The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

Tuesdays, October 19–November 16

7:30pm–9pm (5 weeks)

Instructor: Claire Simmons
In Moslem Andalusia, the Sephardim were renowned and respected as prime ministers and religious scholars. Throughout Christian Spain, in Provence and in Italy, their work was tinder that ignited Europe's 12th century Renaissance. The Sephardim left their indelible mark as a result of their roles as intimate advisors to the Ottoman Sultans and invaluable physicians to Renaissance Popes. Our course places special emphasis on the influence of the Sephardim on Italian and Moroccan civilization. You will be amazed to learn of the extraordinary contributions made by Sephardic businessmen, philosophers and politicians that shaped the architecture of Italian and Moroccan civilization.

Ms. Simmons, a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York has taught Jewish history and the Holocaust for more than thirty-five years. From 1980–1994, she served as the Chairperson of the Jewish History Department at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. Claire has lectured and written on Jewish civilization, American Jewish memory and the Holocaust.

Cost: $70M/ $85NM

Code: #1610