The Hamas massacre began on October 7, 2023, at 6:29 a.m. Three years later, October 7, 2023 is still with us, as we remember every victim.

This week, SHIN-DC is hosting Frontline Advocates to facilitate the sharing of their stories with Members of Congress (including Rep. Jamie Raskin, pictured below), as well as our Greater Washington community. This includes the story of Sheerel Gabay, an American-Israeli Nova survivor who was shot on October 7.

You have a chance to meet our special guests from Israel Stav Cohen, Achinoam Rosenbaum, Maya Dahan, Tomer Shmuel, Sheerel Gabay, and Nate Gordon on October 7 at Shalom Kosher 10-10:20AM and at the Community Oct. 7 Commemoration presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and Washington Hebrew Congregation in partnership with SHIN-DC at 7:30PM.

On October 1, a SHIN-DC delegation met with Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, at his office at the State Department.

In addition to taking the opportunity to wish each other “Hag Sameah,” the SHIN-DC group—noting that Iraq's ancient Jewish community, once about 135,000 people, was almost entirely displaced during the twentieth century—raised several unresolved issues of concern to the approximately 15,000 Iraqi Jews in the U.S. Those issues included reversal of the denaturalization of Iraqi Jews, potential restitution or compensation for confiscated individual and communal property, and stewardship of the Iraqi Jewish Archive, much of which is in the custody of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Representing SHIN-DC, and pictured here with the Ambassador, were Board members Maurice Shohet and Richard Foltin and Director Afraim Katzir. In addition to his SHIN-DC position, Mr. Shohet serves as President of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq.

On September 9, SHIN-DC Director Afraim Katzir celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, with friend and colleague Ambasador Yechiel Leiter, at the Embassy of Israel.

We are praying for a refuah sheleima for his son Neriah Dov ben Hannah, who remains on life support after being struck at full speed by a vehicle driven by a Palestinian terrorist while he was serving on reserve duty. May he be granted a complete and speedy recovery, and may his family be strengthened during this difficult time.

It happens that Mazal Tov is also in order to Ambassador Leiter on the birth of his granddaughter. May her birth be a herald for more good and better news to come as we settle into 5787.

October 7 Memorials

THE EMBASSY OF ISRAEL

On October 5, SHIN-DC Director Afraim Katzir joined the Embassy of Israel with colleagues and friends to remember the lives stolen by Hamas on and following October 7, 2023. Katzir is pictured above with DCM Nevo Barchad, Leo Terrell, Chair of the Federal Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism at the Department of Justice, and Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat.

On October 1, SHIN-DC Director Afraim Katzir joined AMEPA to hear the gripping story of Nova Music Festival survivor Gal Bukshpan, moderated by veteran news personality Harris Faulkner, at the National Press Club.

Some Recent Highlights

On September 16, Sephardic Heritage International members gathered in Shepherd Park NWDC for a High Holiday concert, “Music of the West/Maghreb & Beyond,” featuring Rabbi Hazzan Yosef Amiga, pianist Moshe Elmakias and ba’al tekia (shofar blower) Gil Cohen of the Beit Halevi Sephardic synagogue, with remarks from Samy Ymar of Magen David Sephardic Congregation and a welcome from SHIN-DC director Afraim Katzir. See Washington Jewish Week

On September 19, SHIN-DC's Director Afraim Katzir was pleased to have attended Magen David Sephardic Congregation’s amazing Selichot Unity Concert, with Rabbi Soussan, in commUNITY with Sephardic Heritage International DC (SHIN-DC) and our local Sephardic synagogues.

Tremendous performances by MDSC’s very own hazzan Rabbi David Haiek and Rabbi Yosi Amiga. Also singing was Rabbi Hazzan Boaz Yakubov, with SHIN-DC Ambassador Gil Cohen joining on shofar during Selihot. There were also remarks of Torah from Rabbi Levy of Beit HaLevi Sephardic synagogue.

On September 14, SHIN-DC was a proud sponsor of Tzedek DC's Eat Well, Do Justice event that featured Ladino music from Trio Sefardi (Susan, Howard, and Ali) and dishes from Sephardic culinary traditions for attendees and guest judges to taste and vote on, including Chef Susan Barocas and former Washington Post food editor Bonnie Benwick. We were honored to support Tzedek DC's important work.

DC Screening of Film by Greek Jewish SHIN-DC Member Caroline Kaye

In Review - Remembering the Farhud & October 7

A year after the first congressional Farhud remembrance, D.C.’s Iraqi Jewish community returned to Congress to commemorate the massacre that targeted Baghdad Jewry in June 1941.  Speakers included Marc Sievers, the former U.S. ambassador to Oman who participated together with his son Sam; SHIN Board Member Maurice Shohet; Rabbi Brian Shamash; Rabbi Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, U.S. Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism; SHIN Board Member Richard Foltin; Dalia Burgana, the cousin of Shlomo Mansour who survived the Farhud and was abducted and killed by Hamas on Oct. 7; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL); and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), a retired Navy SEAL who has prioritized defending Israel and the Jewish people. See our next newsletter for photos and video.

PRESS: Congressional Farhud Remembrance Expands to Include Oct. 7, Washington Jewish Week

August 17-18, 2026, Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN-DC) was among the institutional partners of the Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, which also included the Orthodox Union and the RCA.

SHIN-DC Director Afraim Katzir had a meaningful and productive time in community at the conference with close friends and over 150 esteemed members of our Sephardic rabbinic community from around the world to discuss the challenges facing our Sephardic communities today and Sephardic continuity.

Director Katzir also had the opportunity to catch up with Sephardic colleague Ofir Akunis, Counsul General of Israel in New York (bottom photo, center).

PRESS: Mimouna 2026: SHIN DC’s 12th Mimouna Unites Jews, Muslims Amid War in Iran, Washington Jewish Week + Moroccan Jewish Community in Washington Celebrates Mimouna, Morocco World News + Morocco World News - Video. + HE Youssef Amrani - Video. Congressional Holocaust Commemoration, 2026: The Jerusalem Post | Washington Jewish Week.

SEPHARDIC HERITAGE INTERNATIONAL (SHIN) / SHIN-DC: SHIN is a pluralistic 501(c)(3) organization that builds intercultural bridges and understanding, while raising awareness of Sephardic and other under-represented Jewish heritages, and the cultures, arts and history of the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, and Asia. Through a focus on celebrating Sephardic and other underrepresented Jewish heritages and their potential for cross-cultural bridge building, SHIN-DC engages in cultural diplomacy by bringing together diverse communities and working closely with the diplomatic community and the US Congress. The Multicultural Jewish Arts Museum (MJAM), a project of SHIN-DC, highlights the Jewish culture of African, Asian, and Hispanic communities and their manifestations in the Americas and is envisioned as part of an effort to combat prejudice of all types, including antisemitism.