The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue on New York City’s Upper West Side — the oldest Jewish congregation in North America — hosted an interactive presentation on the Diarna project. Diarna staff asked the over 70 people in attendance to consider the vibrant Jewish life that once existed in  cities and villages across the Middle East and North Africa — and then virtually transported them to rare and difficult to visit Mizrahi heritage sites via Diarna’s Google Earth layer, extensive photographic collection, and oral history recordings. The diverse audience included persons from several Middle Eastern and European countries.

The event’s keynote address was delivered by Carole Basri, Esq., an American of Iraqi-Jewish decent, adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and award-winning filmmaker of documentaries exploring her heritage (e.g, The Life of Frank Iny: A Granddaughter’s Journey). Citing recent examples of politically-motivated historical revisionism, Ms. Basri emphasized the importance of Diarna’s efforts to document over 2,500 years of vital yet often neglected Jewish history in the region. Diarna, as an academic project, eschews politics to focus on collecting factual information. A frequent traveler to the Middle East, Ms. Basri also touched on the growing interest in Jewish heritage, including articles in leading Arabic-language publications, and how Diarna might advance tolerance and understanding.

The event was also the official launch of Diarna’s Young Mizrahi Board (YMB), an advisory board composed of the “next generation” of Mizrahi professionals eager to preserve the memories of their families, while, in the process, making history of their own. The YMB’s co-chairs, Vania and Lena Herdoon, are first-generation Americans of Iraqi-Jewish heritage. They introduced a pre-recorded Judeo-Arabic video testimonial by their mother, Lamaan, and described how: “Our parents always dreamt of taking us back to their home and showing us where they grew up. Unfortunately, this has never been possible, and many of the historical buildings and structures have been demolished, not only in Iraq, but throughout the world. Now, with the Diarna project, there is finally a way to insure that these sites and the priceless heritage they represent will not be lost.”

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