03/09/2010 - 7:00pm to 03/09/2010 - 10:00pm

Location:
Ahavath Achim Sephardic Congregation
Congregation Ahavath Achim
3225 SW Barbur Blvd.
Portland, OR 97239
503-227-0010

Class Description:
“The Dhimmis: To Be a Jew in Arab Lands” This comprehensive documentary details the centuries of persecution endured by Jews living in Arab lands. Using rare film footage, photographs, maps and interviews, we are presented with an excellent country-by-country recounting of Jewish life that flourished in the midst of ongoing conflict. A first-rate historical overview. (29 minutes in color, 1975, Director: Baruch Gitilis)

“Jewish Naqba” An accounting of Jews expelled from Arab countries. (7 minutes).
“Without the Past” The first Jews are said to have arrived in Portugal with the trading expeditions of King Solomon. Isaac Bitton, a descendant of the “Retournados,” the Jews who returned to Portugal after the Great Earthquake of 1755, guides us through the fascinating history of the Portuguese Jewry, from its very beginnings through today. Among highlights are the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Faro, in the Southern Agar province, and the moving story of Dr. Aristedes de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, France, during World War II, who issued 30,000 exit visas to Jews attempting to flee the Nazis, and who was removed from the diplomatic corps for his “misdeeds”. (24 minutes, 1997, Script: Jerry Kraemer, Narrated by: Isaac Bitton)

More Info:
Free admission. Congregation Ahavath Achim. Info: 503-892-6634.

Guest Speaker: David Valesquez-Cohen

*This is a free class.