electronic office hours: considering I live in Turkey these hours could be set at 9:00-11:00pm any day Turkish time.

Transcription

1 STARR KING SCHOOL FOR THE MINISTRY COURSE SYLLABUS FOR: TURKISH-SEPHARDIC CULTURE Taught by: KAREN GERSON SARHON tel no: skype ID: sarhonka electronic office hours: considering I live in Turkey these hours could be set at 9:00-11:00pm any day Turkish time. FALL WEEKS Learning Outcomes Students who successfully complete the course will: 1. have general historical knowledge about Turkish Sephardic Jews 2. know about Ladino/Judeo-Spanish, its past and present 3. be aware of the work done to preserve and document the language 4. know about all sorts of publications in Ladino 5. know about Turkish Sephardic music and sing a few songs 6. have learned about Turkish Sephardic religious music 7. know about Turkish Sephardic cuisine and be able to cook a few recipes WEEKS 1-3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In these three weeks students will acquire knowledge about the historical background of the Sephardic Jews of Turkey. In the first week we will learn about the events leading to the arrival of the Spanish Jews in the Ottoman Empire and also about the Jews already living in the Ottoman Empire prior to the arrival of the

2 Spanish Jews. In the second week, students will learn about life in the Ottoman Empire and where and how Jews lived and what kind of community life they had. During the third week, students will get to know about the Jews of modern Turkey and a little bit about the political events that took place since the foundation of the Turkish Republic and how it affected Jewish life. WEEKS 4-6 LANGUAGE Weeks 4, 5, and 6 will be spent learning about Ladino or Judeo-Espanyol, as this language of the Sephardic Jews has been called. We will learn about the extraordinary phenomenon of the preservation of this language for 520 years, a phenomenon that is unique in the world. Week 4 will be spent on the background of the language, what it is, how it came about etc. During week 5 we will look at all the different factors that influenced the development of this language including the effects of the Alliance Israelite Universelle schools. We will also take a look at the specific alphabet with which the language was written until the 1930s. During week 6 we will look at what is going on in modern times, especially since the 1990s. We will analyze the renaissance of the language and also the predictions for the future. WEEKS 7 ROUNDING UP This week will be spent on tying up loose ends and clarifying any unclear points of the past 6 weeks. A 2-3 mins presentation on any of the subjects discussed so far would be a nice rounding up of the first 6 weeks. Students can choose any of the topics we have discussed so far and do a little research and present (either orally or in written form: if orally 2-3 mins presentation would be enough; if written then 2-3 pages - double spaced, Times New Roman font 12 would be fine) the material to the class. WEEKS 8-10 MUSIC Sephardic Music is both interesting and entertaining. This is the part of the course where we start singing, preferably aloud! We will listen to a lot of music and it will be for the students to decide which songs they like best and which interpreters they prefer. So starting this week, students should have some eggs and honey for breakfast, good for the voices!

3 Week 8 will be spent first of all on an overview of the music and then on the musical heritage that the Sephardic Jews brought to the Ottoman Empire, the Romansas. Week 9 will be spent listening to and analyzing the Turkish-Sephardic music, the popular folk songs called Kantikas, and the liturgical songs. We will be studying the effects of the Turkish maqams on this music. During week 10, we will be looking at the situation today, what kind of new compositions there are and also the festivals like Festiladino in Israel and their contribution to this music. We will look at different interpreters of this music and analyze them. WEEKS CUISINE In the last three weeks of the course we will be cooking and eating! In this part of the course we will be cooking a specific dish every week. There will be recipes from which you choose and if you are adventurous enough to try some of them, it would be nice if you could share your experiences with the whole class. There will be recipes that are easy to make and also difficult ones but one thing is certain: all the dishes will be absolutely DELICIOUS! Lose a couple of kilos before we start this part of the course! We will first of all look at an overview of the development of the Turkish-Sephardic cuisine and all the culinary influences that have made this cuisine one of the tastiest in the world. We will study the main characteristics of the Turkish-Sephardic cuisine and the ruling factor: kasherut rules. We will also look at what kind of culinary traditions were brought from Spain? Week 11 will be spent on the entrées, soups and meat dishes, week 12 on the vegetable dishes and week 13 on desserts. We will look at interesting recipes and students will be required to cook at least one of the recipes and discuss the problems they encountered while cooking. There will probably be no problem eating because the food is excellent and delicious! WEEKS 14 SUMMING UP & EVALUATION This is a good week to round up all we have learned during this term. Everyone should have a few minutes to evaluate the course and talk about what they have learned and what else they would like or would have liked to learn. If students have

4 been interested enough to do some extra reading, this would be a good time to share that with the whole class. Students should also think about what they will present as their final work. This can be on any topic we have covered so far. It could be a new Sephardic song they have composed, maybe a small poem in Ladino if they would like to try their hand at something like that, or they could write a short story, or an article, or they could write the script for a documentary on the Turkish-Sephardic culture they would like to do. Anything goes; students can use their imagination and their background and their specific interests. BIBLIOGRAPHY Texts that will be online: a lot of articles on the history, language, music and cuisine Music online: songs by Los Pasharos Sefaradis, and other interpreters of Sephardic music Videos online: Sephardic cooking TV programs, concerts Books and CDs that can be purchased (not obligatory): CD: Kantikas para Syempre, Los Pasharos Sefaradis CD: Las Puertas, Los Pasharos Sefaradis CD: Zemirot, Los Pasharos Sefaradis CD: Zemirot II, Yako Taragano Synagogue Hymns Choir Book & CDs & DVD: The Maftirim Collection Book: El Prezente Book: La Famiya Mozotros Book: Disyonaryo Judeo-Espanyol Turko Book: Trezoro Sefaradi, Beki Bardavid & Fani Ender

5 Expectations/ Requirements of the Students: 1. Please tell me if you need letter grades or just a Pass/Fail grade 2. You are expected to spend approx. 12hrs per week on the course reading, doing assignments and participating in online discussions and correspondence. 3. Report any technical difficulties immediately by following the instructions online. Grading Scale: 1. Participation in the course will account for 20% of the overall grade. 3. The mid-term presentation in week 7 will account for 30% of the overall grade. 4. The final ppresentation will account for 50% of the overall grade.