Hello friends of CVJHP!
For the first time since 2005, Christmas and Hanukkah fell on the same day in 2024! Even though the two holidays have different meanings, the coincidence is a joyful one. The eight-day Festival of Lights ends on January 2. The Hanukkah menorah above was sculpted by renowned Baghdad-born artist Oded Halahmy. The photo is courtesy of the American Sephardi Federation.
In this final newsletter of 2024, we share photos that reflect key highlights in CVJHP's history, which informally began in 1995 when I joined forces with Januário Nascimento. A proud descendant of the Jewish Auday family from Tangier, Januário spearheaded the restoration and preservation of Cabo Verde's Jewish cemeteries. To better assist in raising funds and global awareness, I created the nonprofit organization CVJHP in 2008. In 2009, Moroccan Ambassador to the US, Aziz Mekouar, hosted a kickoff reception. In 2011, H.M. King Mohammed VI made a generous contribution enabling the physical restoration of the 4 Sephardic cemeteries, beginning with the Praia Jewish burial plot in 2013. In 2014, I visited H.E. André Azoulay, counselor to King Mohammed VI (and to King Hassan II). Mr. Azoulay has been a staunch supporter of our work since 1995 when I first showed him photos of the Jewish cemeteries.
Thanks to vital donations from Mr. S. Daniel Abraham (2nd from top), The World Monuments Fund and the American Embassy in Praia, CVJHP was able to commission and finance the publication of Os Judeus Marroquinos de Cabo Verde: Seculo XIX, dozens of copies of which we have donated to secondary schools in Cabo Verde. See Timeline of Accomplishments.
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