Community Magazine April 2014
26 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE DAVID M. HABER Ask any individual of Sephardic Syrian descent what best describes our community, and you are sure to receive one unanimous answer: tradition. This is a tradition that is imbedded within us already at a young age, an understanding that we are part of something grand and glorious, and a shared mentality which transcends particular religious leanings and ideology, and permeates throughout our beautiful community. I t has been said that the Syrian community adheres more strongly and more authentically to its heritage than any other community in the world. We are mindful of our roots and extremely meticulous in preserving our mesorah (heritage). We recognize that although we live in a modern world, our culture, mentality and laws must be in lockstep with that of our predecessors. And no entity within the Syrian community embodies this ideal more than The Sephardic Heritage Museum . For the first time ever, Community Magazine was granted exclusive access to the museum and all its contents. There are not enough pages in the world to fully describe what we saw and were privileged to have experienced, but hopefully the brief description that follows will offer the reader a meaningful glimpse of the wealth of tradition on display in this extraordinary institute. A visionary project pioneered by Mr. Joe Sitt and skillfully directed by Rabbi Raymond Sultan of Sephardic Food Fund, the Sephardic Heritage Museum is breathtaking in its enormity. Its mission, which extends far beyond the widely-acclaimed films it has produced, is to educate future generations about the generations that have passed. It offers a way for the youth of the next century to understand who they are and why they are here, and what their grandparents and great-grandparents sacrificed for the sake of perpetuating the Sephardic way. This bold mission underlies every detail of the museum’s operation, which is conducted under the dynamic and capable leadership of Rabbi Sultan. Watching him in action is a sight to behold. He moves from office to office, station to station, feverishly overseeing the operations as if he is in a race against time. And in reality, he is. Due to the turmoil currently embroiling Syria, the museum's mission of preserving our history becomes so much more important as the window of opportunity begins to close. Pictures Worth Far More Than a Thousand Words When one first steps into the Sephardic Heritage Museum, he is struck by the compact surroundings and relatively small quarters. There are no statuesque columns imposing down on figures below as there are in your standard museum. There is no grand building grabbing the attention of passersby. The nondescript building in Lakewood, NJ where the museum is temporarily housed truly disguises the glory within its walls. But after just a moment, you instantly realize this is no ordinary environment, and that the contents of these corridors and rooms is far more important than any marble or stone historical entity can present. When your gift is this precious, the wrapping holds no meaning. One glance around, and you become distinctly aware that you are but a small sentence in a massive, centuries-long paragraph of history. The Sephardic Heritage Museum Courtyard of synagogue in Aleppo, Syria from the early 1900’s.
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