TRADITION

Sephardim," she says. "But that wasn't
possible." Too few young Sephardic Jews
live in the area, she says.
In 1951, Jacob and Judith Chicorel
returned for a visit to Turkey. Shirley
went along.
"I was very American," she says. "The
trip opened my eyes for the first time to
my roots."
Though relatives were gracious hosts,
Mrs. Behar was surprised at the poverty
in which they lived. Homes rarely had
bathrooms or a refrigerator.
"I feel I'm the last of a generation,"
Mrs. Behar says. She plans to pass her
recipes to her children as one way of keep-
ing Sephardi customs alive.
She says differences no longer
separate Sephardim and Ashkenazim in
the United States. She's glad, because,
"we can't stay in a small ghetto forever,
we can't stay hidden."
hough a minority among Jews
today, Sephardim comprise some
of the most prominent figures in
Jewish history. They include Maimonides;
Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan

T

Albert Sasson:
"Whether I'm in
New York,
Minnesota or New
Orleans, I always
find other
Sephardim who
welcome me."

30

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1990

Aruch (the standard code of Jewish law);
British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli;
and former Israeli President Yitzhak
Navon.
Not all non-Ashkenazi Jews — in-
cluding Jews from Yemen, Iran, India
and Ethiopia and Iran — are Sephardim.
Pockets of Sephardim lived in Eastern
Europe, typically Ashkenazi centers, with
large groups in Yugoslavia. All of
Bulgaria's Jewish population was
Sephardic.
Some 100,000 Sephardic Jews live in
the United States today. The largest
communities are in Seattle, Los Angeles
and New York. They meet regularly for
conventions, such as the 1990 Annual
Convention of the American Sephardi
Federation, held earlier this month in
Chicago. Detroit co-hosted the event, the
largest gathering of Sephardim in the
United States. More than 1,000 par-
ticipants attended.
An international committee has been
formed for Sepharad (the Hebrew word for
Spain) '92, a project spearheaded by the
World Sephardi Federation to com-

memorate the 500th anniversary of the
expulsion of Jews from Spain. Programs
include museum exhibitions, films and
tours to Israel, Spain, Turkey and
Morocco.
More than 200,000 Jews were expelled
from Spain in 1492, the result of a decree
by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to
convert to Christianity or leave the coun-
try. They settled in Holland, France, Ita-
ly, North Africa and the Caribbean.
Those who left — another 100,000 chose
to remain —became the nucleus of today's
Sephardic community, which numbers
about 2.2 million.
Although many Sephardic Jews have
left their countries of birth and resettled
in Israel or the United States, a few re-
main in Arab nations, where they live
under the most dire circumstances, in-
cluding forced conversion to Islam.
David Hazan of Oak Park, the Sephar-
dic Community's cantor, knows well what
it's like to be a Jew in a hostile Arab
nation. He lived in Egypt during the
reign of Gamal Abdul Nasser.
"Until Nasser, Egypt was a very safe
place," Mr. Hazan says. "Nasser nation-
alized everything and he took away some-
thing from everyone, even the Muslims.
"The worst was after (Israel's) War (of
Independence), when they started claim-
ing the Jews are all kinds of things. They
came to take away the Jews at midnight
and put them in camps. The worst was to
be called Tsa-ah-you-nee, Zionist. That's
where the hate came."
Mr. Hazan was born in Alexandria, the
son of a Turkish immigrant. A busi-
nessman, Mr. Hazan's father sent his
children to a private Jewish day school.
David Hazan's future wife, Rachel, who
was born in Port Said, Egypt, also attend-
ed a Jewish day school. Her father was a
manager for Singer Sewing Machines in
Egypt, and the family lived a comfortable
life with maids coming in daily' from
nearby villages.
The Hazans met at a tea house. "She
saw me and it was love at first sight," Mr.
Hazan says. They danced, and he asked
her to marry him.
Rachel's parents approved of David, and
began saving for their daughter's dowry.
Seven months later the two were married.
They didn't have a large wedding — it
wasn't the custom — but hosted a small
gathering where each guest received a
box of Jordan almonds.
From the time Nasser came to power,
Rachel Hazan was ready to leave.
"My wife told me a thousand times,
`Sell everything — the stocks, the busi-
ness — and get the hell out of here'," he
says. "But I said, 'No you're wrong.
Everybody here is my friend. I'm never
going to leave.' " Soon thereafter, they
made plans to emigrate.
"Finally, we realized we had no future
there," Mr. Hazan says. "We weren't
Muslims. We couldn't live under Nasser,
who wanted to be the Napoleon of the
Middle East."
With $50 and their suitcases, the
Hazans set out for the United States.
But before they could leave, they had to
pass through Egyptian customs, where
they were harassed by officials. The men
demanded Mr. Hazan's gold engagement

