Jewish Refugees of the Middle East
Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Holocaust Memorial Center
Barbara Moretsky, President of StandWithUs-Michigan, will introduce our speakers, Celia Romm Livermore and Sylvie Salei and the project that began following the passage of a Law by the Knesset that will annually designate November 30 for commemoration of the flight of Jews from Arab lands, Iran and North Africa.
Celia Romm Livermore is a descendant of Holocaust survivors and spent much her early life with her family in Beer-Sheva. The experience of living in a community dominated by Jewish immigrants from Arab lands led to her interest in sharing their story. After serving in the IDF, she received a Masters Degree and eventually her PhD from the University of Toronto. Since 2001, Celia has been a tenured Professor of Information Systems Management at Wayne State University.
Sylvie Salei is a Sephardic Jew who was born in Tunisia. She settled with her family in Paris after their expulsion from Tunis, which is central to her story. Later, Sylvie moved to Israel, where she married an Israeli citizen of Ashkenazi background. When Sylvie moved to Michigan, she became a U.S. citizen. She is the owner of Sylvie’s Day Spa in Farmington Hills. Sylvie’s daughter lives in New York and her son lives in Las Vegas. She has expertise in French, Arabic and Hebrew.