The Allegra Franco Sephardic Women’s Teachers College is doing more than opening doors to higher Judaic education for women in our community. By providing an opportunity for the women of our community to be exposed to an enlightened Torah and Judaic education, whether they become teachers, executive tutors, or whether they are primarily interested in advancing their post-high school Jewish education, it is creating a completely new direction in life for each student, for our community and for future generations as well.
As Ezra S. Ashkenazi, the founder of the Allegra Franco College, explains: “I believe the sources that most inspire our wonderful community to continue to grow and thrive are our strong Torah foundation coupled with our treasured Sephardic customs. With G-d’s help, our goal is to educate women from our community as teachers or executive tutors, in order to elevate the level and understanding of our sacred Torah and insure the spiritual health of our community. I can think of no other investment with less risk and greater reward than investing in the education of our children and future generations.”
Sharyn and Ezra S. Ashkenazi graciously opened up their home, which provided the warm setting on an otherwise cold snowy day, for an all day and into the evening event to benefit the women’s college.
Allegra Franco, A"H was born in Aleppo, Syria. She was the daughter of famed cantor, pizmonim author and Rabbi, Moshe Ashear A”H; the wife of Isaac H. Franco A”H; and the mother of four children; Harry and Morris Franco, Grace and Sally Ashkenzai. Mrs. Franco, while running a business and bringing up a family, instilled in her children the significance of obtaining an excellent Torah and secular education consistent with her precious Sephardic culture; a part of which she conveyed through her emphasis on the power of prayer, and by attending synagogue every Shabbat. The Allegra Franco Teachers College reflects Mrs. Franco’s values and beliefs and strives to open paths for Sephardic women that previously did not exist in our community.
The theme of the day was titled The Past, Present and Future, and featured several informative and fascinating panel discussions and lectures about the educational, social, economic and religious growth of our community over the past 80 years, as well as how to best maintain these needs in the future. In addition a bake sale, Chinese Auction, antique salon and live auction were held to benefit the College.
The first panel discussion, titled The Past, was led by Rabbi Ely Matalon of Congregation Beth Torah and Magen David Yeshivah High School as he inspired everyone with his introductory remarks citing examples from the Tanakah which stressed the importance of having foresight in the initial development of establishing a new immigrant community. He then invited Mrs. Gita Sultan (Rabbi Matalon’s grandmother) and Mr. Mac Haddad to share their memories of what life was like for those who arrived on Ellis Island and became the pioneers of the Sephardic community in New York. Among some of the fondest memories mentioned were descriptions of how Isaac Shalom A”H sponsored many people to come to the United States and how families used to extend each other invitations via singing, as telephones were not yet widespread.
The second panel discussion titled, The Present included thoughts from some of the community’s finest Sephardic teachers, including Sabrina Maleh (Magen David Yeshivah), Joyce Salame (Yeshivah of Flatbush) and Ruth Tawil (Yeshivah of Flatbush). Each spoke about their desire to continue educating themselves after high school, each at different stages in their lives, and how becoming a teacher has had such a positive impact on their lives.
A discussion of The Future rounded out the afternoon’s lectures as Ricky Cohen captivated all those present by first discussing what will be some of the significant educational challenges our community may face in the future. He then enthusiastically articulated what we must do to prepare ourselves to meet some of those challenges. The discussion of which careers our children and grandchildren might pursue, and lifestyles of our future generations, were some of the topics that were also discussed. The event was a huge success.
You can be sure that the women who graduate from the Allegra Franco Teachers College will be teaching and tutoring our community youth and preserving our proud and rich Torah and Sephardic tradition; thus having an enormous effect on the future generations of our community for many decades to come.
