Reclaiming the Jewish learning tradition that once defined Sephardic Judaism

The Jerusalem Post reports on a movement to reclaim the Sephardic Jewish tradition of worldliness in Jewish learning, centered on three new institutions—The Habura, Da'at Press, and the Sephardic Rabbinic Conference—operating across 20 countries. The second conference in New York drew over 150 rabbis from a dozen countries, emphasizing Maimonidean ethics and the integration of secular knowledge with Torah study.

The Jerusalem Post reports on a growing movement to reclaim the Sephardic Jewish tradition of worldliness in Jewish learning, centered on three new institutions operating across 20 countries. The second Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, held in August at Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, drew over 150 rabbis, scholars, and communal leaders from over a dozen countries, including Turkey, the UAE, Mexico, Spain, the UK, Israel, and Argentina. The conference featured addresses by Rabbi Haim Sabato, Rabbi Ratzon Arussi, Rabbi Benzion Algazi, Consul General Ofir Akunis, and World Zionist Organization chairman Yaakov Hagoel. The movement's core institutions are The Habura, a study hall founded by Sina Kahen and Avi Garson that teaches over 2,000 students in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; Da'at Press, which publishes classical Sephardic works; and the rabbinic conference focused on leadership. The article traces the tradition's roots to the geonim of Babylonia and medieval Spain, and argues that Sephardic Jewry lost its institutional base due to Ashkenazification, a process described by political scientist Daniel Elazar. The movement aims to restore a method that treats grammar, logic, medicine, astronomy, and philosophy as instruments of Torah study.