Sophie recently graduated Barnard College with a B.A. in Art History / Visual Arts and Jewish Studies. She was formerly Literary & Arts Editor at The Current and a Design Board Editor at Quarto Magazine. Her artwork has been featured in collaborations with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Protocols, New Voices, and Chaya Community. Editors Evan Mateen and Sophie Levy met with Dr. Sternfeld over Zoom to discuss the ripple effects of the publication of his book Between Iran and Zion, the implications of studying Iranian Jewry as an Israeli scholar in the US, and the future of Middle-Eastern Jewish history as a discipline.
It's rare for English-speaking audiences to find prosaic accounts and imaginations of Mizrahi life written by an Israeli author that were originally composed in English, rather than translated from Hebrew. Ayelet Tsabari's work offers us a glimpse into her life as a Yemeni woman born in Israel not only by way of content- but by way of language; Hebrew makes itself subliminally known in her writing.
Our editors talk with Galeet about her family’s ties to Iranian and Jewish music, her multifaceted approach to her work as both a scholar and a performer, and her thoughts on the future of music in American Jewish congregations.
We are in a global moment of reckoning that is asking us to re-examine how our identities are not static or monolithic traits, but situationally-adaptable variables informed by our positions in larger social, political, economic, and cultural realities. Our understanding of identity today is ever-changing, constantly being shaped and defined by the roles we play across different communities.
This week marks one year since ZAMAN’s launch in February 2019. In that time, we have published forty articles, essays, poems, paintings, drawings, photographs, videos and other projects that have given a contemporary voice to Mizrahi stories.
My Jewishness governs matters of the spirit, for me. I do also stand with Jewish Americans in practical matters, particularly at moments when our lives, dignity, and freedom are under siege. But in this life, I am Arab first and last.
Completed between December 2017 and May 2018, this painting draws upon traditional portraits of female dancers and musicians in Qajar-era Iran while also incorporating a lush vocabulary of symbolism. Levy patches together a pulsating landscape of naturalistic biblical Jewish motifs, images drawn from memory, and references to her personal life.
A comic about mental health stigmas in the Persian Jewish community, as discussed over Dr. Holakouee’s radio show in my grandma’s car.
This series of graphite illustrations on paper combines images and text from a wide range of sources to pose and address the question: “what does it feel like to remember a place you have never been?” As an American-born descendant of Persian Jews barred from entering Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Levy incorporates images and words drawn from family photos, state-issued documents, Persian ketubbot (Jewish marriage contracts), post-revolutionary Iranian photography, album covers, and visual representations of memories her family has recalled over the years.
ZAMAN Co-Editor Sophie Levy speaks with Mika about the title of their Judaica project, its connection to the concept of "Jewish temporality," practicing Jewish ritual as a trans person, and the value of participatory, inviting design.