IN MORE THAN 20 SYNAGOGUES IN BROOKLYN’S SYRIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY, AS WELL AS HUNDREDS OF SEPHARDIC COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD, CONGREGANTS PRAY ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONS OF ARAM SOBA WITH BOOKS PRINTED BY THE SEPHARDIC HERITAGE FOUNDATION, FOUNDED BY SAM CATTON IN 1970.

Millions of pizmonim, prayer, holiday and kiddush books are in every home, every synagogue and every Sephardic community. Based on the impact that Sam had on Sephardic Jewry worldwide with his publications, Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu called him Ba’al Hasefarimor (Master of the Books), a title that he cherished and stuck with him since.
This is considered the most lasting and significant contribution of Sam Catton, an early community leader and visionary, who always did everything he could to promote the traditions of Sephardim. Although the community had been founded decades earlier, when he went to synagogue, Sam saw that people prayed with different books. In people’s homes, old pizmonim books were frayed and tattered. There were many different versions.

In the days before the Internet, when communication was with letters, Sam began collecting the pizmonin of the community. He consulted with rabbis and hazzanim from communities all over the world to produce the first pizmonim books, now the cornerstone of our community. From there, the High Holiday books were developed. And then each holiday, the Kiddush book and so on. All of the books were published by the Sephardic Heritage Foundation.
“These books are the mainstay of our community and they framed community traditions,” said his grandson David Catton, who has continued his legacy as the current President of Sephardic Heritage Foundation. “When there was a need for Mahazorim and Siddurim, Sam Catton developed high quality and universally accepted books, which reinvigorated the prayers and kavanot (feelings) of the community.”

One of five children, Sam was born in 1910 and raised in Atlantic City, NJ, where there was an offshoot Syrian community. He came from humble beginnings and knew early the value of money and hard work. As a child peddler, his father gave him a bag of items to sell each day. He once knocked on the door of an aristocratic woman. “Why aren’t you on the beach playing?” she said.

“I have to sell these to bring money home to my family,” Sam answered. The woman bought all his goods for $25 on the condition that he go to the beach and play. Sam went home and his father gave him another bag of items to peddle, telling him to go to a different neighborhood so the woman wouldn’t see him.
Sam’s Jewish education was from the small Talmud Torah in Atlantic City. In the 1920s Rabbi Aboud Kilsi A”H arrived from Turkey and had a very profound effect on Sam’s Jewish learning. Sam went from almost no knowledge at all, to learning Gemara, Torah and Mishnah. Rabbi Kilsi’s influence would follow Sam for his whole life.

It was about 1925, when the family moved to Brooklyn. A natural leader, Sam became president of the youth program at Congregation Magen David and was a strong disciple of Rabbi Matloub Abadi. This began a student-teacher relationship that lasted for the next 40 years. Rabbi Abadi instilled a love for Torah that lit an eternal flame within Sam.
Sam met and married Rae Safdeye in 1937. In the late 1930s, before World War II, Sam was working in the children’s clothing business in the Philippines. In 1939, his son Harry was born. Due to slow communication, it took three months for Sam to find out about the birth of his firstborn son.

While in the Philippines, Sam became close with a number of people, including (my father-in-law) Simon D. Roffé, who was in the Philippines working at Equitable Infants Wear with his brother-in-law, Ralph Tawil.
“Both worked in children’s wear,” said Harry Catton. “When World War II was beginning, the Japanese starting to boast about taking over.” Sam and others heeded the warning and left Manila, but Simon was a French citizen and thought he was safe. Simon ended up spending 39 months in the Los Banos POW camp, losing everything during the war.
Years later, Simon returned to New York, married and had children of his own. Sam had several businesses in the interim, eventually opening Catton Brothers, also a children’s clothing importer. He hired his lifelong friend Simon as the Catton Brothers warehouse manager.

“Simon watched our money like it was his. He tried to save money for us to keep expenses down and was very forward thinking. When computers came out, he learned to work them, he spent time on computers. Everyone marveled that in his 1970s, he worked on a computer,” said Harry.
The friendships Sam had, went to the values of family, hard-work, and loyalty that he learned as a child. “My parents (Rae and Sam Catton) sacrificed for us (Harry and Eddie A”H). We received a yeshivah education at Yeshiva of Flatbush (YOF), which was a financial hardship for them. They wanted us to have a good Jewish education,” said Harry, the first Syrian child to attend YOF.

“My parents were in their 40s before they owned a car. All four of us lived in a one-bedroom apartment across from Seth Low Park. Their pleasures took a back seat. They took care of us to make us grow up in the mold they wanted, to follow our traditions.”
As a community leader, Sam had many other accomplishments of note. A strong supporter of Israel, during the War of Independence in 1948, he raised funds to buy arms for Israel. The guns and ammunition were taken in unmarked trucks to piers in crates marked farm equipment and sent by boat. He was the first to head the Sephardic Division of UJA. On a trip to Israel, he met and encouraged Hakham Ovadia Yosef to begin the Shas Party to represent Sephardic Jews.

When Sam Catton was concerned that the next generation had forgotten their roots, he wrote the trilogy, Men of Faith and Vision, documenting the community and its origins. He was involved in many community organizations and was a founder of Magen David Yeshivah and Congregation B’nei Yitzhak (with the Gindi family).
“Family always came first. He believed in uniting people, because it gives us strength to be united,” said Diane Catton.
“We must focus on the things that unite us, and not the things that divide us.” a quote by Sam Catton.

SARINA ROFFE

RABBI SAM KASSIN, DEAN OF SHEHEBAR SEPHARDIC CENTER IN JERUSALEM, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE PLACEMENT OF EIGHT RABBIS IN COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD. THESE RABBIS WILL REPORT TO THEIR NEW POSITIONS BEFORE THE FALL HOLIDAYS.

After nearly two years of being confined due to the global Corona virus pandemic, the event was celebrated with tremendous spirit during a Shabbaton on July 3, in Ashdod. The rabbis are taking positions in the following communities.

Rabbi Ralph Tawil (Tel Aviv) became the rabbi of one of the largest and influential Sephardic synagogues in Tel Aviv.

Rabbi James Benman Amar (Lima, Peru) will be the rabbi of the Sephardic Synagogue in Lima, Peru. The senior rabbi has served over six decades and at 90 years old is retiring. Rabbi Benman will inspire youth and bring the synagogue into the 21st century.

Rabbi Akiva Ben Ezra (Guam) is going to start a new kehillah in Guam. He had previously been going there only for holidays like Pesach and Hanukkah, but now he is going to set up a permanent shul. Guam has 100 assimilated Jews who are really happy to have a rabbi to give some spirituality to them as well as the Jewish soldiers.

Rabbi Yitzhak Hazzan (Dallas, Texas) will be the rabbi for the large Israeli community as part of the Dallas Kollel and will inspire them to be more involved in Judaism and be part of a community.

Rabbi Aharon Ben Zadon (Madrid, Spain) is working for the Outreach Kollel which is involved with Jewish French medical students and young Jewish students from all over Spain.

Rabbi David Mizrachi (Lisbon, Portugal) is going to be assistant rabbi to Rabbi Reuben Suissa who came from South America.

Rabbi Yair Oz (Cooper City, Florida) established the synagogue in Cooper City, Florida over 10 years ago and is coming back to be the rabbi again and to open up a rehab center there.

Rabbi Gil Amoyal (Montpellier, France) is returning to France to work with community youth and kashrut supervision.

At the Friday night meal, Rabbi Sam Kassin related his experiences in Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain when people were completely oblivious to anything Jewish. He told stories of how the rabbis he sent were brought closer to Judaism through simple gestures like putting up a mezuzah or having a Hanukkah celebration and learning to light candles. Teaching these simple acts in Russia and Uzbekistan brought the guests to tears.

During the dinner, CPT David Gingold related amazing, exciting stories about his community in Kobe, Japan and exciting adventures as a chaplain in the United States Army. For example, Kobe experienced an earthquake when he was there in 1995. Under his leadership, the Jews threw themselves into relief mode for three weeks helping victims of the crippling earthquake that devastated Japan.

“Only days after the earthquake, we received dozens of phone calls from people affected by the event,” said Rabbi Gingold. “I spoke to the board and insisted on a policy of doing all that is needed, for all that we have in our possession is Hashem’s blessing. How can we enjoy His blessing and not open our hands to those who are in need? As it says ‘thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him.’ (Deut.15:8)”

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Rabbi Gingold led a heroic 24 hour a day relief effort, providing food, housing, water, clothing and other critical relief to earthquake victims, both Jews and gentiles, who were given a haven in Synagogue Ohel Shelomoh. This is but one example of the efforts of SSC rabbis who work in remote parts of the world.

During Saturday morning prayers, two of the graduates spoke about the excitement of the opportunity to do something for the Jewish people. After the prayers, there was an unbelievable kiddush setup by the wives of the eight new rabbis who felt gratitude and honor about the opportunity to spread Torah. After the kiddush, they broke up into groups to discuss how to deal with the everyday issues and challenges they might face in their new communities.

There was a panel discussion with Rabbi Yaakov Benizri, Rabbi Sam Kassin and Rabbi Ezra Kassin. Often a rabbi may be criticized if he is stricter than a previous rabbi, or the congregants may be upset about a ruling or decision. There may also be internal congregation politics which need to be handled with diplomacy.

Led by Rebbetzin Malka Kassin, Rebbetzin Michal Kassin, Rebbetzin Gingold and Rebbetzin Shekalim, the women discussed the importance of inspiring community women to become involved, to plan events to bring people together, as well as organize hesed programs like Bikur Holim, gemachs, and food for the poor.

After minha, Rabbi Ezra Kassin, Rabbi Benizri and CPT David Gingold discussed important issues that arise when living in the Disaspora, such as education where there is no Jewish school and how to handle couples not married in the traditional way by a rabbi. They discussed logistical issues such as how to deal with two synagogues and one kehillah, strategies to attract people to come to a class or minyan. These issues are especially important in less established communities.

The event ended with all of the people thanking Rabbi Sam Kassin for what he has done for them and the wives thanked Rebbetzin Malka Kassin for supporting his lifetime commitment to enlightening Jews around the world by training and placing rabbis where they are needed.

A genealogist and historian, Sarina Roffé is the author of Branching Out from Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017), Backyard Kitchen: The Main Course, Backyard Kitchen: Mediterranean Salads, and the cooking app, Sarina’s Sephardic Cuisine. She is the editor of Dorot, and holds a BA in Journalism, and MA in Jewish Studies and an MBA. Sarina is President of the Sephardic Heritage Project, Co-Chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative and Chair of the Sephardic Research Division of JewishGen.