One of the stories that my father, z”l, used to tell me about his father, my grandfather, Rabbi Eyad Acoca, z”l, was that back in Morocco, at a young age, my grandfather traveled to the city of Sale to learn under the revered hacham, Ribbi Rafael Enkaua, z”l. In order to get there, he had to cross the Bou Regreg river. Once, while my grandfather was on a raft with other travelers, the raft tipped and all the people drowned except my grandfather, who held tightly onto his Talmud volume and got to the other side of the river safe and sound!
My father often recounted that my grandfather’s last wish was that at least one of his descendants continue his legacy and become a rabbi. His wish was fulfilled when I became a rabbi; in doing so, I merited to inherit a few volumes of my grandfather’s set of Talmud.
Through the years, I have come to understand that I have a big responsibility to continue in my grandfather’s footsteps and teach about Sephardi Judaism, which is unique and special. In recent years, numerous articles and lectures have been given regarding the future of Sephardi Judaism. As a Sephardi rabbi, I am delighted. However, to my dismay, I have found that most of the lectures have been framed in the extreme right or left. In my opinion, Sephardi Judaism has to come back to its origin, which was always the middle path.
Our great sage Maimonides, teaches us in his book Mishneh Torah (De’ot, the laws of personal development):
“Each and every man possesses many character traits. Each trait is very different and distant from the others.
“One type of man is wrathful; he is constantly angry. [In contrast,] there is the calm individual who is never moved to anger, or, if at all, he will be slightly angry, [perhaps once] during a period of several years.
“There is the prideful man and the one who is exceptionally humble. There is the man ruled by his appetites – he will never be satisfied from pursuing his desires, and [conversely,] the very pure of heart, who does not desire even the little that the body needs.
“There is the greedy man, who cannot be satisfied with all the money in the world, as [Ecclesiastes 5:9] states: ‘A lover of money never has his fill of money.’ [In contrast,] there is the man who puts a check on himself; he is satisfied with even a little, which is not enough for his needs, and he does not bother to pursue and attain what he lacks.
“There is [the miser,] who torments himself with hunger, gathering [his possessions] close to himself. Whenever he spends a penny of his own, he does so with great pain. [Conversely,] there is [the spendthrift,] who consciously wastes his entire fortune.
“All other traits follow the same pattern [of contrast]. For example: the overly elated and the depressed; the stingy and the freehanded; the cruel and the softhearted; the coward and the rash, and the like.” (chabad.org)
Maimonides writes, “The two extremes of each quality are not the proper and worthy path for one to follow or train himself in. And, if a person finds his nature inclining towards one of them or if he has already accustomed himself in one of them, he must bring himself back to the good and upright path.”
He continues, “The upright path is the middle path of all the qualities known to man. This is the path which is equally distant from the two extremes, not being too close to either side. Therefore, the sages instructed that a person measure … his character traits, directing them in the middle path so he will be whole.” (torah.org)
How I wish that the great minds of Sephardi Jewry would sit, united, and craft the future of Sephardi Jewry through Maimonides’ model. I hope that this will happen soon but, for now, let us all implement the lesson of Maimonides and implement the middle path in all our endeavours.
Rabbi Ilan Acocais a veteran rabbi and educator. He is the rabbi emeritus of Vancouver’s Congregation Beth Hamidrash and currently serves as the rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation of Fort Lee-Bet Yosef, in Fort Lee, N.J., and rav beit hasefer of Yeshivat Ben Porat Yosef, in Paramus, N.J. He is the writer of the book The Sephardic Book of Why and has written hundreds of articles on various topics for different publications.
Amsterdam’s Noam Vazana will play in Vancouver and Victoria next week. (photo by Robin Daniel Fromann)
Multifaceted Jerusalem-born, Amsterdam-based musician Noam Vazana comes to Canada this month for the first time. She plays in Calgary June 6, Vancouver June 7 and Victoria June 8.
Vazana’s B.C. dates are presented by Caravan World Rhythms, whose managing artistic director is Robert Benaroya, and she will perform with local guitarist and composer Itamar Erez, who also hails from Israel.
“I heard about Itamar through a joint musician friend, Yishai Afterman, and through the presenter of the show, Robert Benaroya,” Vazana told the Independent. “We got to know each other by phone and on Chat. Our first shows together will be in Vancouver and Victoria.”
Vazana’s music has myriad influences, including classical, pop, jazz and Sephardi. She composes, and has two CDs to her credit, Daily Sketch (2011) and Love Migration (2014). Performing regularly on stages around the world, she returns to the Netherlands after her shows in Canada, but has Poland, Morocco, Germany, France and Israel also on her tour schedule.
“This is an amazing year, performing 90 concerts in 12 countries,” she said. “I consider myself very lucky to combine my two greatest passions, music and traveling. I get inspired from new people and new places. I get excited every time before I go on tour – the night before, I can hardly sleep because I can already feel new experiences at my doorstep, waiting to accompany me or take me over or be a part of who I’m about to become. Bob Dylan said once that an artist is always in the state of becoming; somehow, it seems that in order to stay creative I always have to be on the way to somewhere.”
One of the unique aspects of her performance is that she plays the piano and trombone – at the same time.
“My first encounter with the trombone was in an explanatory concert the local orchestra gave at my school,” she said of her somewhat unusual choice of wind instrument. “They were demonstrating several instruments and, the moment I heard the trombone, I fell in love with its rich tenor sound. Another thing that appealed to me is that the trombone is an orchestral or combo instrument, so mostly you play it in a formation. When playing classical piano, especially the old-fashioned way, my teachers always told me it was forbidden to try when I asked to improvise and learn chords and songs. So, I mainly kept to the scores and played alone as a child. It sounded cool to me to play in an orchestra and get to play things that were out of the classical context I was already exposed to.”
The trombone stands she uses had to be invented, she said, “and designed especially for the purpose of playing trombone and piano simultaneously.”
“I first used a model I designed myself from a tripod used to support a window-shopping mannequin,” she explained. “It was working quite well but had one main flaw: it was centred right in front of me, in the middle of the keyboard, so I had to be very creative with the piano parts and manoeuvre around it when moving between the registers.
“Then I had a second prototype designed by an engineer who had good intentions but his strength lay in theory and not in mechanical skill. I was struggling to set up the stand during a soundcheck and the owner of the venue told me he knew a blacksmith who might be able to help me. That guy is amazing, autodidact with phenomenal skill, designing motorcycle engines from scratch. He mended the flaws of the second model and eventually created a much lighter third prototype, which is the stand I use today. I have two different models, one for pianos and the other for keyboard.”
Vazana also leads a Sephardi group called Nani, and she will be performing some songs from that repertoire on her tour. While the spark for Nani was kindled in Morocco, its source lies further back.
“At our house, Israeli culture was eminent,” said Vazana. “My father grew up in a kibbutz and I was brought up part traditional, part secular. Foreign languages were forbidden at home and, although my mother spoke fluent Moroccan Arabic and French, my father insisted she talk to me only in Hebrew.
“My grandmother on my mother’s side spoke Ladino and Moroccan Arabic and never assimilated in the Israeli culture, so some of my first memories include her speaking Ladino with my aunt and singing Ladino lullabies for me. She passed away when I was 12 – you can imagine that, throughout my childhood, she was very old and I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her.
“In both 2012 and 2013, I was invited to play at the Tanjazz festival in Tangier and I took these opportunities to explore the cities where my families originated from, Casablanca and Fez. On my second visit to Morocco, in 2013, during one of my many walks down the narrow streets of Fez’s medina, I heard people singing on the street behind me. As I made way to them, there came more and more people, singing and playing drums and wind instruments, all to a familiar melody. The procession ended in a square and, as I arrived there – I was one of hundreds of people, young and old – I suddenly realized this is a melody that my grandmother used to sing for me in Ladino. It was a special moment and the rest of my travels in Morocco called memories of my grandmother back to me. I felt drawn to a root that was longing to be rediscovered.
“When I got back home,” she said, “I started researching more and more about the Ladino language and culture and started combining a song or two in Ladino in my regular shows. Slowly, I studied the language over the course of a year and developed a substantial repertoire. It resulted in recording a new Ladino album that will be released in September 2017, and winning the Sephardic music award … at the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam,” which took place last month, May 4-8.
Vazana first visited Amsterdam on tour with an orchestra, as a classical trombone player, she said. “At the time, I was a student at the music academy in Jerusalem and this was intended as a 10-day work trip and another 10 days to explore the Netherlands, as it was my first visit. I checked some information about local musicians and schools and applied for lessons with musicians from the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
“After having a lesson with their bass trombonist,” she said, “he asked me if I’d be willing to come back for another lesson with his colleague, the principal trombone player. After a 45-minute lesson, they both decided to invite me to study with them at the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam, with an internship at the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The day later, I found myself attending a rehearsal with the orchestra, absolutely mind-blowing, because it was the best orchestra I ever heard live (and the No. 1 in Europe at the time). It didn’t take a lot more to convince me to quit my studies in Jerusalem and transfer to Amsterdam.”
This move forms the creative foundation of Vazana’s second album, which won the ACUM (Israel Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers of Musical Works) album prize, charted No. 14 on the iTunes bestselling chart and No. 2 on DPRP’s (Dutch Progressive Rock Page’s) best albums of 2015. It was financed in part by crowdfunding, through which 800 advance copies were sold. (There is a video, set to her song “Waiting,” in which Vazana personally delivers the CD to various supporters, giving each of them a hug. It can be found at youtube.com/watch?v=tW5Y2IEjgI0.)
“Love Migration is a very personal and exposed album, combining parallel stories about two migrations: my first migration to follow my heart, which is music, while longing to find a feeling of home. The second migration is the long-distance relationship I had with an Israeli guy whom I met just as my EU visa was approved, eventually resulting in him migrating to live with me so I could continue to follow my dream,” explained Vazana. “The process took three years to evolve into stories one can retell [with] perspective…. It could have turned many ways, but my personal search eventually led me (and still is leading me) towards taking the feeling of home with me wherever I go. It has been a long journey, but life is a journey and I feel that I evolve every day anew. In my song ‘Lost and Found,’ I describe that sensation: “Every time I look in the mirror / Every time I stand in the corner / Every time I knock something over / It’s a way for starting over / It’s a way to see it anew.”
Vazana and Erez’s Vancouver concert is at Frankie’s Jazz Club June 7, 8 p.m., and their Victoria appearance is at Hermann’s Jazz Club June 8, 8 p.m. Tickets to both shows are $20 at the door and $15 in advance. Visit caravanbc.com or call 778-886-8908.
Lyla Canté’s Cristian Puig, left, and Cantor Alty Weinreb. (photo from Chutzpah!)
The best creative ideas often come when you least expect them. This was certainly the case for Lyla Canté, which performs on March 9 as part of the Chutzpah! Festival.
“In the summer of 2012, I walked into a New York City SoHo bar,” Cantor Alty Weinreb told the Independent. He and flamenco guitarist Cristian Puig are Lyla Canté’s front men.
“The room was steamy, hot and teeming with people. I heard the sounds of a guitarist, dancer and singer, and felt the intense passion coming from the stage,” Weinreb recalled. “The guitar is preening and screaming. I was floored by what he was doing without a pick. I hadn’t seen an acoustic guitar played like that. This was raw, urgent and beautiful. I had an epiphany. I started singing Sephardic and (Shlomo) Carlebach melodies over these tunes and they’re working.
“After the show, I approached the guitarist – Cristian Puig – and met with him to see if our musical styles could mesh. They did. We started performing ballads as a duo at chuppah ceremonies [weddings]. We then began arranging dance tunes and added some wonderful musicians: a Cuban percussionist, a blues electric guitarist and a rock-and-roll bassist. The happy result became Lyla Canté, which combines the Hebrew word for ‘night’ and the Spanish word for ‘song.’ We now perform our music at concerts, festivals and private parties internationally.”
While both musicians are based in New York, it was an unlikely encounter, given the men’s diverse backgrounds.
Puig was born in Buenos Aires; his parents also flamenco artists. He began studying classical guitar at 19, in addition to flamenco guitar with his father, before branching out into various other styles. He plays with and has co-founded various groups, and he composes both for himself as a solo performer and for different flamenco companies. He also teaches, composes music for film and works as a flamenco singer.
Weinreb, on the other hand, was raised in New York City in a strict Orthodox, Jewish family, where, he said, “secular music was off limits.”
“As a child,” he said, “the sound of my synagogue’s cantor was some of the first music I remember hearing. Listening to these cantors wail with yearning left an impression on me – this is how a Jew sings.
“Years later, I had another watershed musical moment. Hearing James Brown for the first time felt like a rhythmic ‘burning bush.’
“For the past 20 years, I’ve been cantor at High Holiday services and chuppah ceremonies across the United States. I currently sing with the Simcha All-Stars (jazz klezmer) and Cuban Jewish All-Stars (Cuban klezmer). I teach drums and percussion to children.”
As to where Lyla Canté fits into their busy schedules, Weinreb explained, “The creative process generally starts with me writing an arrangement idea for a song. I then play it for Cristian, who puts it through his blender, which turns it into something else. We then take it to the full group, where it’s further transformed.”
From their solo work and collaborations, it is obvious that both Weinreb and Puig are drawn to the concept of fusion.
“Since I love many different styles of music, I naturally incorporate them into the music I write and arrange,” said Weinreb. “Also, I don’t want to copy all the wonderful Jewish music that I love (including Jewish fusion). By being true to my musical myself, I can’t help but be original. Like everyone alive, I’m blessed with unique experiences and influences.”
Puig said his idea of “fusion is to have a musical style (flamenco, for me) and take elements of other musical cultures and experiment.”
About whether the Judeo-Spanish element changes the traditional flamenco melodies and/or rhythms, Puig said, “It does not really change my approach much, since the flamenco art is a mix of different cultures, among them Jewish. Many melodies and harmonies are similar in both Jewish and flamenco music.”
As for how flamenco influences traditional Jewish melodies and rhythms, Weinreb said, “Flamenco adds a tremendous musical and historical component to our music. Flamenco, which has deep Jewish roots (and Arabic, Gypsy, Moorish and Roman), is really the intersection of Eastern and Western Jewish culture.
“Paco De Lucia, considered the greatest flamenco guitarist in recorded history, said he discovered ancient Sephardic music transcriptions in Spain and was struck by the profound influence Jewish music has had on flamenco music.
“Musically, Cristian’s flamenco guitar adds a fiery energy to our music with its immediacy and earthiness. He then can turn on a dime and be heartbreakingly beautiful as well. I’m fortunate and grateful to play with him.”
Lyla Canté performs March 9, 8 p.m., at Rothstein Theatre. For tickets ($29.47-$36.46), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com. In addition to other musical offerings, the festival also features dance, theatre and comedy.
Rabbi Ilan Acoca has published his first book, The Sephardic Book of Why (Hadassa Word Press, 2016).
Why is a set of Sephardi tefillin different from an Ashkenazi pair? Why do Sephardim laugh during Havdalah, after reciting the blessing over the wine? Why do Sephardim not use the shamash to light the Chanukah candles? Why do Sephardim celebrate with henna before a wedding? These and so many other questions are answered by Rabbi Ilan Acoca in his book The Sephardic Book of Why: A Guide to Sephardic Jewish Traditions and Customs, just published by Hadassa Word Press.
The spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Hamidrash for 17 years, Acoca will return to the synagogue for the book’s local launch on Dec. 10, as part of a larger tour. Acoca and his wife Dina have been rabbi and rebbetzin of the Sephardic Congregation of Fort Lee, N.J., since they left Vancouver in August, and Rabbi Acoca is also rabbi-in-residence of Yeshivat Ben Porat Yosef, in Paramus, N.J.
Rabbi Ilan Acoca will be back in Vancouver for the Dec. 10 book launch. (photo from Hadassa Word Press)
“I would like to invite the entire community to the book launch,” Acoca told the Independent, “where I will explain what triggered me to write the book, as well as some singing and shmoozing.”
The rabbi shared a little of his motivation for writing The Sephardic Book of Why, which, he said, took three years to put together.
“Through the years, many people (Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike) asked me questions about Sephardic customs, trying to understand where each originated and what is the significance. At times, I had an answer and, at times, it intrigued me to research and find out more. One day, I was invited to a wedding as a guest and saw that the officiating rabbi had a Chabad rabbi’s guide. I knew that the RCA [Rabbinical Council of America] had an Ashkenazi rabbi’s guide so I thought to write one for Sephardic rabbis. A few days later, I sat down with my friend David Litvak and shared my idea with him. He thought about it for a moment and suggested a book that would include the entire Jewish and non-Jewish world. Immediately after the meeting, I opened my email and saw one from Hadassa press telling me they saw some of my classes on YouTube and were interested for me to publish a book with them. For me, that was a sign from heaven that I could not ignore.”
Adorned by a cover featuring the interior of Lazama Synagogue in Marrakesh, Morocco, The Sephardic Book of Why – Acoca’s first book – is divided into five chapters: Daily Rituals, Shabbat and Holidays, Lifecycle Events, Sephardic Culture, and Rabbi’s Musing. The last chapter comprises a selection of articles by Acoca that were originally published in the Canadian Jewish News. They cover a range of topics, including essays on “the middle path,” unity and the importance of diversity. So, having arrived in the United States from Vancouver only months before the presidential election, the Independent asked him if he had any advice to offer to Jews living in the United States (or Canada) about the polarity and divisions that were highlighted in the campaigns.
“It is pretty simple,” he said. “In order to move forward, we have to find things in common. There are so many things that unite but we often concentrate on what divides us. By finding things in common, we could understand each other, communicate and move forward.”
While there are a couple of other books on Sephardi customs, Acoca said, “My book is the only book that is in a question-answer format. It is more condensed, short, to the point, with sources.”
“The book is very thorough, yet easy to read,” writes Rabbi Elie Abadie, MD, of New York City’s Edmond J. Safra Synagogue and director of the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies, Yeshiva University, in the book’s foreword. “It will please scholars and students equally, with good source material and footnotes. It covers the entire year-cycle of holidays and the lifetime milestones. It is a perfect book for Sephardim who, unfortunately, are just beginning to learn about their own traditions and for Ashkenazim who have just begun to interact with and learn about the Sephardim and their ‘different’ customs.”
Abadie puts quotes around the word different because, he notes, “In the overwhelming majority of minhagim [customs], the ‘Sephardi way’ was the ‘original and standard way’ of fulfilling a commandment, and the Ashkenazi community throughout the ages veered from the original minhagim and traditions, given the geographic region that they lived in and the circumstances that surrounded them.”
For those wanting to learn more about the “original” ways of Jewish practice, or to see a good friend while he’s in town, the Dec. 10 book launch, talk and signing starts at 8 p.m. People can also order a copy of the book from Hadassa Word Press.
To make biblical date honey, Middle Eastern Jews boil and press dates that range in color from yellow to brown. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan)
The Torah describes Israel as eretz zvat chalav u’dvash, the land flowing with milk and honey, although the honey was more than likely date honey, since beekeeping is not mentioned in the Bible.
The word honey in Hebrew, dvash, has the same numerical value as the words Av Harachamim, Father of Mercy. We hope that G-d will be merciful on Rosh Hashanah as He judges us for our year’s deeds.
To make silan, or biblical date honey, Middle Eastern Jews boil and press dates that range in color from yellow to brown. Apples can be dipped into the date honey in the hope for a sweet new year. In the markets in Israel during this season, one finds strings of these dates.
In the 2011 article “Cooking class, it’s a date, honey,” cookbook author Faye Levy writes: “For many Jews, apples are the Rosh Hashanah fruit par excellence. For me, fresh dates are the fruit that herald the coming of the New Year. As soon as I see the bright yellow dates at the market, I begin to plan my menus.
“I’ve heard people say they’re not fond of fresh yellow dates. I have learned to enjoy them at their khalal [initial] stage, when they are crunchy and less sweet, but I prefer to wait until they become honey-brown, [the] stage called rutab.”
There are several kinds of dates grown in Israel, including Medjool, which Levy notes “are delicious and easier to find than perfectly ripened yellow dates.”
But, regardless of type, dates are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food, and form part of the Sephardi seder, which dates to the Babylonian Talmud.
“An elaborate Maghrebi [the region made up of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya] specialty calls for nut-stuffed dates that are used to stuff a chicken or a large fish,” writes Levy. For Shabbat, she explains, dates might be added to dafina, which is a Sephardi meat stew cooked overnight to eat on Saturday lunch, or Moroccan hamin, another slow-cooked overnight stew for Saturday eating. The dates “contribute a subtle sweetness that mellows the flavor of the sauce. A dish from Baghdad from the Middle Ages calls for stewing lamb with dates and sweet spices.”
Silan, which Levy notes was brought to Israel by Iraqi Jews, is also known as date molasses or date syrup.
Varda Shilo, author of Kurdistani Cooking (in Hebrew), describes how to make it. Dried dates are simmered in water to porridge consistency, then the mixture is spooned into a cloth bag, moistened with more water and squeezed to remove the juice. This juice is simmered until thickened and is kept in jars.
Shilo explains that breakfast is the meal at which date honey is most often enjoyed in the Middle East, mixed with tahini (sesame seed paste) and served with bread.
Kinneret Farm silan makers suggest other ways of using date honey, such as adding it to stir-fried vegetables, as a sweetener for beverages, in sweet-potato pancakes, with an added dash of cinnamon.
“Dates are best known for their uses in sweets,” writes Shilo. “They are a favorite filling for the rich Middle Eastern cookies called ma’amoul and for rolled cookies resembling rugelach that are popular around the region.”
“In Persia,” write Reyna Simnegar, author of Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride, “walnut-stuffed dates are a Rosh Hashanah treat. The stuffed dates are drizzled with a little syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon.
“Another popular way to serve dates is as a snack with tea.”
“Cooks in Egypt use the firm, fresh yellow dates to make jam,” says Levana Zamir in Cooking from the Nile’s Land (in Hebrew). “They also use them to make stuffed dates. First, they remove the dates’ very thin peel with a sharp knife and cook the dates in water until they are soft. Next, they pit the dates without cutting them in half.
Instead, they push the pit out with a hairpin so that each date can be stuffed with a blanched, peeled almond. Then they make a clove-and-lemon-flavored syrup from the dates’ cooking liquid. One by one, the stuffed dates are carefully added to the syrup, simmered and then cooled. The sweets are served with Turkish coffee and a glass of cold water. Making them is quite an undertaking but … these stuffed fresh dates are a delicacy fit for kings.”
Some Moroccans dip apples in honey and serve cooked quince, which is an apple-like fruit, symbolizing a sweet future. Other Moroccans dip dates in sesame and anise seeds and powdered sugar in addition to dipping apples in honey.
In her book The Foods of Israel Today, Joan Nathan writes about having lunch at Jerusalem restaurant Eucalyptus, when owner/chef Moshe Basson put a bowl of tahini “on the table and swirled in a date syrup called silan or halek, which he explained was a biblical ‘honey,’ one of the seven foods in the land of Canaan cited in the Book of Deuteronomy. Today, visitors can see a 2,000-year-old date-honey press, similar to an ancient wine press but smaller, near the Dead Sea at Qumran, the sites where, in 1947, a Bedouin youth found the Dead Sea Scrolls hidden in earthen jars.”
Nathan writes further that Ben-Zion Israeli, one of the founders of Kibbutz Kinneret, dressed as an Arab and, in 1933, went to Iraq and smuggled 900 date saplings back to Palestine. Over the years, with many trips, he brought back more than 7,000 saplings from Iraq, Iran and Kurdistan; about half took root. Shmuel Stoller later brought saplings from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In the 1970s, Medjool and Deglet Noor varieties were introduced from the Coachella Valley in California.
If you are wondering about dates and your health, Judy Siegel-Itzkovich writes in the 2013 Jerusalem Post article “Local dates are best variety to fight disease”: “All nine varieties of dates grown in Israel and found on any supermarket shelf have characteristics that make them better than other varieties at helping protect those who consume them against cardiovascular diseases.
“This has just been demonstrated by Prof. Michael Aviram and colleagues from Haifa’s Rambam Medical Centre and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The research was published in the prestigious Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry.”
The research team found that the most effective varieties for health are yellow, Barhi, Deri, Medjool and Halawi dates, and that, despite there being about 20 different types of dates growing around the world, those from the Jordan Valley and the Arava are the best.
Aviram warned Siegel-Itzkovich, however, that silan won’t help much. “As silan is a sweet concentrate that does not contain fibres, it is far from the real thing,” he said.
The article also noted, “A study the researchers published in the same journal four years ago showed that eating three dates a day does not raise blood sugar levels in healthy people, but it does reduce blood triglycerides and even ‘improves the quality’ of blood cholesterol by reducing its oxidation. These effects reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and other vascular diseases, they said.”
Nonetheless, Aviram advised diabetics against eating a lot of dates, as they are high in sugar.
Antioxidants from the group of polyphenols found in pomegranates, red wine and olive oil help remove plaque from inside the arteries. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan)
In addition to the health benefits of dates, the Post article also highlighted 2009 research Aviram had led, showing that “antioxidants from the group of polyphenols found in pomegranates, red wine and olive oil help remove plaque from inside the arteries. In the new research, the team found that dates can bring about the slowing and even regression of atherosclerosis (accumulation of fatty plaque) in the coronary arteries, and that eating one of the three specific date varieties is most effective.
“The material in dates has the clear ability to speed up the removal of excess cholesterol from endothelial cells inside blood vessels, the team said.”
While dates have been grown for thousands of years and their health benefits have been cited since ancient times, it is only in relatively recent history that science is confirming many of the beliefs.
High in fibre and also containing many minerals, such as potassium, zinc, magnesium and calcium, Aviram and his team, writes Siegel-Itzkovich, “recommend following a Mediterranean diet – with its variety of vegetables and fruit (including dates), fish, whole grains and olive oil – rather than eating just one or two ingredients, so that a whole range of oxidative factors that cause atherosclerosis can be neutralized.”
Sybil Kaplanis a journalist, foreign correspondent, lecturer, food writer and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem. She also does the restaurant features for janglo.net and leads walks in English in Jerusalem’s market.
Rabbi Ilan and Rabbanit Dina Acoca and family have moved to New Jersey after 17 years with Vancouver’s Congregation Beth Hamidrash. (photo from bethhamidrash.com)
An era has come to an end in Vancouver with the departure of Rabbi Ilan and Rabbanit Dina Acoca and their family on Aug. 23. The Acocas were a friendly, dignified presence at Congregation Beth Hamidrash for 17 years, helping shape and strengthen the Sephardi community in Vancouver, as well as contributing to the wider Vancouver Jewish world.
The Acocas have headed to Fort Lee, N.J., where the rabbi will become the spiritual leader of a Sephardi congregation and the principal of Ben Torat Yosef, a Sephardi school which has 480 children in grades K-9. Speaking to the Independent, he was clearly excited about what awaited him in New Jersey. Many in Vancouver will no doubt miss his presence, though, and the feeling is mutual.
Acoca was born in Bat Yam, Israel, to parents from Morocco. In 1967, they left Morocco for France and then Israel. After his bar mitzvah, Acoca moved to Montreal, where a teacher at a Jewish high school, Rabbi Michael Seraf, ignited a passion for Judaism and the Sephardi tradition within him.
After his rabbinic ordination in 1999, Acoca heard of a job opening in Vancouver and applied.
Acoca is passionate about the value of the Sephardi heritage and the treasures it has to offer world Jewry. “Sephardic Judaism is halachic, strongly committed to traditional Jewish law, yet it is open-minded,” Acoca told the JI. “Sephardic sages were willing to think outside the box. They knew how to include as many people as possible while keeping the tradition authentic. This is an important lesson for Jews today.”
Acoca said he leaves behind a strong Sephardi community in Vancouver, though one not without its challenges. “All of Jewish Vancouver faces the problem of housing,” he said. “For the younger generation, this is a very serious problem. Yet, people believe in this place. If the community can find ways to meet this challenge together, it will survive and thrive.”
Asked what he particularly enjoyed sharing with the community, Acoca cited Talmud study and teaching unique Sephardi liturgy and traditions. “Together,” he said, “we were able to open up the talmudic mind, the mind of our sages. I also enjoyed studying the gems of Sephardic liturgical writing, masterpieces like L’Cha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh, as well as the Sephardic siddur and piyutim (devotional hymns). I enjoyed learning Sephardic liturgy from all over the world.”
Other highlights for the rabbi included sharing the wisdom of Sephardi sages like the Ben Ish Chai and the synagogue’s women’s group, which studied Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s sophisticated theological work Derech Hashem. “We could spend hours looking at one line of Derech Hashem,” said Acoca. “This was one of my favorite things.”
The rabbi also enjoyed educating Jewish Vancouver about Sephardi traditions, but “we have to remember that we are one nation of different traditions of equal value,” he said.
The rabbi himself showed this type of openness a couple of years ago, when he encouraged Adrian Sacks, a Vancouverite who has since made aliyah, to teach Rebbe Nachman’s Chassidic masterwork Likutey Moharan at Beth Hamidrash. “There is much in common between the Chassidic tradition and Sephardic spirituality,” said Acoca. “For instance, both traditions emphasize the importance of being b’simchah, of living with joy and warmth.”
He said, “I wish the congregation and the wider Jewish community an abundance of success. It has been a wonderful journey for us – a journey of 17 years, which is tov in Jewish numerology, good. It has truly been tov. May God continue to bless the community.”
A farewell gala for the Acocas was hosted by the congregation at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue on Aug. 21, making use of Schara Tzedeck’s larger auditorium to accommodate those wishing to send off the family with their good wishes.
Those who miss Acoca’s teachings can comfort themselves with his The Sephardic Book of Why, which is upcoming this year from Hadassah Publishing.
Matthew Gindinis a Vancouver freelance writer and journalist. He blogs on spirituality and social justice at seeking her voice (hashkata.com) and has been published in the Forward, Tikkun, Elephant Journal and elsewhere.
Rabbi Ilan Acoca of Congregation Beth Hamidrash (photo from Beth Hamidrash)
One of the ways to thank God for blessings, says Rabbi Ilan Acoca, is through singing. Shabbat Shira, which takes place Jan. 23, tells of the Israelites breaking into song as a way to thank God for the parting of the sea during the Exodus.
“Traditionally, it’s a special Shabbat,” said Acoca, spiritual leader of Beth Hamidrash, Vancouver’s only Sephardi congregation. “Obviously, there’s a lot of liturgy in our
Judaism, depending on the background that we have, there’s a lot of music. On this particular Shabbat, there is even more music and more liturgy and, therefore, it makes a special Shabbat.”
To mark the occasion, Beth Hamidrash is organizing Shabbaton Shabbat Shira: East Meets West, which will celebrate the different musical approaches among Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. Cantor Yaacov Orzech of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue will bring the Ashkenazi flavor. The West Coast Andalusian Ensemble, an ad hoc group of Vancouver and Los Angeles musicians coming together for the first but maybe not the last time, will celebrate the Sephardi traditions.
Cantor Yaacov Orzech of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue (photo from Beth Hamidrash)
“The idea is that often we look at our differences as Jews and our backgrounds,” Acoca said. “Music brings people together, so the idea behind it is definitely to bring the beauty of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi music, but it’s more than that. We unite the community and show them that, yes, we may have our differences in background and our philosophy and so on and so forth, but we are one people. Therefore, we thought that the best way of doing it, rather than to give speeches about unity, which rabbis often do, we thought the best way was to put speeches aside and concentrate on the music.”
Acoca credits Orzech for coming up with the idea, but it is something that used to happen among congregations in Montreal, where Acoca grew up.
***
Shabbaton Shabbat Shira: East Meets West takes place Jan. 22, 4:35 p.m., services followed by Kabbalat Shabbat then dinner, 6 p.m., and a lecture by Rabbi Acoca on Discovering the Richness of Sephardi Liturgy ($18; $10 for kids 6-12, free for 5 and under): reserve by Jan. 20. Jan. 23, 9 a.m., services with Kol Simcha Singers and sermon on The Power of a Song, musaf led by Cantor Orzech, lunch with Sephardi and Ashkenazi delicacies. Jan. 23, 8 p.m., music celebration with Acoca, Orzech and West Coast Andalusian Ensemble, with Sephardi refreshments – suggested donation $10.
Amelia Saltsman’s background makes for an interesting source for her cookbook The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen (Sterling Epicure, 2015). Her mother is Romanian and her father is Iraqi; they met in the Israeli army and then immigrated to Los Angeles, where Saltsman was born and grew up. She and her family live in Santa Monica.
Saltsman is a regular contributor on food in the media. One day, while cooking and sharing her ideas on various social media and her blog, the responses were so overwhelming, she realized “that a new generation of cooks was looking for a fresh approach to Jewish food.” Thinking about her heritage led her to explore her family’s culinary roots more deeply.
When she divided the year into two-month microseasons, she saw how foods meshed with the holidays occurring during those times. The result is 146 recipes plus 135 beautiful, enticing color photographs. Within each two-month section is the description of a holiday, the background image for which is a piece of Arab embroidery. And each two-month section contains recipes connected to the holiday, from starters, salads and soups, to side dishes, main courses and desserts.
There are essays on what comprises Jewish food, as well as explanations for how to use the cookbook, ingredient essentials, kitchen fundamentals, helpful kitchen tools and seven basic recipes. There are two special indexes – recipes by course and by kosher category – a bibliography, information on the holidays, a resource guide, acknowledgments, more about the author and a regular index.
Saltsman said in an interview with KQED Food, “We often overlook today … the innate seasonality of Jewish food, from the late-summer/early-fall pomegranates, apples and quince of Rosh Hashanah and the etrog (citron fruit) of Sukkot, to the spring lamb and herbs of Passover. That Jewish food can be reframed through the lighter, brighter lens of how we eat today while still being true to its traditional roots.”
This is not a kosher cookbook, but the recipes are labeled as meat, dairy, pareve (neutral) and fish, as well as vegan or gluten-free. “The food philosophy is that you should use well-raised, whole, real foods,” she said. “There are no artificial ingredients used in any recipes.”
Weights are given in imperial and metric measures. One of my favorite aspects of a cookbook is anecdotes on each recipe, which Saltsman includes, and which make for a very warm and personal read. One of my other favorite features is numbering of instructions, which is not used in this cookbook.
Recipes are from Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, Syria, Yemen, Persia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Eastern Europe and, of course, Romania and Israel. Some of the recipes I found particularly interesting include autumn slaw with beets, carrots and kohlrabi; Syrian lemon chicken fricasse; braised beef with semolina dumplings; apples in nightgowns; rustic almond-orange macaroons; rice with almonds and raisins; bulgarian cheese puffs; and whole fish with preserved lemons and herbs.
For Chanukah, here are two of her recipes.
BEST POTATO LATKES (makes 24; pareve or dairy)
2 pounds peeled starchy potatoes 1 small onion 2 heaping tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour or potato starch 1 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp baking powder freshly ground black pepper 2 lightly beaten eggs mild oil (grapeseed, sunflower or avocado) sea salt
Using the large holes of a box grater or a food processor fitted with the grating disk, grate the potatoes (about five cups).
Grate the onion on the large holes of the box grater or use a food processor.
In a large bowl, stir together potatoes, onion, flour, salt, baking powder and a few grinds of pepper. Stir in eggs.
Line two or three sheet pans with paper towels. Place the prepared pans, the latke batter, a large spoon and a spatula near the stove.
Heat one or two large skillets over medium heat. Do not use more than 1/4-inch oil. When the oil is shimmering and a tiny bit of batter sizzles on contact, start spooning in the latke batter, making sure to add both solid and liquids Using the back of the spoon, flatten each spoonful into a circle three to four inches in diameter. Do not crowd the latkes in the pan. You will get four or five latkes in a 12-inch skillet.
Cook the latkes, flipping them once until golden on both sides, five to six minutes total.
Transfer the latkes to the prepared baking sheet. Cook the remaining batter in the same way, stirring the batter before adding more to the pan and adding oil as needed at the edge of the pan.
Arrange the latkes on a warmed platter, sprinkle with sea salt, and serve with applesauce or sour cream.
ROASTED SMASHED APPLES AND PEARS (3 cups; pareve/vegan)
3 pounds medium-size apples and pears a few sprigs thyme (optional) 2 to 3 tbsp water, fresh lemon juice, calvados, pear brandy or eau-de-vie, hard cider or dessert wine ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
Halve the pears and apples through the stem end, then core them and place the halves, cut side down, on one or more sheet pans, spacing them one to two inches apart. If using the thyme, scatter it among the pears and apples. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake the apples and pears until tender when pierced with a knife tip (30 to 40 minutes). When they are cool enough to handle, slip the fruits from the skins and back into the pan, scraping any pulp from the skins. Discard skins and thyme stems.
Mash the apples and pears with a fork, stirring in enough water or other liquid to help scrape up any brown bits from the pan bottom and lighten the texture of the fruit.
Scrape the mixture into a bowl and serve warm, at room temperature or cover and refrigerate up to a day ahead and serve cold.
This can also be made with all pears or all apples.
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, foreign correspondent, lecturer, food writer and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem. She also does the restaurant features for janglo.net and leads weekly walks in English in Jerusalem’s market.
In June, the Spanish government passed a law granting descendants of Sephardi Jews forced from that country in the 15th century the right to dual Spanish citizenship.
Only someone unfamiliar with the toing and froing of Jewish migrations and expulsions could be blind to the magnificence with which this move dovetails with history. For millennia, princes and fiefs, kings and counts expelled the Jews from their realms in one generation and then enticed them back in successive ones, when their perceived value rebounded or when the duchy or kingdom was in financial peril. Sometimes it took a generation, sometimes it took 600 years, as in the case of Spain, which, it should be noted, is now just a few notches above Greece on the financial solvency scale.
But Jews who consider taking up Spain’s generous offer will be taking a sober second look after recent events. OK, the events were a relatively small-scale tempest – a reggae festival in Valencia – but the lessons are wide-ranging and deeply telling.
Matisyahu, the once Chassidic, now just Jewish, reggae rapper, was disinvited from the Rototom Sunsplash Festival after he refused to sign a pledge in support of a Palestinian state. The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement had convinced the festival organizers that participants should be forced to commit to the Palestinian cause.
The quality of the performers or the wishes of the audience were secondary to the political positions of the musicians, apparently. Why this obscure music festival should become a flashpoint for a kerfuffle over the Middle East may seem baffling, but the strategy of the movement has been to demand loyalty oaths from anyone at any time in any place. Canadian film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, have been roiled over the topic in the past. These efforts at a “cultural boycott” are atrocious enough, but the worst tactics of the movement promote an academic boycott, which is as close as we can come to literal book-burning.
Is it additionally appalling that Matisyahu is not Israeli, but American? Sort of. The boycotters have attacked Israelis for the most part, but now they are turning their cannons on anyone who might think that Israel has a right to exist alongside a Palestinian state. (Note that the oath did not address a two-state solution. Coexistence is not top of the agenda for BDSers.)
Not all Jews are Zionists and, indeed, some Jews support the BDS movement. However, if you believe in the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, but not for the Jewish people, then you are at the least a hypocrite.
The BDS movement, while a relatively new phenomenon, has its historical antecedents in the people who would paint Stars of David on Jewish shop windows. It is a mob of bullies for the most part, which calls itself pro-Palestinian, but exhibits nothing positive, only hatred and vilification of Israel.
Although a reggae festival might seem an odd place to start, the BDSers and the larger “pro-Palestinian” contingent could buy themselves some legitimacy by taking an oath themselves: to work together with all people to find a peaceful resolution so that two peoples can live in coexistence in Jewish and Palestinian states. It’s a pledge the Jewish people accepted in 1947-48 and have reiterated throughout the ensuing seven decades. The Matisyahu brouhaha is an example of the answer the Jewish people have received to that olive branch.
Rabbi Ilan Acoca, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Parliament Hill. (courtesy of Prime Minister’s Office)
Last month, a Jewish delegation paid a visit to Parliament Hill with two main items on the agenda – educating the Canadian government about Sephardi Jewry in Canada and discussing Iran’s aim to obtain nuclear weapons.
The delegation included Sephardi community leaders, activists, philanthropists and spiritual leaders from across Canada. They met with the prime minister, various ambassadors and other dignitaries. The delegation was led by Yehuda Azoulay and Vancouver’s Rabbi Ilan Acoca of Congregation Beth Hamidrash, the only Sephardi synagogue west of Toronto.
A scholar, educator, author, activist and entrepreneur, Azoulay established the Sephardic Legacy Series: Institute for Preserving Sephardic Heritage. He envisioned the series as helping ensure future Sephardi publications, articles, lecture series, documentary films and research on Sephardi topics, and other works geared toward the benefit of Sephardi communities worldwide. It was the lack of general knowledge concerning Sephardi history, culture, Jewish law and other facets of Sephardi Judaism that prompted him to establish the organization. To date, Azoulay has authored five books and published more than 30 articles on various topics. In November 2013, he initiated a tribute luncheon to honor the contributions of Sephardi Jewry in America for members of the U.S. Congress.
The recent Parliament Hill delegation had as its primary goal to “create more awareness about Sephardic Jews in Canada by educating them about our history and our contributions to Canadian society,” Acoca told the Independent. “There are currently 55,000 Sephardic Jews in Canada and the number is growing. This is something that we related to the government.”
Acoca was born in Israel to parents of Moroccan descent. “I grew up in a typical, traditional Sephardic home,” he said. “Sephardic Judaism was an integral part of my upbringing.”
When Acoca was 13 years old, his family moved to Montreal, where he attended a Jewish high school. Growing up in Montreal’s Sephardi community, Acoca said, “helped me deepen my appreciation for my rich Sephardic ancestry.” Acoca eventually become a rabbi, fulfilling his grandfather’s wish that one of his descendants follow in his footsteps to the rabbinate, he said. In November 1999, Acoca and his wife Dina took on the roles of rabbi and rabbanit at Beth Hamidrash.
“Getting this responsibility made me more aware and passionate about my ancestry,” said Acoca. “My job enabled me to learn more about various Sephardic traditions and communities.”
Over the years, Acoca has added other aspects to his rabbinical role, teaching online, writing a monthly column in the Canadian Jewish News, heading the Rabbinical Council Sephardic Affinity Group, being an official Sephardi representative in Western Canada, and being the region’s Sephardi halachic authority.
Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas joined the group in Ottawa. Acoca described the importance of having Matas present in front of the House of Commons SubCommittee on International Human Rights about Iran’s intent to develop nuclear capability. During the presentation, Matas and Azoulay also conveyed some of the hardships that Iranian Jews “have faced and continue to endure.” (The full hearing is available at cpac.ca/en/programs/in-committee-house-of-commons/episodes/37646919.)
Matas gave six recommendations to the committee, which he shared with the Jewish Independent:
1. Expand the exceptions to sovereign immunity to catch Iranian human rights violations in a larger net. It should be possible for victims of the Iranian regime to sue in Canadian courts for the harm that the regime has done to them.
2. Ask for the extradition of Hassan el-Hajj Hassan, a Canadian citizen implicated in a Bulgarian bombing, from Lebanon to Canada. Under the Criminal Code, Canada has jurisdiction to prosecute him because he is a Canadian citizen, explained Matas. Canada does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon, but the Extradition Act allows for extradition, even without a treaty, on a case-by-case basis by agreement with the state where the accused is found.
3. Support the suggestion that any arms agreement between Iran and foreign states include a human rights component parallel to that of the Helsinki Accord. “A regime hell bent on the destruction of Israel and the Jews should be kept as far away from weapons of mass destruction as possible,” said Matas. “A nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, if one can be reached, should not just prevent nuclear weapons capability. It should have a place for human rights.”
4. The European Union in July 2013 added the military wing of Hezbollah to its list of terrorist entities. Canada should urge the EU to list Hezbollah in its entirety, not just the military wing, as a terrorist entity.
5. As the lead sponsor to the United Nations General Assembly, Canada should strengthen the language of the resolution, even if it that means fewer votes. “While we would not suggest language so strong that the resolution would be lost, Canada today has some room for manoeuvre,” said Matas.
6. Encourage the Government of Canada to take into account all refugee populations as part of any just and comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts. “That, of course, includes 55,000 Jewish refugees from Iran, driven out of Iran by the regime of the mullahs,” said Matas.
It is also important to confront the myth that Israel is a Western, imperial, colonial enterprise – a myth that holds particular sway with the mullahs of Iran, Matas said. The reality is that Israel is in large measure composed of Jews from the Middle East, including Iran. “Unless the Palestinians themselves accept the reality of dual victimization, a meaningful peace becomes impossible,” he said.
The delegation met with MPs Tim Uppal, Denis Lebel, Jason Kenney, Peter Kent, John Carmichael, Mark Adler, Joyce Bateman and Irwin Cotler. Other members of the delegation, including Acoca, met privately with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“The government officials were extremely supportive and promised they will assist,” said Acoca. “We were ecstatic, definitely.”
Acoca is eager to create more awareness of Sephardi Jewry, the community’s needs and cultural differences, and to promote understanding. He is also looking forward to following up on the event and meetings, and hopes this delegation will become an annual occurrence. “I would like the Sephardic way and philosophy to be preserved and am working hard, together with my colleagues, to ensure a thriving future,” said Acoca.
