Serbian Jewish Community Hosts 2004 Esperansa Sephardic Festival

Esperansa, the Festival of the Sephardic Jews from the Balkans was held in Serbia and Montenegro in June 2004. Sephardic Jews have lived in the Balkans since the 16th century. The language they spoke, Ladino, was a mixture of old Spanish with elements of Hebrew and also some Turkish and Slavic words.

Esperansa, initiated and supported by JDC, is a festival held every other year that gathers representatives of Jewish communities from Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and the territory of Former Yugoslavia. Apart from participants from these communities, Esperansa also hosted guests from important institutions in Israel, Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium and the United States.

This year's cultural and artistic content consisted of:

• Exhibitions of research work as well as paintings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics, craft work, a film about the Israeli singer Jeoram Gaon, and works by the art club "JC Novi Sad"
• Concerts by musical groups and singers, folklore ensembles such as "Trio Vicente Espinel" from Spain, "Mazal" from Bulgaria, "Ansambl Shira U'Tfila" from Serbia, and "Or Ha Semes" from Croatia.
• Theatrical performances by King David Theater from Belgrade, Serbia and others
• Discussions and lectures led by well-known experts included topics such as: "The Jewish-Spanish Language Cyclus"; "From Persecution to the Holocaust - History, Literature, Art in the Sephard Diaspora"; and "Creative Portraits - Leaders of Sephards in the Balkans"

During Shabbat an evening service and festive dinner were held at the Belgrade synagogue. The Jewish Historical Museum of the Association of Jewish Communities of Serbia and Montenegro organized an exhibit of Milica Mihailovic at the Cervantes Institute entitled, ''The Sephard Heritage in the Balkans''. The texts in the exhibit are written in the Ladino language.

Esperansa 2004 represented part of the rich tradition, language, literature, art, poetry, music, folklore, theater and cuisine of the Sephardic culture that thrives in the Balkans.