A complete mosaic: Civil Dialogue on Sephardic Judaism and intersectionality

On Nov. 20, Viterbo University hosted a Civil Dialogue panel to discuss Sephardic Judaism and intersectionality as a part of the university’s ongoing Identities Project.

The panel consisted of Dr. Abraham Haim of Jerusalem, Israel, who serves as the president of the Council of the Jewish Sephardic Community of Jerusalem; Dr. Jesús Jambrina of Havana, Cuba, a world languages professor at Viterbo and a Latin American scholar; Cantor Brian Serle, who serves as the spiritual leader of the Congregation Sons of Abraham in La Crosse, Wis.; Carson Skemp, an international student at Viterbo who is studying Cuban Jewish perspectives in his undergraduate research; and Cristina Lea Fernandes of Miami, Flor., who is a current practicing Sephardic Jew. Kirsten Gabriel, Viterbo’s director of student life and orientation, facilitated the discussion.

Gabriel began the discussion by explaining that Sephardic Jews are defined as people currently living around the world who are descended from the Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 or from Portugal in 1497. Fernandes added that while Sephardic Jews share many core beliefs and traditions in common with the Ashkenazi Jews (those with French or German heritage), their overall culture is significantly different, as it is strongly Latinx in nature. Haim fondly recounted growing up around his grandparents, Sephardic Jews who lived in Jerusalem during the 1940s, and Serle recalled his encounters with his Sephardic neighbors from Morocco, and his culture’s beautiful, “exotic” twists on the celebration of the Passover.

Gabriel asked Serle and Haim to comment on the recent resurgence of anti-Semitic hate speech, but both men affirmed that while the hate speech is definitely on the rise, its direction towards Jews is far from new. Serle believes that such prejudices have been lying dormant for a long time, but that in the current cultural climate, “Pandora’s box has been opened over the past few years.” Haim pointed to the persecution of Jews found within the Old Testament of the Christian Bible as well as the Holocaust.

Jambrina and Skemp discussed the increased oppression that occurs when people belong to multiple underprivileged groups, and that this necessitates intersectional discussions such as this one. “Intersectionality truly isn’t just some abstract concept. It truly affects people in very real ways,” Skemp insisted. “It’s really important to recognize the diversity within these populations and not try to resolve it by attaching on broad label, but by delving into the complexities.”