Congregation Nahalat Shalom this month will host the “Festival Djudeo-Espanyol 2010: Celebrating the Crypto-Jewish Legacy of New Mexico.” Presented in partnership with the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, the festival is a celebration of Crypto-Jewish history, literature, language and culture, which has been miraculously transmitted for well over five-hundred years.

Featured lecturers include Rabbi Stephen Leon of Congregation Bnai Zion of El Paso, Dr. Stanley M. Hordes, University of New Mexico and other scholars. The festival takes place at 3606 Rio Grande Blvd. NW, Albuquerque, at 7 PM on March 19, and from 9:30 AM through 10 PM on March 20.

The celebrations include Sephardic Shabbat Services, lectures, poetry, and a concert of Sephardic music. The festival is open to the whole community and begins with an evening Shabbat Service, which incorporates Ladino, Spanish, Hebrew and English with Sephardic melodies. The celebration continues Saturday morning with a short Crypto-Jewish Service followed with a presentation by Rabbi Stephen Leon.

The afternoon programming will feature a panel of Crypto-Jews for a very interesting discussion regarding their personal journeys and return to Judaism, followed by four presentations on Converso history, literature and culture by local as well as national scholars.

The celebration concludes with a Sephardic Havdallah Service and concert by Albuquerque’s The Rebbe’s Orkestra.

Contact Hershel Weiss at 505.324.1096 during daytime hours or 505.246.8910 in the evenings.