Jewish Men’s Choir Releases New Album

Jewish refugees from Muslim countries,” she explained. “Moreover, anti-Israel activists seem to take the racism towards Mizrahi Jews in the early stages of Israel, and magically apply to the entire Zionist movement. ... To me, it is all about hypocrisy and twisting history in order to give the Palestinians the right for self-determination.”

Eden Abraham Bouskila, 19, is a CAMERA Fellow at UC Davis in California, where he studies economics. His parents are originally from Israel, with ancestry in Egypt and Morocco. He hopes to educate students at UC Davis that “Jews are not a monolith,” showing that there are many Jews of Middle Eastern heritage, “which emphasizes the idea of the Jewish Diaspora today by showing how Jews have scattered all over the globe.”

“I constantly hear untrue statements about the Jewish people in America,” he said. “Many people here simply think Jewish people are people who subscribe to a belief system, when this is far from the truth. Not many people actually realize that Judaism is an ethnoreligion, and our blood can generally be traced back to our roots.”

In reality, Bouskila continued, “Jews come in many shapes and colors, whether they look European, Middle Eastern, black, etc. This Mizrahi campaign can help people understand this concept of the diversity of Jews.”

HISTORY, CULTURE AND REMARKABLE DIVERSITY

To raise awareness of the diverse Mizrahi community and culture, other events include screenings of “The Forgotten Refugees,” with a speaker discussion and panels featuring Mizrahi students that give a platform for them to share their stories. CAMERA also hosted, in partnership with StandWithUs, Hillel at Baruch College, the Israeli-American Council and Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA), a Nov. 16 panel with Jews of Iraqi, Yemenite, Syrian, Turkish and Dagestani heritage.

Speakers include pro-Israel, Mizrahi and LGBTQ activist Hen Mazzig; Menashe Khamiov, who speaks about the history and culture of Bukharian Jews; Gibraltar-raised Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum; and founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus, whose presentations focus on how the Palestinian media misrepresents Mizrahi Jews, falsely claiming that Jews have no connection to the Middle East.

“In reality, all Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel, and the Mizrahi community has been an integral part of the Middle East for millennia,” Hali Spiegel, CAMERA’s director of campus programming and strategic relationships, said. “We want to highlight their histories and their stories. We want to share stories of the mass expulsions of Jews from Arab and Muslim lands that are often forgotten or unknown.”

“Unfortunately, the challenges that Mizrahi Jews faced after their expulsion from their home countries have been ignored too often, especially on college campuses,” added Aviva Rosenschein, international director for CAMERA on Campus. “One of our goals is to educate university students on complex and pertinent issues that are either not normally addressed or may have been represented inaccurately.”

Rosenschein was particularly inspired by Israel’s Mizrahi Remembrance Month, which is dedicated to commemorating the departure and expulsion of 850,000 Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa between 1948 and 1980.

“For years,” she continued, “we have encouraged students to raise awareness of and discuss the history, culture and remarkable diversity of Mizrahi communities.”

Jewish Men's Choir

Releases 'Legacy'

What does a choir do during the pandemic? Well, if you’re the San Diego Jewish Men’s Choir you release a new album! The award-winning group’s new labor of love, Legacy, includes 10 historically relevant songs in the Yiddish, Ladino and Hebrew languages, and will be released on December 4, 2020 just in time for Chanukah!

This is the group’s third album and, although they recorded the uplifting vocals over the past 5 years, many of the instrumental arrangements were completed during the pandemic.

Director Ruth Weber, admitted that it is very hard to keep the choir motivated while holding rehearsals online.

“There is a time lag which makes it very difficult for choirs to hear and rehearse with each other online,” she said. “Our group did manage to record two very nice Virtual Choir videos using our cell phones, and they have been very well received. After we finished those we thought it would be the best use of our energy and funds to release an album that audiences could enjoy during these times, and which would help us fulfill our mission of preserving and promoting Jewish music. We were fortunate that there were so many wonderful musicians who were able to record their tracks remotely and send them to us online for this album. It is one of the many wonders of technology which I have really come to appreciate!”

Jewish music enthusiasts interested in attending the choir’s Online Release Party should contact the choir through their website at sdjmc.org to obtain a link to attend the free zoom event on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020 at 5 p.m. (PT). The album can be preordered on Amazon.com now.