The Ashkephardim of Venezuela:
A Unique Vanishing Jewish Community

Sunday, May 18
USA 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET
UK 8:00 pm / France 9:00 pm / Israel 10:00 pm
The talk will last approximately 90 minutes
About this talk
Do Jewish communities in the Diaspora end up resembling their host countries? In the racially mixed Venezuela of the 20th century, this seems to be true, as the local kehila, mainly from Romania and Morocco, followed the example set by the broader Venezuelan society. Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews intermarried and established common institutions that laid the foundations of a brotherhood that distinguishes the Venezuelan Jewish community—an identity where gefilte fish and adafina are shared at the same table. However, the current times have forced many to leave, and this community is trying to hold on to the splendor it enjoyed in past decades.
About Nestor
Néstor Luis Garrido is a Venezuelan writer, professor, journalist, columnist, and scriptwriter. He has given several seminars on Jewish Literature, Sephardic Literature, and Judaism as a way of life.
Within the Venezuelan Jewish community, he has served as director of the weekly* Nuevo Mundo Israelita (1990), the short-lived weekly Itón, and the magazine Hebraica. He is also the founder and director of the magazines Recuerda-Zajor (since 2001) and Maguén-Escudo (since 2009). Additionally, he has been involved with the Venezuelan Committee of Yad Vashem and the Centro de Estudios Sefardíes de Caracas, *a cultural institution of the Asociación Israelita de Venezuela.
Between 2012 and 2016, he was responsible for the Annual Report on Antisemitism in Venezuela, published annually by the Confederation of Israelite Associations of Venezuela.
He has also written the scripts for the documentaries* Valió la Pena (2001) and Una Llama Encendida (2011), which explore the history of the Ashkenazi community in Venezuela.
Click here to register
You will be asked to select one of these options:
General admission - $18
Supported admission - $9
Sponsor this talk - $36
With your contribution, you will also be donating to the Maguén Escudo Magazine of the Israelite Association of Venezuela