Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews are a small minority within the Jewish People (except in Israel, where they are a slight majority). Unfortunately, a great many Ashkenazi Jews (and even many Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews themselves) know little about this significant Jewish subgroup, which has a unique, rich history and culture of its own.
JIMENA — a nonprofit organization that works for the recognition and rights of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran — aims to remedy that. The group recently released a new curriculum on the subject for Jewish schools.
Quote: “JIMENA executive director Sarah Levin said the curriculum — which includes 12 lesson plans on topics such as food, clothing and music — is a response to educators who ask the San Francisco-based organization for resources to teach their students this often underemphasized branch of Jewish history. ‘We are a huge part of this Jewish diversity space,’ Levin said. ‘We are often overlooked.'” — The Jewish News of Northern California
Sources: The Jewish News of Northern California, jimena.org
Read “Writing a New Chapter About Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews” by writer Maya Mirsky. >>
Learn about the terms Mizrachi and Sephardi on Wikipedia. >>
Photo: Punam Bean/The Jewish News of Northern California
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