Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews Celebrate Ladino Day in New York City

Yesterday was Ladino Day, a celebration of Sephardi culture. Yiddish instructor Moishele Alfonso attended the 7th annual event at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. There, he found several Yiddish speakers and chatted with them in order to find out what brought them there. 

Ladino Day is an educational and celebratory program that centers the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language through story and song, and with lectures and reflections from scholars, activists, and community members.

Due to demographic displacement, the destruction wrought by the Holocaust, and the pressures of assimilation, the number of native Ladino speakers has declined rapidly in the last 100 years: UNESCO has even designated Ladino an endangered language.

The language is being kept alive by colleges such as the University of Washington and Jewish organizations such as YIVO which conduct Sephardic Studies programs and annual celebrations with stories and song.

Moishele's video is in Yiddish, with English subtitles.

Enjoy!

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