A Return to Judaism: Crypto Jews Around the World: A discussion on the return of converted Jews, or Anousim, from Spain, Portugal, Brazil and parts of the Americas to the religion of their ancestors.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 at 7:00 PM at Congregation Shearith Israel, 2 West 70^th Street, New York, NY. Co-sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic House & Congregation Shearith Israel

On Tuesday, November 8^th 2005 at 7:00 PM, the American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic House in collaboration with Congregation Shearith Israel will present a lecture on the growing phenomenon of crypto-Jews who are reconnecting to their Jewish heritage.  Guest speaker, Yaffah da Costa in conversation with Senior Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel Marc D. Angel will share the story of her own discovery and the work of the Jerusalem-based organization she founded, Ezra L’Anousim.  This nonprofit organization’s mission is to support converted Jews who wish to discover their often-hidden roots.  Of “Anousim” background herself, the story of Ms. Da Costa’s discovery of and return to Judaism is both fascinating and inspiring. Ezra L’Anousim has begun to play a vital role in reaching out to crypto-Jews throughout the world as well as increase awareness about the issues surrounding the journey and process faced by returnees to Judaism. The American Sephardi Federation founded in 1973 to support, revitalize and strengthen American Sephardic communities, recently joined forces with Sephardic House, to create one united Sephardic organization whose mission is to promote and preserve the spiritual, historical, cultural and social traditions of all Sephardic communities and insure their place as an integral part of Jewish heritage. Its activities include maintaining the only public Sephardic Library& Archives and permanent Sephardic exhibition gallery in the U.S., rich educational and cultural public programs, publishing informative books on Sephardic history and culture, and The Sephardi Report, the International Sephardic Film Festival, and the Broome and Allen Scholarship Fund for Sephardic studies and scholars.  The ASF website www.americansephardifederation.org or www.asfonline.org, includes access to the ASF library online catalogue database of over 4000 books and periodicals, and an online bookstore featuring topical and historical books, videos and DVD’s of Sephardic interest.

About Congregation Shearith Israel
 North America’s first Jewish congregation founded in 1654, recently celebrated its 350^th anniversary. Since 1969, Rabbi Marc D. Angel has served this historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue as its spiritual leader. Author and editor of twenty books and numerous articles on religion and faith, he has won the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Jewish Thought. His pioneering works on Sephardic history and culture have been highly acclaimed.

Born in New Bedford, MA, Yaffah da Costa moved to, Israel in 2004.  Her religious Jewish home is a long way away from the Catholic one in which she was raised, but Catholicism, she was to discover, was a veneer masking a much older tradition. A second-generation American, Yaffah knew that her great-grandmother had emigrated from the Azores islands off the coast of Portugal in 1915, but she was not aware of the wealth of tradition that had traveled with the family matriarch as she made the long crossing to America.  In 1992, a newly awakened spiritual curiosity resulted in Yaffah's coming to Israel on a 'Holy Land tour.  Later, her quest to discover why she was so profoundly affected in Israel kindled an interest in studying about Judaism.  After a number of years of study, Yaffah completed her formal return to Judaism in the year 2000, being accepted by an Orthodox Beit Din as a returnee.  While living in Texas, she used a radio show and journalistic writing to communicate her message to other “secret Jews”.  She founded Ezra L'Anousim in January 2005. Free Admission . For Reservations: Call 212-294-8350 or email info@americansephardifederation.org  Contact:    Sasha Tenenbaum American Sephardi Federation stenenbaum@asf.cjh.org  212-294-8301 x 8358