FIRST LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
In August 1994, the first "Leadership Conference for Descendents of
Anusim" was held in Jerusalem, at the Shehebar
Centre for Sephardic Studies, which took place with the generous support
of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish Federation of New Mexico,
Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, the Levinson Foundation, and
the World Sefardi Federation (via its Midrash Sefardi Institute in
Jerusalem). That meeting was small and
private. It concentrated on enhancing the bond of the participants to
the land, and educating them in Jewish history and spirituality, with
an emphasis on Sephardic history and culture. The group stayed for a
week, and heard lectures from Israel's finest scholars on various
aspects of Jewish culture, with an emphasis on Sefardi heritage. The
choice of Jerusalem as the conference site proved excellent. The
people who attended were deeply moved to be back in their ancestral
cradle, and the history and special spirit of the place had an
overwhelming impact on everyone. The speakers were drawn from
Israel's elite, and included Professor Moshe Idel of the Hebrew
University (premier authority on kabbalah), Professor Ruth
Reichelberg, Dean of Humanities at Bar-Ilan University (an expert in
Sephardic history), Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham (himself of the anusim),
Itamar Yaoz-Keszt (one of Israel's foremost poets and
editor-in-chief at Eked Publishing House), among others.
The attendees had a memorable audience with
Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron.