When Flory Jagoda, the superstar of Ladino music, died in 2021, it was a wakeup call for Vladimir Mickovic, a Bosnian musician from Mostar, who realized that with Jagoda’s death, the music of Sephardic Jews was in danger of being lost forever. “The Sephardic music and culture, their proverbs and literature, is a part of our culture here in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mickovic told Religion News Service.

Recently, he released a tribute album to her called “Kantikas de mi Nonna,” or “Songs of my Grandmother,” referring to Flory as the “nonna” of the pre-Holocaust musical tradition of the Balkans.

In the West, Jewish music is often associated with Klezmer, the folk music of Central and Eastern European Jews. But in Spain and across southern Europe, the entirely different music of the Sephardic Jews once thrived. Their language, Ladino or Judeo-Spanish, is a mixture of medieval Spanish, Hebrew and Aramaic, peppered with Turkish, Greek and Serbo-Croatian influences.

Most of Bosnia’s Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Today, fewer than 1,000 Jews remain. But Mickovic and other Bosnian musicians, none of them Jewish, have pieced together an authentic Bosnian sound, and now are researching the works of other Jewish composers.

Photo: Flory Jagoda in 2002, Tom Pich/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

About 100 Jewish youngsters from around the world have made Aliyah to enlist voluntarily in the IDF as Israel wages a war against the Hamas terrorist organization, “leaving family and friends behind in order to protect the Jewish state,” according to Israel Hayom.

            In a month, they will put on their uniforms, but not before completing a preparatory course by the Defense Ministry’s Defense and Society Department, which takes place at an integration center in Karmiel in Northern Israel, where tensions with the Hezbollah terror group are heightened.

During the four-week program, the young men and women will prepare physically and mentally for their service, and also will study Hebrew and get to know Israeli society.

While some American Jews leave Star of David necklaces at home or remove mezuzahs from their doorposts, others have deepened their spiritual practices or have taken to the streets and social media to shout their pride in their Jewish identity and the State of Israel, reports Religion News Service.

In a show of religious or ethnic pride, American Jews who have never worn a Jewish star or supported Israeli causes are doing so now, said Rachel Werczberger, a senior lecturer on the Anthropology of Judaism at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem. Many Jews have reacted to statements accusing Israel of being the aggressor in the current conflict instead of expressing outrage at Hamas’ atrocities, she said. “The refusal by many to acknowledge Jewish suffering after the massacre has pushed people back into their collective identity as Jews.”

Jewish worshippers in the Old City of Jerusalem pray during Hoshana Rabba and the weeklong festival of Sukkot. The holiday commemorates the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the desert.                                          AP Photo

The Codex Sassoon, the millennium-old manuscript received a warm welcome when it arrived at Ben Gurion Airport. It is expected to make its permanent residence at the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

Yehonastan Bnay photo

Hundreds of demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza gathered in the U.S. Capitol’s Cannon House Office Building rotunda on Oct. 18. The group was primarily organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.

Jack Jenkins photo

On Saturday, Oct. 7, Hamas fighters breached Israel’s borders by sea, land and air, occupied more than 20 Israeli communities, murdered hundreds, killing children in their homes and young people at a music festival, and wounded thousands of Israeli citizens. Militants also kidnapped some 150 Israeli men, women and children as hostages and dragged them into Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared to the world, “Israel is at war.”

On Sunday,  Oct. 8, Rabbi Gadi was one of the first Jewish leaders to step forward and lead a special service to mourn the victims and pray for peace, an inspiring response appreciated by our shul.

From a choice of many early photos, The Shofar has chosen these two photos  to tell the story.

An Israeli soldier prays in front of an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) tank on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona, a northern town near the border with Lebanon.

Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Ashkelon in southern Israel.

Photo provided by CNN