 Louis
N. Levy was born on April 23, 1918 on the Lower East Side of
New York City, the son of Yeuda Levy of Chorlu, Turkey
and Regina Calderon of Monastir in the Balkans. Growing up on
the Lower
East Side, Levy was nurtured in the world of Sephardim and
Ladino. Frequenting the coffee houses so popular among the new
immigrants, Levy learned to speak Ladino while reading the Judeo-Spanish
weekly newspaper La Vara. Young Louis attended Talmud
Torah and synagogue at the Berith Shalom-Sephardic Jewish Center
(Centro Judio Sephardi) that was established by the Congregation
Shearith Israel Sisterhood to serve the Sephardim in the area.
As an adult, Louis Levy became
acquainted with many of the Sephardi leaders of the time,
including Rabbi Joseph de Abraham Benyunes, Albert J. Torres,
David N. Barocas, and Rabbi David de Sola Pool of Congregation
Shearith Israel. He served in the U.S. Army during the Second
World War, and when he returned home he became active in efforts
to unify the Sephardic community, joining with such figures
as Rabbis Nesim Ovadia and Isaac Alkalay, as well as other
notables like Joseph Papo and Mair Jose Benardette.
Though efforts to maintain the community as an independent
entity failed, Levy was able to work with and promote a number
of its component parts. Thus he became the treasurer
for the Sephardic Home for the Aged, in Brooklyn, and joined
with David N. Barocas in creating the "Foundation for
the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture" to
publish works on Sephardic history and culture. He further
supported a number of Sephardic organizations, including "The
World Sephardi Federation," Yeshiva University's Sephardic
Studies Program, "The World Organization for Jews of
Arab Countries," "The Sephardic Educational Center,"
"The Sephardic Brotherhood of America," and "Peace
and Brotherhood of Monastir." He was also a strong advocate
supporting Sephardic students and scholarship through "The
Broome and Allen Boys Association" (now a scholarship
fund for Sephardic studies under the auspices of the American
Sephardi Federation). He further promoted scholarship by encouraging
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and David N. Barocas to translate and to
publish in English the great Ladino Commentary on the Bible
known as Me'Am Lo'ez.
At the same time as he was doing all of these other things,
Levy worked to build the stunning Ladino and Rare
Book Library, a small portion of which you see displayed
here. This gift was given to the American Sephardi Federation.
This American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic
House
Conservation Project was made possible by the
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
During the latter half of 2004, a conservation project was
carried out on a small collection of books from the Louis
N. Levy Ladino and Rare Book Library Collection. This project
was made possible as a result of a grant from the National
Foundation for Jewish Culture. Thanks to this grant, ASF was
able to employ the services of conservation expert, Jeffrey
S. Peachey, PA-AIC, who performed 165 hours of treatment on
12 books in the American Sephardi Federation collection that
were in serious need of conservation treatment. The treatments
were performed on site at the Preservation Lab of the Center
for Jewish History. |
