The center, which also serves Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, helps future parents identify whether they are at risk of passing on genetic diseases, including those common among people of Jewish ancestry.

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Jewish genetic diseases are a group of recessive, inherited disorders that occur with significant frequency in the Ashkenazi Jewish community. Individuals of Ashkenazi descent have higher carrier rates for diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Canavan, familial dysautonomia, and Gaucher.

Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews are also at increased risk for certain genetic disorders.

There is a fee for Victor Center screening services. However, most medical insurance plans cover the service.  For more information, please call 786-897-9587 or visit https://www.victorcenter.org/

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Last month, an exclusive Israel Hayom report revealed the first estimate of the value of property Jews in Arab countries and Iran were forced to leave behind when they were expelled, which stands at some $150 billion.

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Dr. Yoel Finkelman, curator of the Judaica Collection at the National Library, spoke to Israel Hayom and said that the library had signed an agreement to cooperate with Sephardi Voices because the project addressed "a very important subject that after a long time has started to be the focus of research, as well as growing public awareness."

"Aside from collecting books, manuscripts, and archives, the library also preserves interviews about ordinary people's lives and the lives of influential people who experienced historical events and or social processes," he noted.

Finkelstein added that the National Library has also agreed in principle to add a dedicated page to its website devoted to the Sephardi Voices project.

Professor Henry Green of the University of Miami, who serves as international director of Sephardi Voices, told Israel Hayom that he was pleased that the National Library of Israel would serve "as a home for Sephardi Voices' collection of interviews, documents, portraits and photographs."

Green said he was "very encouraged" to see Israel Hayom taking a prominent part in addressing the important issue of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews being uprooted from Arab countries. Green said that thus far, the project has conducted some 400 interviews, with the intention of collecting approximately 2,000.

• Click here to learn more about the Sephardi Voices project

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The statement was made following an exclusive report in Israel Hayom on a special government report that has found that said lost assets could amount to $150 billion.

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For the most part, when addressing the issue of "refugees" in the Middle East, the international community automatically attributes the term to Palestinian refugees, even though the same period of time (1948-1967) saw over 850,000 Jews leave various Arab countries as well as Iran. Some 600,000 arrived in Israel and the rest relocated mainly to the US or Europe.

Read more: Lost Jewish property in Arab countries estimated at $150 billion

The government report, much of which remains classified, was two years in the making. It examined parameters such as rural and urban property, businesses' value, loss of existing and potential income, and loss of communal property. Its authors stressed that it is a conservative assessment that does not account for current inflation rates.

"The Jewish Agency plans to call a conference in the near future to discuss additional ways to raise awareness of the issue. This has to be dealt with on various levels," Herzog said.

"Ignoring the issue of Jewish refugees, who have lived in Arab countries for centuries and forced to leave and flee, serves Palestinian propaganda," Foreign Minister Israel Katz asserted. "History – certainly not issues pertaining to the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict cannot be interpreted without acknowledging the complexity of the story of displaced Jewish communities."

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The property valuation pertains to assets left behind by Jews who were expelled or fled Arab nations and Iran in the late 1940s and 1950s. The review was two years in the making and its authors stressed that it is a conservative assessment that does not account for current inflation rates.

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The report sheds light on a particularly tragic chapter in the history of Arab and Iranian Jewry and constitutes the first time that the government has compiled comprehensive data on this issue, whose historical, sociopolitical, and international political ramifications could be highly significant.

The project has been in the works since 2002 but it wasn't until 2017, when Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel assumed the mantle, that serious progress was made in this investigation.

Gamliel teamed with the National Security Council, which cast a wide international net with the aim of estimating the scope of lost Jewish property in Arab nations.

The exact methods used to compile the report remain classified, but a rough breakdown of the figures shows lost Jewish property in Iran is worth some $31.3 billion. Assets in Libya, for example, were pegged at $6.7 billion, followed by Yemen proper ($2.6 billion), its temporary capital of Aden ($700 million), and Syria ($1.4 billion).

Gamliel is expected to present the findings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming weeks.

"We may be able to begin righting a historical wrong, as part of which hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who have lost their property could regain it, alongside their forgotten place in the historical narrative of the young state that emerged as they became refugees."

A lost chapter in history

The parameters examined in the report include rural and urban property, businesses' value, loss of income and potential income, and loss of communal property, to name a few.

The report's authors worked off the assumption that in order for any political process to be credible and long-lasting, "It is necessary to ensure that all refugees in the Middle East receive equal treatment under international law."

In 2010, the government passed a law by which any future peace deal with Arab countries will entail compensation for lost Jewish property, but until now the state did not actually know the extent of the property left behind or its exact location.

For the most part, when addressing the issue of "refugees" in the Middle East, the international community, as well as different sectors automatically attribute the term to Palestinian refugees, even though the same period of time (1948-1967) saw over 850,000 Jews leave various Arab countries and Iran. Some 600,000 arrived in Israel and the rest relocated mainly to the US or Europe.

Jewish communities' roots in the Arab world date back over 2,500 years, but unfortunately, the geopolitical upheavals of the Middle East – especially in the 20^th century – have relegated these vibrant communities to a little more than a footnote in history.

In the current political climate in the region, the issue of Palestinian refugee often makes headlines while most remain oblivious to the existence of the issue of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who were forced to leave their countries of origin and who, by emigrating to Israel, have significantly shaped its social fabric.

Commenting on previous Israeli governments' neglect of this issue given its ramifications on any future negotiations, Gamliel said that she was "stunned to discover so little has been done over the years."

The current review "is very important for the past and the present but even more so for the future, as diplomatic efforts the likes of [US] President Trump's 'deal of the century' are about to unfold and entail significant implications," she said.

Since 2014, Israel officially marks the Day of Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran on Nov. 30.

The symbolic date was chosen since it follows Nov. 29 on which the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was adopted and after which many Jews living in Arab countries were pressured or forced to leave their countries.

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The horrific episode was part of the history of the estimated 900,000 Jews born in Iran and the Arab world who were forced to flee their ancient homes during the mid-20th century.

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Few Jews remain in Arab countries and Iran; nevertheless, a new effort is underway to set a global day of commemoration to remember the Jewish communities throughout the Middle East, in addition to the graves that cannot be visited by family and for whom no one recites Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for mourning the dead.

"There is a common story among the Jews throughout the Middle East that has been forgotten, not mentioned and silent for the last half-century, and we feel – as people who came from there – that this is a story that is a vital part of Israel, the whole Middle East and of Jewish history," said David Dangoor, a businessman, philanthropist and vice president of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq.

In 2014, Israeli Knesset member Shimon Ohayon first introduced a law to make Nov. 30 the official day to recall the ordeals of Jews from Arab countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Today, based on this effort, a new initiative is being spearheaded by Dangoor with the goal to recruit synagogues around the world to say a special prayer on the Shabbat closest to that date.

We have now "an opportunity to raise awareness" on this topic "and to pay our respects to all those of our ancestors who are buried there whose graves are in disrepair and which we cannot visit. … It is intended to be recited around the world and to create a sense of community."

On Nov. 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 recommending a partition of British Mandate Palestine, and called for a Jewish state and an Arab state, which the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected. Immediately after the vote, the Arab countries turned on their Jewish populations, confiscating their businesses and stripping them of their rights, much like the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Many Jews were persecuted and murdered, and thousands were forced to flee their homes. For this reason, the next day, Nov. 30, was chosen as a day to remember.

"There is that linkage," said Dangoor. "It is a date around which a lot of commemoration can coalesce."

This past weekend, more than 50 synagogues in the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, France and Israel, all recited the prayer composed by Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the Spanish-Portuguese community in London, in commemoration of the people who were persecuted, exiled or killed for being Jewish. Last year, only 12 synagogues participated in the effort; the initiative is clearly gaining traction.

Part of the text reads: "We have seen with pained hearts the murder of our brothers and sisters and the burning of our synagogues and our Torah scrolls by the hands of our Arab neighbors amongst whom we have dwelt for generations. … Lord full of mercy … give rest on the wings of the Divine Presence … to the souls of our brothers and sisters who died and who were murdered by the hands of cruel enemies in the Arab Lands. Our dwelling places became fiery furnaces and our friends turned to foes."

Acknowledging that the commemoration's true intent is still unclear, noted Dangoor, "we need to feel our way. Is it the expulsion? Is it the murders of so many Jews? Or is it the loss of heritage?"

In part, he said, "it is a political statement to say, 'We were here and we were expelled and we want the world at least not to forget that.' Some of it is a genuine desire to commemorate one's ancestors and the martyrs who were killed along the way."

'These are our ancestors'

In addition to the aspect of remembering those Jews whose stories have been forgotten, this effort simultaneously exposes the history of the Jews who lived in these lands long before the advent of Islam.

When Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE, he exiled many Jews to Babylon, what is today known as Iraq. Thus, Jews called Baghdad their home for more than 2,500 years.

A good portion of Israelis link their backgrounds and traditions to the Middle East, North Africa, and Arab countries. "This is also an opportunity for us to make the point that we are the indigenous people, and the story of sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon is not of some long-extinct tribe. These are our own ancestors," affirmed Dangoor.

There was a time when the Iraqi Jewish community was the epicenter of Jewish life, and Jews were valued and respected and considered by their Muslim brethren as Arabs. In fact, Dangoor's own mother was crowned as the first ever "Miss Iraq."

Dangoor commissioned the internationally acclaimed film "Remember Baghdad," which tells the story of Jews who fled Iraq. The Iraqi embassy sent a delegation to the screening and expressed their desire to re-establish relations with the Jews of Iraq and their descendants.

'Iraq needs to change its stance'

Israel is, of course, a major sticking point in any potential rapprochement between Iraq and its Jews.

According to Dangoor, "a lot of the clerics – the Shiites and the ones who have allegiance to Iran – are much more zealous in not wanting to have any connection with Israel, whereas others now see Israel as a very positive potential force in the Middle East, but they can't come out openly and say that. They do see the Jews as a bridge."

Surprisingly perhaps, "many Iraqis openly play recordings of Israeli singer Dudu Tassa," said Dangoor. "So, culturally, Israel is not viewed as 'bad,' but for some – mainly those linked to fundamentalists and to Iran – they stop at anything that smacks of recognition of Israel. So it is a nuanced situation."

Will Iraq now open its doors to Jews?

According to Dangoor, Iraq finds the former Jewish community to be "a good vehicle to make this rapprochement without appearing to recognize Israel."

"They realize how important the Jews were in Iraq," he added. "Really, Iraq needs to change its stance and show that it absolutely, positively values and cherishes the Jewish part of its history."

Affirming the prominent Jewish presence there, a 1917 British intelligence document records that the Jews of Baghdad once comprised 40% of the population. Interestingly, the report insists on the validity of the numbers "in anticipation of racial claims which are sure to be made sooner or later."

Two years ago, a delegation of heads of Iraqi cultural organizations asked to meet with heads of the Jewish community of Iraq in London. They were impressed by how much success Iraqi Jews have had in the United Kingdom and asked why they can't replicate their success in Iraq.

"We said we would love to," recalled Dangoor. However, he also told them that the Iraqi government "must make it clear that the current equivocal position on the Jews sometimes seen as part and parcel of Iraqi heritage – and at other times no more than representatives of an enemy state – must change. That needs to be brought up to date and normalized."

Asked why the initiative is only now getting off the ground, Dangoor said "it is a question mark as to why it hasn't occurred, but it is starting to occur, and it is going to occur in a gradual and cumulative way. It's a process of accretion. Every little bit will build a structure that is no doubt overdue."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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About half of the 132,226 applications were submitted in the past month alone as the deadline drew near, it said. The bulk of applications came from Latin American countries, mainly Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela.

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For the past four years, Spain allowed the foreign Sephardim – old Hebrew for Spaniards – to apply to become Spanish nationals without giving up their current citizenship. They had to present proof of their Sephardi background through their family names, language, or ancestry.

The ministry said it would process all applications, including those without the legal certificates attached, which can be submitted later.

Around 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the so-called Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand – whose reign saw the founding of the Spanish Empire – ordered Jews and Muslims to convert to the Catholic faith or leave the country.

Spain has said it owes its descendants a debt of gratitude for spreading the Spanish language and culture around the world.

Most of the Jews expelled settled elsewhere in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In Israel, the Sephardim make up around a quarter of the population.

The old Jewish quarters in medieval Spanish cities such as Córdoba and Toledo now attract thousands of tourists every year.

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Yet Ladino is becoming an inspiration for many musicians from across Bosnia's ethnic divide.

"Ladino as a language is dying out even in predominantly Jewish communities, but it is our obligation here to maintain our shared heritage and preserve it, at least in our music," said Tijana Vignjevic, a music teacher and leader of the Corona vocal ensemble.

Corona, whose seven members come from Bosnia's different ethnic groups, combines storytelling with a cappella singing and a touch of modernity. The ensemble was among four groups performing Sephardi songs at the Sarajevo Jazz Festival over the weekend.

The Jewish community has played a significant role in Sarajevo's cultural and economic life for more than 400 years. Expelled after the Christian re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Jews found sanctuary in the town, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

"Sarajevo was the last bastion of Ladino and Sephardi culture," Jewish historian Eli Tauber said.

At its height, Sarajevo had eight synagogues, serving some 12,000 Jews. Most of the Jews were killed when the city was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Fewer than 1,250 remained.

After the war, the Jewish community began to grow again, but it was dealt another blow with Yugoslavia's bloody collapse and the subsequent siege of Sarajevo.

Tauber said that out of 500 Jews in Sarajevo today, only two are able to speak Ladino fluently. A dozen can understand it or know some Ladino stories and proverbs.

But musicians are doing their part in preserving the disappearing language, with the Sarajevo Music Academy encouraging several students to research Ladino music, Tauber said.

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