House, Sephardic

Sephardic House was established in 1978 as a correction to the often-overlooked contributions of the Sephardic community to American-Jewish culture. Founded by Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Mair Jose Benardete, David Barocas, and Louis N. Levy, all leaders in the Sephardic community, this new institution would promote Sephardic cultural and historical awareness.

Originally located at Congregation Shearith Israel, Sephardic House held events such as lectures, concerts, poetry readings, film festivals, art exhibits, cooking classes and tours of Spain, Portugal, and France that would become regular features of its programming. In 1990, Sephardic House created the first International Sephardic Film Festival to display the artistic vision of Sephardic actors, directors, and screenwriters in their depiction of Sephardic culture, history and tradition. This film festival has the international distinction of being the only film festival focusing on Sephardic culture. Like the film festival, other early programs evolved. The cooking classes while early on had focused primarily on cooking non-Jewish kosher ethnic cuisine eventually taught traditional Sephardic cooking. The traditions of various Sephardic ethnic groups are also celebrated in annual Sephardic Weekends.

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