Centro Sefarad-Israel awards the Cervantes Institute “for its work in disseminating the Sephardic cultural legacy”

Sepharad-Israel Center has awarded the Cervantes Institute “for his work in disseminating the Sephardic cultural legacy”as well as “for his contributions to the study and knowledge of Judeo-Spanish as a meeting space between Spain and Jewish culture”.

During the award ceremony, the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, stated, in reference to Judeo-Spanish, that “preserving the language is much more than preserving a few words, and it has put value”how important culture is to fight against all hate speech”, as reported by the Sefarad-Israel Center in a statement published this Monday.

Each year Centro Sefarad-Israel presents this award to people or institutions that have promoted harmony and intercultural dialogue.

The award was presented at an institutional event to welcome the new year 5785. The holiday, which is known as Rosh Hashanah, which means “head of the year” and which is followed by other festivals of great relevance such as Yom Kippur (Day of Forgiveness) or Sukkot (Feast of the Cabins), begins with the sound of the Shofar and has apple, honey or pomegranate as traditional foods, which symbolize the I wish the new year to be “sweet.”

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the general director for the Maghreb, Mediterranean and Middle East, Carmen Magariños, participated in the event, and recalled the Government’s commitment “in its fight against anti-Semitism.”

For his part, the deputy director general of Programming and Cultural Industries of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Antonio Garde, participated on behalf of the Community of Madrid, and stated that “There is no better time to express the pride that the Community of Madrid has in celebrating the arrival of the new Jewish year.”

In addition, the general director of the Sefarad-Israel Center, Jaime Moreno, participated, who wished a happy year 5785 to all those present; and the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, David Obadia, who has warned that at the moment there are some “levels of antisemitism not seen before in Europe in the last 80 years.