Doc's Talk: Our Return and Renewal

Saturday, December 01, 2012

Our Return and Renewal

Nurit Greenger

I am certain that when the Romans expelled to the Jews from their homeland, Judea, in 70AD the nation of Israel spoke one language and had one culture.

Roaming all over the world, not at their choice and option, while in exile for 2000 years, with no place to remain permanently, Jews have developed cultures that were influenced by the country where they lived for a time, as well as spoke ample languages and different dialects.

One such culture was of the Sephardic Jews, who descended from or mixed with the people of Spain and Portugal before their expulsion in 1492 CE. Jews in Spain and Portugal spoke Ladino and sang Ladino music. When we speak of Ladino-Sephardic music, we are essentially encompassing a fairly broad subject and decades of Jewish history and heritage that evolved away from the land of Israel. It is based on Judeo-Espanöl-Castilian-Spanish language, with inserted Hebrew words, mixed with the local language of the country where the Jews lived after the 1492 expulsion.

Since Israel became a sovereign country the ancient Hebrew language has been revived and a new Israeli culture has been evolving.

In the mean time, for instance, the Yiddish language that was spoken by Jews in Eastern Europe and the Jewish culture of that region has been fading away, and so is the Sephardic Jews' culture.

Efforts are being made to preserved and even revive some of these cultures that are about to be witnessed in the history books only.

I wrote about the subject in my previous article: Reviving The Sephardic Culture and Ladino Music! http://newsblaze.com/story/20120905074859nurg.nb/topstory.html

Standing from L-to-R: Margarita Kligerman-Soloists, Penina Solomon Meghnagi,

Valentina Datskovskaya, Margaret Kapoor Tumer, Inna Royter-pianist, Moshe Ben-Yossef, Yacov Barness, Jeff Slottow, Avi Avliav-Music Director-Conductor, Raphael Ortasse-Director-Founder; sitting L-to-R: Joshua Ehrhart, Venus Kapuya Franko, Elizabeth Martinez, Suzie Shiaman-Soloists-Photo by Orly Halevy

However, I think I did not covered, fairly, all aspects of the fascinating Kol Sepharadic Choir, in Los Angeles, California, its goal is to restore the Ladino-Sephardic music and some culture as well: www.kolsepharadicchoir.com

The Founder and the director of the Kol Sepharadic Choir is the multifaceted Raphael Ortasse who was born in Khartoum, Sudan, to parents of Sephardic origin, who were Zionists. When Raphael was at an early age, the family decided to immigrate to then Palestine, later to become the state of Israel. Raphael was fortunate to learn some of the Spanish-Ladino Romanceros from his parents, in particular from his mother. Every day when the young Raphael came home from school, he would hear, from a distance, his mother singing the Romanceros, while cooking for a family of nine. These beautiful songs, never left him, even when he was working as an aeronautical and space engineer. The first chance Raphael had to fulfill his dream he formed the Sephardic Choir with the objective of reviving this beautiful music among, first, the Sephardim Jews in Los Angeles and then introduce the music so dear to him to all Jews – Ashkenazi and Sephardic alike - around the world.

But Mr. Ortasse is not alone in his effort to make his choir recognized worldwide. He gets help from his charming and most talented, 31 year old, music arranger and conductor, Avi Avliav (Avli) and outstanding choir members.

I took off to one of the choir's rehearsals to satisfy my own curiosity and I had a chance to have a frank conversation with Avli and Margarita Kligerman, the lead singer.

NG: Please tell me about yourself.

Avli: I was born in Israel; my father is first generation Israeli from Bukhara, arrived to Israel in 1948. His family goes back eight generation in Spain. My mother is from a Holocaust surviving family. My parents met when my mother was a nurse and my father was her patient, injured when his jeep drove over a landmine in Israel's Independence War.

NG.: When did your musical talent surfaced?

Avli: When I was young we lived in a small apartment; my father bought my mom a keyboard and I was fascinated listening to the sound when she took lessons to learn to play it. One day, at the age of four, I simply set down and played, from beginning to end, as if I was trained, the song "I just want to say I love you" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6qflI1Jsg). That was the beginning of my musical road. I took piano lessons till I was thirteen year old and at the age of sixteen I started playing in gigs and bands, to include performing with Keren Hecht in large events. (http://www.israel-music.com/keren_hecht/second_season_for_love/#play)

Due to an accident injury, my military service was postponed which allowed me to attend the Rimon School for Jazz & Contemporary Music (http://eng.rimonschool.co.il/) where, for five years, I majored in music arrangement, film music scoring, music production and engineering. During my first year, at the age 20, in collaboration with two other persons, we wrote the music for the movie '6 Million Pieces' (2001), for which I was nominated for an Israeli Oscar. (http://www.youtube.com/user/avliavi)

I grew up with American music culture that my father was especially fond of. He often hooked me to earphones and I would sit for hours swinging to the rhythm of the music. My dream was to travel to America and become a songwriter and record producer.

NG: Since you are in the USA, has your dream materialized?

Avli: I arrived to America at the age of 27; first year was tough until I made contact with my former teacher Sharon Farber (http://www.sharonfarber.com/), who was living in California. Her help led me to be assigned as the conductor of LASHIR Choir, which I conducted for one and a half years till the choir was dismantled. And then Sharon told me about Raphael and his Kol Sephardic Choir. I did not know much about Ladino music. Back in Israel I knew Yasmin Levy (http://www.yasminlevy.net/) who is well known worldwide as Ladino music ambassador. And not to omit, her father, Yitzchak Levy who went everywhere where there was a Sephardic community and collected Ladino music material which he recorded and published in five volumes named Chant Judéo-Espagnols. I came to a rehearsal of Kol Sephardic Choir, I saw and I fell in love with the entire choir concept and its meaning. I have been working with them for the past three years, developing new musical arrangements that will appeal to today's audience.

"Along with working with Kol Sephardic Choir," he adds, "I also have my own company that develops and promotes young artists."

NG: What does the future store for you and the choir?

Avli: We are looking to expand to forty member choir and thus we are recruiting singers. We will also use a band and go on performing tours.

Talking to Avli I can sense we are going to enjoy the Kol Sephardic Choir for the years to come and they will become well known.

From Avli I moved to ask Margarita Kligerman (MAK), born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, how did she become a member of Kol Sephardic Choir.

MAK: My older sister was studying music. One day, at the age of five years old I started to sing in front of her music teacher and she would not let me go. I took piano lessons for seven years and sang in the school choir. Though I graduated as a civil engineer music was and is my passion. In 1993 I immigrated to the USA and transformed my profession to computer programming. When I met Raphael Ortasse I knew nothing about Ladino music but I fell in love with it.

Margarita is a soprano and many times is the soloist of the choir.

NG: Do you like being in the choir?

MK: what question is that? I have been with the choir for eleven years. Doesn’t that say something?

With Raphael's passion, Avli's musical talent and a singer like Margarita the challenge to bring the Ladino music to life for the next generation to enjoy it will not be an impossible task.

Kol Sephardic Choir was established in 1992, and on December 16, 2012, you are invited to witness its performance, to include Flamenco dancers, and thus become part of the Jewish Ladino culture rejuvenation. Enjoy.

Kol Sephardic Choir December 16th, 2012 concert.png

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk