Sephardic Jews to convene at global summit in Mexico
Published June 4, 2017
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Sephardic Jews from more than 20 countries will gather at a biennial summit in Mexico City.
Coordinated by the Latin American Sephardic Federation, the Cumbre Erensya summit will bring together delegates from the Americas, Europe and Australia on June 5-7. Former meetings took place in Spain, Turkey and Bulgaria.
“Erensya 2017 will look at the Jewish presence in Mexico during colonial times and the emergence of its institutional life until the present day. It also will allow the exchange of relevant experiences in the Sephardic world,” reported the Enlance Judio news website.
Erensya, or heritage in Ladino, is the name of the initiative led by the Madrid-based Sefarad-Israel Center to establish a bridge between Spain and the Sephardic Diaspora.
The event includes visits to Mexico’s oldest synagogues and other Jewish sites. Some mayors of Spanish cities also will attend in order to witness how their country’s language, traditions, customs and mentality have been passed on to new generations. A book is scheduled to be released during the event.
Last month, Mexican-Jewish diplomat Andres Roemer, who was fired from his ambassador position for walking out of an anti-Israel vote at UNESCO in October, received the International Sephardic Leadership Award from the American Sephardic Federation.
In March, the mayor of Mexico City laid the foundation stone of a Jewish community center slated to cost nearly $5.3 million. Miguel Angel Mancera said he considered the initiative a sign of trust in the country’s growth.
Mexico is home to some 50,000 Jews, Latin America’s third largest Jewish community after Argentina and Brazil.
