Guide to the Records of the Central Sephardic Jewish Community of America, Women's Division,
1941-2000

ASF AR-2

Series I: Mrs. Mazal Ovadia, 1942-1945.

Arrangement:

Correspondence is arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Mazal Ovidia was the founder of the Women's Division. The materials in this series start with correspondence with the Chairman of the Board of the CJSCA Simon S. Nessim from 1942 regarding the idea of organizing the Women's division of the community. The Women's Division was founded in 1943. Correspondence from this period of time includes letters to congregations regarding membership, invitations to events, announcements of meetings, thank you notes for contributions, and correspondence with the IRS regarding financial matters. 1943-1945 correspondence concerns the Sephardic Old Age Home project, the American Jewish Peace Conference, the summer camp for youth project, and the activities of Women's Division during the war.

The series includes correspondence in French and Spanish.

Series II: Mrs. Lucy Touriel, 1947-1955.

Arrangement:

Correspondence is arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains records of Mrs. Lucy Touriel, the Second President of the Women's Division. Touriel served two presidential terms: 1947-1951 and 1953-1955. The majority of material in this series is correspondence. Most of it pertains to contributions and donations to the community. The rest of the correspondence includes invitations to events, such as Annual Anniversary Luncheons, annual Raffle, annual Hanukkah dinner dance, Purim luncheons etc.; announcements of meetings; letters of condolences; financial correspondence; correspondence related to various activities of the Women's Division under Touriel's tenure with the assistance of Irma Cardozo, such as shipments of clothing to Israel, scholarships for needy students, support of new expansion of the Sephardic Home for the Aged, and financial support of Community. The series also contains annual reports, list of board of directors and membership list. Some correspondence is in French.

Series III: Mrs. Julia Politi, 1956-1957.

Arrangement:

Correspondence is arranged chronologically by year.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Julia Politi served as a President of Women's Division from 1955 to 1957. This series contains correspondence pertaining to Politi's tenure. It includes acknowledgements of contributions; correspondence with Novel Press – the publisher of the Journal of the Women's Division of the CSJCA, and correspondence with individuals regarding placing ads in the Journal; invitation cards and letters; correspondence with bank; congratulations and condolences; list of delegates and alternates, list of board of directors; correspondence with Mr. David Politi, President of the Community.

Series IV: Mrs. Lucy Touriel, Mrs. Rachel El-Hassid, Mrs. Lydia Emmanuel, 1958.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Lucy Touriel, Mrs. Rachel El-Hassid and Mrs. Lydia Emmanuel co-chaired the Women's Division from 1957 to 1959. The folder contains materials mostly pertaining to the arrangements for the Annual Luncheon and Annual Dinner Dance: correspondence with congregations and individuals regarding space for the events, dates, and requests for contributions. Included is also correspondence with Chase Manhattan Bank and corporate resolutions.

Series V: Mrs. Fannie Angel,  1959-1960.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Fannie Angel was President of the Women's Division from 1959-1961. The series consists of the Dinner-Dance Journal from 1960, in which Mrs. Angel addresses the Community in the President's Message, as well as a small amount of her correspondence.

Series VI: Mrs. Flora Behar, 1961-1963.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Flora Behar held the office from 1961 to 1963. The materials in this series include the Guest book of the reception in honor of Chief Rabbi Dr. Alcalay, January 13, 1963, and correspondence. Correspondence consists mainly of invitations to events. Included are also correspondence with Barr Press – the printer of raffle books, tickets, invitation and thank you cards; contract of advertising forms for the Journal of the Women's Division; and letters from Mr. Simon Nessim, the President of the Community.

Series VII: Mrs. Emilie Levy, 1963-1998.

Arrangement:

General Subject Files are arranged alphabetically. Correspondence is arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Emilie Levy served three terms as the President of the Women's Division: 1963-1969, 1973-1977, and 1981-1983. The bulk of the materials in this series falls into 1963-1983 period, with some personal correspondence from the late 1990s. The series is organized in 2 Subseries: General Subject Files and Correspondence. The series contains correspondence in French and Spanish.

General Subject Files include annual reports for the years of Levy's presidency, lists of Board of Directors and membership lists, announcements of events and invitation cards, minutes of meetings, the constitution of the Women's Division amended under Levy's tenure, publications collected by Levy such as the Bulletin of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, the Newsletter of the American Sephardic Federation, and clippings from various newspapers related to Sephardic issues or activities of the Women's Division and its individual members.

A large amount of materials is devoted to the Sephardic Cookbook. Sephardic Cookery was written by Levy in 1983 and published under the auspices of the Women's Division Cookbook Committee. The book is a compendium of the dishes traditional to Sephardic Jews. The recipes are preceded by an introduction where Levy reviews the history of Sephardic Jews, intertwined with memories from her childhood in Egypt. Among the materials on the Cookbook project are clippings from newspapers, agreements with the publisher, correspondence and minutes of the Cookbook Committee, and financial statements on the expenses and profit of the project. The original book is included in the series as well.

The Correspondence Subseries encompasses all three Levy's presidential terms. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to the planning activities for various benefits organized by the Women's Division. This includes correspondence regarding space arrangements, invitations, responses to invitations, and correspondence with caterers. A large portion of this subseries constitute thank you notes from institutions, which received donations from the Women's Division. Other topics of the correspondence (form the 1960s) include: activities of the Scholarship Committee; drafts of speeches held during the events; correspondence with Sephardic Home for the Aged, Yeshiva University; letters from the President of the Community, Joseph Katalan, acknowledging WD's donations to the Community. Topics from the 1970s correspondence include: efforts to raise money for building a new wing for the Sephardic Home for the Aged; raising money for the Israel Emergency Fund of the United Jewish Appeal (1973); Misgab Ladach Hospital Project; Vacation Project for the Jewish Aged; organizing exhibit of Sephardic artifacts at the Jewish Museum. Of interest among 1980s correspondence are materials regarding memorial for Rabbi Alcalay; correspondence with Joseph Papo, former Executive Director of the Community, regarding Community and Women's Division affairs; personal correspondence – best wishes and thank you letters from friends for Levy's contribution to the work of the Women's Division.

Subseries 1: General Subject Files, 1963-1994.

Subseries 2: Correspondence, 1963-1998.

Series VIII: Mrs. Mathilde Emmanuel, 1969-1971.

Arrangement:

Folders are arranged alphabetically by folder title, then chronologically.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Mathilde Emmanuel served as President of the Women's Division from 1969 to 1971. Documents include annual reports, correspondence, material on a planned Ovadia memorial, and financial papers. Items of interest may be found in the correspondence, which includes information on Women's Division functions and events, projects, and fund-raising efforts. Letters from Mrs. Irma Cardozo and Mrs. Mazal Ovadia to the Women's Division give some information on the needs of Sephardic Jews in Israel at the time, and Ovadia's frequent letters also contain some notes on the history of the Women's Division. Ovadia appeared to be facilitating the delivery of the Women's Division's contributions to educational institutions in Israel. Material on annual Women's Division events also contain handwritten notes of grocery items needed for luncheons and drafts of invitations to events.

Series IX: Mrs. Mathilde Emmanuel, co-president with Mrs. Shirley Elias and Mrs. Blanche Altchek, 1971-1973.

Arrangement:

Folders are arranged alphabetically by folder title, then chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series centers on the shared Presidency of Mrs. Mathilde Emmanuel, Mrs. Shirley Elias, and Mrs. Blanche Altchek, which lasted from 1971 to 1973. It contains routine papers of the Women's Division during this time, which include annual reports, material on events, and minutes of meetings. Correspondence includes donation letters, invitations, letters concerning social assistance and letters of appreciations from Mazal Ovadia in Israel to the Women's Division, and from Tamar de Sola Pool.

Series X: Mrs. Ruth Schulson, 1977-1981.

Arrangement:

Folders are arranged alphabetically by folder title, then chronologically.

Scope and Content:

The records in this series are from the Presidency of Mrs. Ruth Schulson. They consist of invitations to events, including the Annual Sephardic Festival, as well as papers on financial matters and correspondence. The correspondence contains many letters from organizations asking for contributions and expressing thanks for contributions. In addition, there are also letters on topics such as the death of Isaac Alcalay and aid to Jews in Iran.

Series XI: Mrs. Irma Cardozo, 1983-2000.

Arrangement:

Folders in subseries 1 and 2 are arranged alphabetically by folder title, then chronologically. Folders in subseries 3 are arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

Mrs. Irma Cardozo was the President of the Women's Division from 1983 until the demise of the organization. Materials in this series are organized in three subseries: Subseries 1: General Subject Files; Subseries 2: Committee for Scholarship for Education in Israel under the chairmanship of Irma Cardozo; and Subseries 3: Correspondence. Most of the records are in English, with some correspondence in Hebrew. See description of individual subseries for detailed information.

Subseries 1: General Subject Files, 1972-1996.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains routine documents associated with the Women's Division under Cardozo's Presidency. Some of these documents are financial papers, annual reports, a notebook of agendas, material on the Annual Spring Luncheon, and minutes of meetings. Financial records include a copy of the final tax form filed in 1997 after the dissolution of the organization. The minutes chronicle the work of the Women's Division in the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the decision to dissolve the organization at the end of 1996. After the decision was made to end the organization, it was decided to donate its finances to various organizations; a description of these donations is also available in the minutes. In addition, the minutes also contain Cardozo's reports on the work and activities of the Women's Division.

Subseries 2. Committee for Scholarship for Education in Israel under the chairmanship of Irma Cardozo, 1983-1993.

Scope and Content:

The papers in this subseries focus on the work of the Committee under the leadership of Cardozo. Although Cardozo worked as co-chairperson with Rosalie Hendricks, she did not become the head of the Committee herself until 1983. The bulk of the papers are from the 1980s, and the majority of documents are letters sent to Cardozo from educational institutions in Israel. Correspondence from educational institutions consists of thank you notes and brief descriptions of the progress made by the institution. There is a great deal of information about the Jaffa Institute for the Advancement of Education in Israel, as well as the Sanhedria Children's Home and Center and Boys Town in Jerusalem. In addition, there are a few letters to the Committee from scholarship recipients, and a small amount of financial papers. Related material can be found in Series XI, which contains documents from 1958-1983, when Rosalie Hendricks served as the chairperson of the Committee.

Almost all papers in this subseries are in English, but there are a few in Hebrew.

Subseries 3: Correspondence, 1984-2000.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of the correspondence of the Women's Division at the time of Irma Cardozo's Presidency. The bulk of the documents are from the 1980s through the early 1990s. The papers contain information on fund-raising activities of the Women's Division. Many of the letters are from other charitable organizations, usually in Israel, requesting or acknowledging contributions. There is a large amount of material concerning the Misgav Ladach Hospital in Jerusalem, Israeli institutions for needy or handicapped children, and NESLI-Sephardi Women for Jerusalem, among numerous others. Correspondence includes material on visits made by Women's Division members to supported organizations in Israel, as well as visits by organization members to the Women's Division when they were in New York. The correspondence also contains information on the reprinting of the Women's Division cookbook, Sephardic Cookery. In addition, this subseries contains many letters of gratitude and regret sent to Cardozo by supported organizations upon hearing of the closing of the Women's Division. Correspondence from 2000 is between Cardozo and the American Sephardi Federation, outlining the history of Woman's Division.

Almost all papers in this subseries are in English, but there are a few in Hebrew.

Series XII: Committee for Scholarship for Education, under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Henry Hendricks, 1958-1983.

Arrangement:

Folders are arranged alphabetically by folder title, then chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains the records of Mrs. Rosalie Hendricks (Mrs. Henry Hendricks), most of which focus on the Committee for Scholarship for Education in Israel. The records span several Presidencies of the Women's Division, but the bulk are from the 1960s and 1970s. The vast majority of the documents are correspondence. The Committee was originally established by the Community in 1963, under the chairmanship of Hendricks, together with Mrs. Lucy Touriel and many other ladies of the Board. It continued to expand until the Women's Division took it over in 1979 under the co-chairmanship of Mrs. Irma Cardozo. The Committee was responsible for helping Sephardic children in Israel attend secondary school.

The correspondence documents many of the scholarship cases of specific children, including reports on their progress in school, and justifications for their scholarships. There is also information on the difficulties facing Sephardic children in Israel. In addition, Hendricks' records also include documents of the Sisterhood of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, which belonged to the Women's Division. Those documents provide information on the history of the Synagogue, as well as minutes of Sisterhood meetings, lists of Board of Directors' members, and a small amount of correspondence of the Sisterhood, which mostly focuses on their activities. Related material can be found in Series 10, Subseries 2, which contains papers from 1983-1993, when Cardozo served as chairperson of this committee.

Series XIII: Photographic Materials,  1941-1997.

Arrangement:

Folders are arranged alphabetically by title, then chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains photographs from the Women's Division. They feature several functions and events, as well as some of the more well-known members. Most of the photographs are unidentified and without dates.