Mediterranean Recipes and Rhythms: with Ariel Lazarus, Nissimmi Naim-Naor, and Samuel Torjman Thomas

Ariel Lazarus, Nissimmi Naim-Naor, and Samuel Torjman Thomas discuss their diverse Mediterranean Jewish roots spanning Morocco, Gibraltar, and Libya. The guests detail how family histories are preserved through heritage words, explaining how unique dialects like Llanito and Tripolitanian Arabic pronunciations shaped their identities. They describe their upbringing as deeply infused with ancestral traditions, carrying forward heirlooms like chraime recipes and Andalusian piyyutim. Through their respective arts in food and music, the trio celebrates convivencia and the dynamic quality of Jewish culture. They conclude by discussing the vital social aspect of preserving and sharing these tangible and spiritual heirlooms.

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Dr. Ariel Lazarus is an Israeli composer, guitarist, conductor, and scholar specializing in Ladino song and Sephardi music within the Mediterranean sphere. He is the musical director of the Israeli Ladino Orchestra, artistic director of the Jerusalem Ladino Festival, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Salti Institute for Ladino Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Lazarus lectures in several academic music programs and his work bridges Sephardic traditions with contemporary Israeli music, drawing inspiration from his family’s liturgical heritage of Gibraltar. He received the 2021 Isaac Navon Prize of the Israeli Ministry of Culture for the cultivation of Israel’s musical traditions.

Nissimmi is a rabbi-chef and a TV persona working in the realms of identity, peoplehood, and culture through food. He heads a synagogue in Jerusalem.

Samuel Torjman Thomas is an ethnomusicologist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator specializing in the musical traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, and the Jewish diaspora, alongside jazz and improvisational practices. A graduate of Berklee College of Music and the CUNY Graduate Center (Ph.D. Ethnomusicology), he teaches at the City University of New York (Hunter College and John Jay College). He is Director of Musical Arts at Brooklyn’s Sephardic Community Center, bandleader of ASEFA, and artistic director of the New York Andalus Ensemble. His work bridges scholarship, performance, arts administration, and public cultural programming.