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Buyrun a la Djente - Welcome to the People
La Djente is the national magazine of the Sephardic Community in America dedicated to representing the voices, ideas, activities, and interest of Sepharadim.
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Jewish Community of Thessaloniki Launches Landmark Digital Preservation Initiative
The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki has achieved a major milestone in preserving the history of Greek Jewry through the creation of the Yosephus (Iosipos) Digital Repository, one of the most ambitious archival digitization projects ever undertaken by a Jewish community in Greece. The initiative makes an extraordinary collection of historical materials freely accessible to researchers, educators, descendants, and the general public through its online platform at repository.jc
Magazine Staff
1 day ago2 min read
Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation in Seattle announces hire of new Rabbi Yonatan Gilbert
Rabbi Yonatan Gilbert After an extensive two-year search process, Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (SBH) has announced the selection of Rabbi Yonatan Gilbert as its new rabbi. The congregation formally approved Rabbi Gilbert's appointment in a unanimous vote of the membership on May 19, marking the culmination of a thorough search led by the synagogue’s Rabbinic Search Committee. SBH President Jack Gottesman, who also chaired the search committee, expressed enthusiasm about
Magazine Staff
1 day ago2 min read
Announcing Our 2026 National Sephardic Scholarship Recipients
Congratulations to the 35 recipients who were honored as Sephardic Brotherhood Scholars on May 31! Celebrating its 82nd year, the Scholarship and Education Committee held our annual Irving Barocas z"L Memorial Scholarship Awards Ceremony in New York, bringing together parents, grandparents, and students from our membership throughout the United States. Each student’s achievements were highlighted and speeches were given by the top awardees. This year’s scholarship cohort was
Marvin Marcus
1 day ago2 min read
Portugal ends citizenship for Sephardic heritage
Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has promulgated changes to the Portuguese nationality law approved by the Portuguese Parliament, including the closure of the special naturalization route for descendants of Jews of Portuguese origin. The parliamentary measure appears in: Assembleia da República – Proposta de Lei n.º 1/XVII/1. According to reports citing Decreto da Assembleia da República n.º 48/XVII, the law will only enter into force following publication in th
Sephardic Genealogy Society
1 day ago2 min read
Summer 2026
Read up on all our articles, essays, Ladino comics, and more from our Most Recent Magazine Issue.
1939 in the Sephardic World
A photo of a young Rhodian Jewish boy of the Angel family, wearing the Star of David on the lapel of his coat. The Nazi menace decimated European Jewry, and its tentacles of hatred and violence reached even to North Africa and the Middle East. Jews of all backgrounds were victimized, and many stories about murdered family members remain as the heritage of Jews throughout the world. In our family-whose roots were in the Sephardic community of the Island of Rhodes-we also have
Rabbi Marc D. Angel
1 day ago7 min read
Painting for Pesah: The Passover Cleaning Customs of Rhodesli Jews
A previous issue of la Djente featured a review of my nonno Alfredo’s wartime diary, “We Are Here! We Are Alive!” (thank you Gloria Asher for the glowing review!). The diary sheds light on a network of unassuming heroes who saved my grandfather’s family from the Shoah. Yet this diary represents only a fragment of a much larger unpublished memoir, spanning Alfredo Sarano’s childhood in Izmir to his final years in Bene Berak. The bulk of that memoir unfolds in Rhodes to wh
Baruch-Lev Kelman
Apr 62 min read
Book Review - Loving Truth and Peace: The Grand Religious World of Rabbi Uziel
Most Ashkenazim consider Sephardic Jews to be exotic yet somewhat naive, given to colorful garb and spiced food and characterized by sincere yet simple religious devotion, with perhaps more than a dab of Kabbalistic superstition thrown in for good measure. Their rabbis, too, are mild-natured individuals, innocent of worldly knowledge and perspicacity, who may be good at rote memorization but are third-rate in intellectual depth. Not long ago, even some talmidei-hakhamim held
Professor Zvi Zohar
Apr 68 min read
The Not So Simple Child - Thoughts for Passover
The Passover Haggadah presents a dramatic format for dealing with questions relating to religious observance. It presents four children, representing different attitudes toward Jewish belief and ritual, along with the framework for how to answer each of the questioners. The "rasha" (wicked child) is antagonistic to Jewish tradition. He/she does not feel part of it, and asks: what's the point of all this ritual? Why do you do these things? The Haggadah realizes that there is l
Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Apr 64 min read
Las Estreyas
Kuando éramos chikitikos i muestra madre mos meldava la Torá, mos kontava i otras istoryas kuando le demandávamos kozas ke non teniyan reponsas en el Livriko santo. I mos plaziya muy muncho la de las estreyas. « Maná », demandava mi ermaniko, en saltando sovre sus piernas: de ké ay estreyas en los syelos ? La Maná tomava un ayre misteryozo ke mos yevava al payiz de los kuentos, i empesava : « Al empesijo de todos los tyempos, el Dyó kriyo el Sol i la Luna, i los kazó, del miz
Madeleine de Cacqueray
1 day ago2 min read
Kuantas shakás kontadas
Los musafires Un ombre telefoneó a su madre a informarle ke venía a su sivdad de vijita, a ver si se pudieran enkontrar para komer un día. "Atyó" disho la mamá, "siguro. I te kedas en kaza i te apronto el sofá para ke durmas ayí." "Ama mamá," respondió el ombre, "me va a akompanyar mi mujer. Los dos no puedemos durmir en el sofá." "No te merekíes," disho la mamá, "vos desho mi kamareta, i yo me echo en el sofá del salón." Más tadre, el ombre telefoneó de muevo, "mamá, ivamos
Nissim Askenazi
1 day ago2 min read
Dos Shakas de Nissim
Dos shakás para azer reir, partajadas por Nissim Ashkenazi en Ladinokomunitá. Editadas por Miriam Sherman i Aaron Shapiro. Se respektó la ortografía orijinala de Nissim. Djoha kon su Azno (Djoha and his donkey) Shaká 1 Un djóvino, manseviko ermozo, se kieriya kazar, i kada ija ke presentó a su mama, diziya, “no”. Fue ande una kazamanteria (mujer chalishkana, ke save i entiende sovre kazamientos i relasiones, matchmaker) . Le disho al mansevo, “Deves de bushkar una ija ke
Nissim Askenazi
Apr 61 min read
El Sekreto
Un dia mi madre de b”m me tomo i mos huimos a vijitar ande la vizina la mas vieja ke morava en la pansyon. Le aprometi a mi madre de tomar el tefteriko i el Alfabet i kopiar unas kuantas ojas kon muncho dikkat (atansion). En fin mos huimos ande la vizina. Yo estava okupado kon mi lisyon, ma kon una oreja estava sintiendo lo ke estavan avlando. La vizina mos ofrio likum turko. Kuando le trusho el kafe turko, mi mama le demando "A Madam Ayui no la vide oy." Mme. Ayui era la pat
Leon Sason
Apr 64 min read
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The Streets of Rhodes Remember
Seahorse fountain La Kay Ancha in the heart of the historic Juderia (Jewish Quarter) of Rhodes Visiting the island of Rhodes has always given me a sense of longing. There’s something in the air, especially in the early hours before the sun rises, when a cool breeze moves through these empty, quiet streets. The place feels suspended in time, it seems. It’s hard to explain, but there’s a lingering absence that cannot be replaced, as I take a deep breath and begin my morning wal
Aron Hasson
1 day ago4 min read
Salmorejo, a Chilling Summer Soup
Take advantage the bounty of beautiful tomatoes that are at their most juicy deliciousness during summer with salmorejo. Simpler and less ingredients than gazpacho, salmorejo is a chilled soup perfect for warm days and nights including made ahead for Shabbat. It is also one of those recipes that is a great way to use up old bread, like bread salad from Italy and fattoush salad from Lebanon. Salmorejo was first created in the 16th century when conquistadores brought tomato
Susan Barocas
2 days ago2 min read
Peace in Rhodes— Israel’s Almost Independence Day
The Historic Casino of Rhodes By 1945, Jews were a rare sight in Rhodes. The Shoah had come over the island like a rogue wave in the night. In just a few short days, a thousand years of Jewish life and memory were swept into the sea, much of it lost forever. But in January of 1949, a different kind of Jew came up from the Aegean and strolled up to Rhode’s Grand Hotel of Roses. Today, this hotel persists as a dreary casino, but back then “The Roses” was bustling with activity
Baruch-Lev Kelman
1 day ago3 min read
Looking Back by Looking Forward
The Skopje Holocaust Museum features a display of Macedonian Jews killed in the Holocaust. In this regard it resembles other such ones like the DC Holocaust Memorial or Yad Vashem. It’s the rest of the exhibits that distinguish it in depth. My favorite Holocaust museum in the world is located in Skopje, North Macedonia. This may seem an odd place for such an institution. Few people know of the rich Jewish history of the country, nor that 98% of the Jews in Macedonia were murd
Theo Cantor
2 days ago6 min read
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