Diarna brings together individuals with an array of expertise who collaborate in a truly 21st century manner. Our interfaith and multinational coalition includes scholars, international photographers, social entrepreneurs, technical developers, and young Middle Easterners who gather data and photos of local sites.

Former Jewlakan (Jewish Quarter), Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan

Professor Frances Malino is Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and History at Wellesley College and director of the College’s Jewish Studies Program. She is the author and editor of numerous books including, The Sephardic Jews of Bordeaux and the forthcoming Teaching Freedom: Jewish Sisters in Muslim Lands, a profile of a multi-generational family of Moroccan-born women who founded and directed Alliance Israélite Universelle schools in North Africa.

Carole Basri, President of the Corporate Lawyering Group, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in New York, is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include documentaries exploring her Iraqi heritage, e.g., The Life of Frank Iny: A Granddaughter’s Journey.

Illeana Benhamou (deceased), a native of Casablanca, was one of the project’s founding board members. A poet, translator, and philanthropist, she also served on the board of the Santa Clara Foundation, and on the executive advisory council of the Silicon Valley Conference for Community & Justice. Diarna’s work to preserve Moroccan Jewish heritage is dedicated in her memory.

 Tomb of Ezekiel, al-Kifl, Iraq

Select Advisory Board Members:

Rabbi Maurice Corson is president emeritus of the Wexner Foundation and President of the National Jewish Book Council.

Raphael Elmaleh, Morocco’s only Jewish tour guide, has gathered artifacts and worked to restore ancient Jewish sites, including, over a dozen abandoned synagogues in collaboration with Casablanca’s Jewish Museum.

Jeffrey Malka, retired surgeon and grandson of Sudan’s Chief Rabbi, is the author of Sephardic Genealogy.

Mukhluf Mamman, native of Fez, is an expert on Moroccan Jewish history with a Masters from Harvard University.

Sammy Simnegar, a native of Shiraz, Iran, today manages Fidelity Investments’ Aggressive International Fund and VIP International Capital Appreciation Portfolio, among several portfolio management appointments. A graduate of UCLA and Columbia Business School, Mr. Simnegar previously worked at the Trans-Alliance Group and as an equity analyst for JP Morgan.

Dr. Houman Sharshar, Director of Publications, Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History

David Sheena, native of Baghdad and entrepreneur with an Ph.D. from MIT, is president of the Sephardic Congregation of New England.

Dr. Sarah Abrevaya Stein is Professor of History, holds the Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA, and directs the Maurice Amado Program in Sephardic Studies at UCLA.  Co-winner of the 2010 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, her publications include Plumes:  Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce (Yale University Press, 2008) and Making Jews Modern: the Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires (Indiana University Press, 2004). Professor Stein has published widely in Jewish Studies and general historical journals including Jewish Social Studies, Jewish Quarterly Review, American Historical Review, and the Journal of Modern History.

Eliyahu HaNavi Synagogue, Alexandria, Egypt

Select Staff and Volunteers:

Project Coordinator: Jason Guberman-Pfeffer, a summa cum laude graduate of Sacred Heart University, is a social entrepreneur who specializes in building broad coalitions and melding intellectual and technical innovation.

Research Assistant: Angine Gharekhanian, a first generation American of Armenian heritage with roots in Tabriz and Tehran, is fluent in Persian.

Development Assistant: Maria Douich, a Moroccan native fluent in Arabic and French, got an early start in coexistence awareness as a Muslim growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Casablanca.

Project Researcher: Adam Eilath, a graduate of McGill University with family roots in Tunisia, is now based in Jerusalem, where he is filming interviews with North African Jews and gathering archival material at Diarna’s partner institutions.

Project Researcher: Yael Gafni, graduated from Wellesley College in 2008 with a major in Middle Eastern Studies. A recipient of the Jacqueline Krieger Klein ’53 Fellowship in Judaic Studies, she spent last year studying at Tel Aviv University.

Project Researcher: Alma Rachel Heckman, a recent graduate of Wellesley College fluent in Arabic and French, is currently a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco, conducting research for Diarna and working with Casablanca’s Jewish Museum. (See photos of Alma’s earlier expedition to Tunisia, here).

Project Researcher: Lauren Wilner, a Bay Area native of Iranian descent, is fluent in Persian, and currently documenting the experiences of Iranian Jews in Jerusalem.

Project Researcher: Shaymaa Salama, a native of Mansoura, Egypt, has spearheaded the project’s Arabic-language group on Facebook and research on Egypt.

Lead Photographer: Joshua Shamsi, an independent photographer of Iranian, Iraqi, and Kurdish heritage, has led several research expeditions to Egypt and Morocco. (Donate to Diarna and receive one of Josh’s limited edition full-color 11×14 prints. Click here for details).

Web Developer: Edward FitzGerald received his Master’s degree in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University and has worked most recently for the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the U.S. National Park Service.

Co-Chair Young Mizrahi Board: Vania Herdoon, a graduate of Columbia University and an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., was born to immigrant parents from Baghdad and grew up speaking Iraqi Judeo-Arabic.

Co-Chair Young Mizrahi Board: Lena Herdoon, currently a junior at New York University and a member of the Campus Entrepreneur Initiative (CEI), is conversational in the Judeo-Arabic dialect of her parents, natives of Baghdad who left in the early 1970s.

Strategic Consultant: Nick Diieso, a specialist in finance and business efficiency, is currently employed by GE Capital, and has previously done work for iBasis, TJX, Inc., and the City of Waltham, Massachusetts.