Declaring that they would “dedicate themselves to the revitalization of the Sephardic culture and heritage in the United States and in the world, and that they would aid the underprivileged population of the State of Israel through direct and material assistance to her Sephardic citizens,” several hundred delegates from throughout the United States gathered today to establish the American Sephardic Foundation.
Terming the new Federation “a major step in the unity of all Sephardic Jews,” Prof. Daniel Elazar, convention chairman and acting chairman of the Federation, and himself a prominent member of the American Sephardic community, said the purposes of the organization would be to “defend and foster the religious and cultural activities of Sephardic congregations and communities, and to promote, sponsor and support Jewish institutions of learning and institutions for the training of leaders, lay and religious, in accordance with Sephardic customs, rites and usages to serve Sephardic communities throughout the United States, the State of Israel and the world.”
The Israel Consul General in Chicago, Shaul Ramati, will attend the funeral services tomorrow of Wladyslaw Porysoglebski, the sole American among the 106 victims who died in the crash of the Libyan airliner. The Embassy also reported that Ramati had telephoned the victim’s widow and expressed to her Israel’s deep sorrow and sympathy over her loss. The victim, 61, had been a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Poland and was naturalized last July.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
