The UAHuntsville Salmon Library Art Gallery will be hosting a new art exhibit starting Jan. 10 entitled “Ladino Exhibition: Under Vine and Fig Tree; 500 Years of Turkish Jewish History” and it will run until Jan. 31, 2011.

The Istanbul Center of Atlanta, Georgia, Peace Valley Foundation of Alabama, and their co-sponsors present an exhibition of images commemorating over 500 years of Jewish-Turkish history, courtesy of The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews in Istanbul, Turkey, the official museum in Turkey that archives objects and images documenting Jewish life in Turkey. The collection is designed to illuminate the special relationship between the Jewish community and the Turkish people that began primarily in the 15th century when Jews fleeing persecution from Spain settled in the Ottoman Empire at the invitation of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.

Photo of The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews by Izzet Keribar

The opening reception for the Ladino Exhibit has been rescheduled for Wed., Jan 12, 2011 at the Salmon Library at UAH at 7:00 PM. Dr. Richard Chambers will not be able to come and be the keynote speaker, so Rabbi Bernard Honan has graciously accepted. Rabbi Bernard Honan, born in New York in 1927, attended public school and graduated from City College of NY in 1947. That same year he entered the Jewish Institute of Religion which subsequently merged with the Hebrew Union College. He was ordained as Rabbi in 1951, and spent the next 50 years serving congregations in New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Texas.

In 1953 he entered the Air Force as Chaplain, and served in Japan and Korea. Upon release, he met and married his wife, Roslyn, and together they raised 3 children. Rabbi Honan was actively engaged in student work, both at the University of Virginia and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (UAT), where he simultaneously served as Hillel director and as both student and instructor at UAT. In 1976 he was awarded the degree of Ph D as well as Doctor of Divinity by the Hebrew Union College.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Rabbi Honan has the distinction of being the only Reform Rabbi who is a Torah Scribe. Over 100 scrolls have passed through his hands for repair and re-lettering.

Rabbi Honan is of Sephardic Heritage, descended from a long line of Rabbis and Scholars, dating back to the 15th Century. Although his parents arrived on these shores about a century ago, their families lived under the Ottoman Empire ever since the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. Retired in 1999, the Honans have been happily living in Huntsville.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is located at 301 Sparkman Dr. in Huntsville. The Salmon Library is the red brick building to the left of the University Center. For more information, please call 256-824-6529.