Our History Our Stories; Voices of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in American Society

Join us for a multi-speaker event exploring the rich Heritage of Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish Communities.
We will dive into their diverse experiences and contributions.

Please register and learn more about our inspiring speakers and event dates by clicking the registration link

Sun, Oct 20th: Tino Habib—The Libyan Ethnic Cleansing of Its Jews
Tino is president of Commonwealth Radiology and hails from Syracuse, New York. His older siblings were born in Tripoli and Rome; he was the first in his family born in America. He will discuss the Jewish presence in Libya dating back to the Second Temple period and share his family’s story of community, Nazi concentration camp internment, liberation, and eventual expulsion from Libya.

Sun, Nov 10th: Sherry Grinsteiner—The Jewish Yemenite Culture and Tradition
Sherry is a rabbi at Congregation Or Atid in Richmond. She was born and raised in a small agricultural community in Israel. Her family, who had long-lived in Yemen, escaped to Israel in 1949 during Operation Magic Carpet. She will share her family’s history in the ancient and noble Jewish community of Yemen, their treasured artifacts, and their adaptation to life in Israel.

Sun, Dec 15th: Viviane Oberhand—The Jews of Tunisia
Viviane moved to Richmond five years ago after spending two decades in the healing arts in Los Angeles. She is the creator of the podcast “Celebrate Your Trauma.” Born into the Sephardic tradition in Tunis, she will share her life in the ghetto, her joyous memories of Sephardic esprit de vivre, and the delicate flavors of Tunisian food. She will also recount the Tunisian Jewish exodus that occurred between 1948 and the early 1950s.