his recent post Thoughts on Confrontation & Sundry Matters Part I mentions R. Moses Sitrug of Djerba.

Hazan’s testimony about Jews who would go to the Church to listen the music, even if they stood outside the sanctuary has also been very troubling for many. The whole question of the propriety of entering a church deserves its own post. In years past no Jew would enter a Church unless he was forced to, or in order to avoid enmity. R. Moses Sitrug, Yashiv Moshe, vol. 1, no. 235, discusses the latter case and he advises removing one’s head covering before entering the church. If not, one will be forced to do so in the church, and this would appear as if one was worshipping with the Christians.

There is a responsum of R. Sitrug that I recall reading and my intention was to write something about that responsum, but not having written the citation down (a.k.a. big mistake) I quickly went through his responsa looking for it. I was unable to find it, realizing that he might not even have been the author. All was not lost, because I found a common theme in a number of his responsa which I found interesting. He has a number of responsa which discuss the rejection of Ashkenazi humrot in the realm of kosher slaughtering, many discussing the question of lesions on the lung of a slaughtered animal, סירכא (see here). In one such example he used the phrase “אל תשגיח בדברי רבני אשכנז” (“Don’t pay attention to the Ashkenazi rabbis”) since they weren’t knowledgeable about the subject and therefore took the stricter position. (Ibid., vol. 1, no. 192) In another case he says “דע כי אין אנחנו הולכים אחרי רבני אשכנז המחמירים בהרבה דברים רק הולכים אחרי הרבנים הספרדים המפורסמים” (“Know that in many cases we don’t follow the Ashkenazi rabbis who are strict rather we follow the well-known Sephardic rabbis.”) (Ibid., vol. 1, no. 3) In one responsum (Ibid., vol. 1, no. 34) he says that they usually follow the rulings of R. Joseph Karo, but when his opinion isn’t clear they follow that of the Peri Hadash “אשר כל דבריו סלת נקיה חוץ מן המעט שכמעט שחלקו עליו כל האחרונים” (“whose words are like fine flour except for the few [cases] in which almost all of the later authorities disagree with him”). These responsa seem to reflect the introduction into Djerba and North Africa of certain Ashkenazi works which included teachings that were at odds with the accepted halakhah and custom. (See ibid., vol. 1, nos. 3, 34, 41, 54, 187, 192)