Dia Internasional del Ladino will brighten up Festival of Lights in several cities by Daniel Santacruz

Ladino, the language of Sefardic Jews, will get top billing on the last day Hanuka as some 800 people are expected to attend the Dia Internasional del Ladino (International Ladino Day) at the Wohl Auditorium of Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel.

The brainchild of Zelda Ovadia, an editor at Aki Yerushalayim, a Jerusalem-based Ladino journal, and a resident of that city, the event will pay homage to a language that was born in Spain more than 500 years ago and that accompanied Sefardic Jews after the expulsion from that country.

“When I initially conceived the idea of devoting a day to celebrating Ladino, I thought of March 31, but it is a sad date because that’s the day when the Jews were expelled from Spain [in 1492],” said Ovadia, who also writes features and a cooking column for the magazine.

Instead, she added, she decided that December 5th, the last day of the holiday, would be more appropriate because “it’s a happy one, a holiday of lights, and our struggle [to preserve Ladino] is a struggle like that of the Maccabees.”

The idea was then presented to Yitzhak Navon, Israel’s fifth president and head of the Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino (National Authority for Ladino), who embraced it, said Ovadia. Next, a four-person committee was formed to plan the event, which includes Ovadia; Moshe Shaul, chief editor of Aki Yerushalayim; Aliza Ginio, History professor at Tel Aviv University; and Alegra Amado, Head of Foreign Languages at the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

The event, the first ever of its kind in 500 years, will start at 9:30 am with a short speech by President Navon and will feature musical presentations by Los Pasharos Sefardies, an Istanbul-based Ladino ensemble, and folk singer Betty Klein, as well as a humorous sketch by Karen Gershon Sharhon and Jojo Eskenazi. Producer and moderator Kobi Zarko will lead a music workshop, which will be followed by a short-story workshop with renowned storyteller, compiler and author Matilde Koen Sarano. Medals and certificates of appreciation will be presented to the volunteers who lead the eight Ladino cultural circles in cities like Jerusalem, Raanana, Tel Aviv and Holon.

Shaul, one of event organizers, who will present an overview of the state of the language today, praised the role of the groups in maintaining the language alive in Israel through monthly talks, sing-alongs and concerts.

“These are not academic encounters, but rather gatherings organized by people who take it upon themselves to put them together, and we will reward their volunteerism,” he added.

The Authority and Keter, the manufacturer of plastic and household products, are providing the funding the event.

Ladino enthusiasts around the world will also hold cultural events on the 5th in Paris; Sofia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mexico; Montevideo; and Buenos Aires. In the United States, the participating cities are Indianapolis, Indiana; Dallas, Texas; and New York City, as well as the University of California at Los Angeles; the University of Washington at Seattle; and Tufts University, in Medford, Mass. The University of Murcia, Spain, is the only European institution planning an event.

“What is remarkable about Murcia is that there are no Jews in the city, but there are groups of professors and students at the University that are Ladino enthusiasts,” said Shaul.

The main force behind the festivities outside of Israel is Ladinokomunita, an Internet group based in Dallas, with members in 40 countries, founded in 2000. According to founder and moderator Rachel Amado Bortnick, who was born in Izmir, Turkey, “the celebration is a source of pride for us Sefardim, and especially for native speakers like me. We have all confidence that with each passing year the Dia del Ladino [Ladino International Day] will be marked by more and more communities, many not necessarily Sefardic or even Jewish.”

She added: “Ladino is part of the Spanish and Portuguese heritage as well, and I think that connection will attract many people as well.“

Interest in Ladino has increased in the last 20 years both in Israel and overseas. There are Ladino musical ensembles in Israel, Spain, Turkey, the United States and Sweden, as well as two print newspapers in Turkey. The oldest of all the publications is the twice-yearly Aki Yerushalayim, founded in 1979. The Internet has hastened the spread of the language, where chat groups, courses and online magazines, such as Sephardic Horizons and the Jerusalem-based Orizontes, can be found.

Seeking to promote and deepen the knowledge of Ladino in Israel through courses, publications and concerts, the Knesset created the National Authority of Ladino in 1996. Ladino is taught at Hebrew University, in Jerusalem; at Ben Gurion University of the Negev; at Tel Aviv University and at Bar Ilan University.

Events around the world: http://www.eSefarad.com/didl

Fuente: kolsefardim.net