DOCSLIB.ORG

Sasson Somekh NAGUIB MAHFOUZ: TIME and MEMORY

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sasson Somekh NAGUIB MAHFOUZ: TIME and MEMORY BULLETIN Sasson Somekh NAGUIB MAHFOUZ: TIME AND MEMORY Sasson Somekh was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and arrived in Israel in 1951. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1968, and since 1969 he has been professor of Arabic Literature at Tel Aviv University, where he is the incumbent of the Halmos Chair of Arabic Literature. He has been a visiting professor at Princeton University and New York University, and from 1995–1998 he served as Director of the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo. He has published several volumes of research on Arabic literature, with special reference to Egyptian writers (Naguib Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris, among others), as well as three volumes of translations of modern Arabic poetry into Hebrew. He is currently engaged in writing a study of the history of the retranslation of the Hebrew Bible into Arabic in the nineteenth century. In my book, The Changing Rhythm: Trilogy.1 I tried to demonstrate that In Mahfouz’s vast and rich A Study of Najib Mahfuz’s Novels, I there is a salient correlation between literary output, it is possible to devoted several pages to the treat- the pace of life portrayed in these distinguish several modes of rep- ment of time in the works of the works, on the one hand, and their resenting memory, three of which Egyptian novelist Naguib Nahfouz structure and style, on the other. seem to me to be most significant. (b. 1911), especially his Cairo When the rhythm of social life is I shall designate the first mode as slow, or perceived as being slow, historical or objective. Many of the narrative style is relatively Mahfouz’s major novels, notably slow, and vice versa. The “narra- his Trilogy, have the nature of tion time” in the Trilogy becomes semi-autobiographical fiction, shorter and quicker with the pas- drawing many of their details from sage of time. Following the incur- the life of the author, his family sion of modern modes of life into and his friends. Memories are cru- Cairene society, the latter volumes cial in the characterization of the of the Trilogy (and Mahfouz’s sub- protagonist. For example, Kamal, sequent novels) become demon- the main character in the Trilogy, strably smaller in size.2 starts out as a perceptive boy of ten In the following paragraphs, I at the beginning of the first novel, would like to discuss the problem Bayn al-QaÓrayn. By the end of the of memory or remembrance with last novel, al-Sukkariyya, he has regard to the different protagonists developed into a frustrated, un- in Mahfouz's novels: What are the married intellectual of around most characteristic forms in which forty. Memories fill his life in the our writer structures the different second and third volumes of the modes of memory? Is there a Trilogy, but they are separated “diachronic” explanation for the from the present moment. The Naguib Mahfouz on one of his daily appearance or disappearance of impact of past events and memo- walks on Cairo. one form or another? ries on the emotional and psycho- 18 the israeli academic center in cairo ·˜‰È¯ ‰È˘¯‡ÏÈ ‰‡˜„ÓÈ ‰Ó¯ÎÊ logical development of other char- peaceful demonstration welcoming these clusters of dates in a system- acters is also evident, but the mem- the returning leader.4 Similarly, on atic way, although they are viewed ories represent a reality that is the day that Sa‘d dies, three mem- artistically from afar, or, to borrow dead and buried. bers of Kamal’s family, a brother- the words of Mira Rosa Menocal, There are certain dates or in-law and two nephews, meet as components of a “detached historical moments around which their death from typhoid.5 developmental narrative.”7 The Kamal’s recollections (and those of Another set of dates is added in same applies to the 1985 novel many of Mahfouz’s other major Mahfouz’s later works: 1952 – the Yawma Qutila al-Za‘≠m (“The Day characters) seem to center, together young officers’ revolution; 1967 – the Leader Was Killed”). forming a distinct historical pattern, the Six-Day War; and still later, This historical pattern of memo- a structure of history characteristic 1973 – the October war; 1979 – the ry is to be found not only in of what I would describe as a con- Mahfouz’s traditional, realistic cerned Wafdist. These dates are novels, but also in a series of works connected with the history of the published in the 1970s and 1980s Wafd (Nationalist) party and its whose artistic structure can be founder, Sa‘d Zaghloul. The dates described as pseudo-autobiogra- that recur most frequently in phy. In contrast to the semi-auto- Mahfouz’s early works, up to the biographical novels discussed 1950s, are 1919 – the year of the above, whose mode is easily recog- revolution led by Zaghloul, which nized by the reader as fiction ultimately gained him the premier- (whether the narration is first-per- ship; 1924–1925 – the years in son or third-person), a work of which Zaghloul lost ground and pseudo-autobiography aims (with was forced out of the government varying success) to create the through the collusion of royal and impression that it is not fiction but British colonial interests; and, most truly autobiographical or mem- poignantly, 1927, the year Sa‘d oiristic. It presents, as it were, the died. Another important date, also author’s own memories, although related to the history of the Wafd some of the names may have been party, is February 2, 1942, the day changed in order to avoid embar- on which Nahhas, Zaghloul’s heir rassing the people in question. In to the leadership of the party, was fact, though, these works use the returned to the premiership, this writer’s own biography only as a time thanks to the interference of skeleton, which he covers with a the British. In the mind of our pro- mixture of fact and fiction. tagonist, this event signals the end Mahfouz’s first work written in of the Wafd as a true national and this fashion is al-Mar$ya,8 pub- progressive party. In the Trilogy lished in 1972. In 1982 he pub- and in several other novels by lished two similarly structured Mahfouz, it marks “the end of “novels”: Sabaº a-Ward (“Morning 3 history.” Mahmoud Mukhtar’s statue of Sa’d of Flowers”) and Qushtumur (the These historical events are not Saghloul (1853–1927), situated by the name of a cafe in Cairo). In these necessarily separated from the pri- Kasr al-Nil Bridge, Cairo. three books, the same clusters of vate histories of the protagonists. dates and historical events that The day Sa‘d returns from exile Camp David accords, and finally recur in Mahfouz’s earlier works (April 8, 1919), a day on which the 1982 – the death of Anwar Sadat. constitute the grid that underlies whole nation rejoices, a horrible Such novels as Miramar (1967) and the memory of their protagonists. tragedy befalls Kamal and his al-B$q≠ Min al-Zman S$‘a (“Only an As before, past events are auto- family: his brother Fahmi, a law Hour is Left”)6 serve as excellent nomous and detached from the student, is killed in the course of a illustrations of the employment of present moment. 19 BULLETIN The second type of memory that nothing about his personal history. afar some kind of psychological I would like to discuss in this He is allowed to reside in the hotel, experiment on the topic of memo- context may be termed mystical and before long marries the propri- ry. Alternatively, the master repre- memory. It is absent from the pre- etor’s daughter. It transpires, how- sents the Omnipotent, who is sent moment and yet integrated ever, that his wife and father- testing our protagonist to find out into it. The characters in question in-law know him only too well. In whether he will accomplish “the are unable to remember some or all the past he had been married to the assignment” (al-muhimma) despite of the details of their past experi- same woman, but at some point he his amnesia. In one of these ence, yet their present existence is had embezzled the hotel’s money episodes, we read the following dominated and motivated by that and run away with another woman. dialogue:10 very experience. This type of mem- The plot of this story is complex, ory informs several of Mahfouz’s fast-moving and crowded with Master: Hasn’t he been thinking short stories, mainly those written events and sudden turns. However, about his unknown past? in the late 1960s and early 1970s. the main story is halted every now Messenger: He has no time for The style of these stories is blatant- and then – four times in all – while that. However, he once told his ly non-realistic, at times bordering the scene of action shifts to the top wife that if he should regain his on the absurd. Noteworthy among of a mountain. Here we meet two memory, he would discover that them is a long short story entitled men, a master and a subordinate he had been a millionaire’s son. al-Rajul Alladh≠ Faqada Dh$kiratahu working for him as a messenger or But she repudiated him by say- Marratayn (“The Man Who Twice spy. In each of these intervals, the ing that he was dreaming of a Lost His Memory”).9 subordinate reports to his master hidden treasure, just like her The main protagonist in this about our protagonist, after which father.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Historical Memory and History in the Memoirs of Iraqi Jews*
    Historical Memory and History in the Memoirs of Iraqi Jews* Mark R. Cohen Memoirs, History, and Historical Memory Following their departure en masse from their homeland in the middle years of the twentieth century, Jews from Iraq produced a small library of memoirs, in English, French, Hebrew, and Arabic. These works reveal much about the place of Arab Jews in that Muslim society, their role in public life, their relations with Muslims, their involvement in Arab culture, the crises that led to their departure from a country in which they had lived for centuries, and, finally, their life in the lands of their dispersion. The memoirs are complemented by some documentary films. The written sources have aroused the interest of historians and scholars of literature, though not much attention has been paid to them as artifacts of historical memory.1 That is the subject of the present essay. Jews in the Islamic World before the Twentieth Century Most would agree, despite vociferous demurrer in certain "neo-lachrymose" circles, that, especially compared to the bleaker history of Jews living in Christian lands, Jews lived fairly securely during the early, or classical, Islamic * In researching and writing this paper I benefited from conversations and correspondence with Professors Sasson Somekh, Orit Bashkin, and Lital Levy and with Mr. Ezra Zilkha. Though a historian of Jews in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, I chose to write on a literary topic in honor of Tova Rosen, who has contributed so much to our knowledge of another branch of Jewish literature written by Arab Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Education in Baghdad: Communal Space Vs. Public Space
    chapter 4 Jewish Education in Baghdad: Communal Space vs. Public Space S.R. Goldstein-Sabbah The Levant of the early twentieth century was a place of rapid political, social, and cultural transformation. This era ushered in a new, for lack of a more precise term, “modern” era for the region characterized, in part, by a burgeoning middle class and an increase in intercommunal dialogue that resulted from new forms of public space.1 The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the combining of three former Ottoman provinces—Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul— into a new Iraqi state led to numerous challenges in unifying an ethnically and religiously diverse population and caused decades of political instability. However the British mandate and early years of the Iraqi state are also viewed as a time of religious pluralism and an attempt to build an inclusive secular state2 with the city of Baghdad as its political, cultural, and economic center. In Baghdad, as in many other Middle Eastern cities, the modern era meant the creation of new public spaces, such as chambers of commerce, modern companies, hotels, and cinemas to name a few examples.3 One type of area not often associated with public space are schools run under the auspices of religious communities. However, in Baghdad, schools run by religious authori- ties were a key factor in forging the new national identity; they often served as public spaces and as public symbols for religious communities to demonstrate their belonging to the nation. In Baghdad the first modern schools teaching secular subjects were estab- lished under the authority of religious communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Tightrope Walkers: Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff and Naïm Kattan As “Translated Men” Danielle Drori the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
    Tightrope Walkers: Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff and Naïm Kattan as “Translated Men” Danielle Drori The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research abstract: This article examines essays and memoirs by two multilingual writers, Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff and Naïm Kattan, who relied on different forms of trans- lation to build their literary careers during the second half of the twentieth century. It analyzes their biographical works from the perspective of “world literature studies” and the ties between literary translation, decolonization, and nation formation. Drawing on Pascale Casanova’s concept of “translated men,” the article compares Kahanoff’s and Kattan’s cases to argue that their linguistic choices reflected their political ambiv- alences, yet have never barred their readers, editors, and translators from seeing them as “belonging” to specific canons. on translated men ranslation can be as effective in effacing cultural difference as it can be in bridg- ing it. As scholars from various fields have shown, different forms of translation played a meaningful role in the long and multifaceted history of colonialism, imperialism, and Tmodern nationalism.1 In some cases, enterprises of textual exchange complemented, or simply followed, the colonization and annexation of peoples and geographical areas. In others, cul- tural colonialism manifested itself by way of establishing educational institutions in which the colonized were immersed in the language and literature of the colonizers.2 Processes of decol- onization and of gaining national independence were also often accompanied by practices of translation, with former colonies reclaiming local literatures, starting a counter-enterprise of literary translation, and reviving dormant and local languages.3 Translation may serve, in other 1 See, e.g., the anthology Sandra Bermann and Michael Wood, Nation, Language, and the Ethics of Translation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Israel: Finding the Levant Within the Mediterranean
    The Levantine Review Volume 1 Number 1 (Spring 2012) ISRAEL: FINDING THE LEVANT WITHIN THE MEDITERRANEAN Rachel S. Harris Alexandra Nocke. The Place of the Mediterranean in Modern Israeli Identity. Brill 2010, Cloth $70. ISBN 9789004173248 Amy Horowitz. Mediterranean Israeli Music and the Politics of the Aesthetic. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010. Paper $29.95. ISBN 9780814334652. Karen Grumberg. Place and Ideology in Contemporary Hebrew Literature. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2011. Cloth $39.95. ISBN 9780815632597. Zionism as a national movement sought to unite a dispersed people under a single conception of political sovereignty, with shared symbols of flag, anthem and language. Irrespective of where Jews had found a home during 2500 years of (at least symbolic) nomadic wandering, as guests in other lands, they would now return to their ancient homeland. For such an enterprise to succeed, a degree of homogenisation was required, where differences would be erased in favour of shared commonalities. These universalised conceptions for the new Jew were debated, explored, and decided upon by the leaders of the movement whose ideas were shaped by European theories of nationalism. From the beginning of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century and its territorialisation in Palestine, Jews faced the challenge of looking towards Europe socially and intellectually, while simultaneously attempting to situate themselves economically and physically within the landscape of the Middle East. This hybridity can be seen in a self-portrait by Shimon Korbman, a photographer working in Tel Aviv in the 1920s: Sitting on a small stool on the sand next to the sea, he faces the camera, dressed in his white tropical summer suit, an Arabic water pipe – Nargila –in his hand.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    Table of Contents From the Editors 3 From the President 3 From the Executive Director 4 The Iraq & Iran Issue Iran and Iraq: Demography beyond the Jewish Past 6 Sergio DellaPergola AJS, Ahmadinejad, and Me 8 Richard Kalmin Baghdad in the West: Migration and the Making of Medieval Jewish Traditions 11 Marina Rustow Jews of Iran and Rabbinical Literature: Preliminary Notes 14 Daniel Tsadik Iraqi Arab-Jewish Identities: First Body Singular 18 Orit Bashkin A Republic of Letters without a Republic? 24 Lital Levy A Fruit That Asks Questions: Michael Rakowitz’s Shipment of Iraqi Dates 28 Jenny Gheith On Becoming Persian: Illuminating the Iranian-Jewish Community 30 Photographs by Shelley Gazin, with commentary by Nasrin Rahimieh JAPS: Jewish American Persian Women and Their Hybrid Identity in America 34 Saba Tova Soomekh Engagement, Diplomacy, and Iran’s Nuclear Program 42 Brandon Friedman Online Resources for Talmud Research, Study, and Teaching 46 Heidi Lerner The Latest Limmud UK 2009 52 Caryn Aviv A Serious Man 53 Jason Kalman The Questionnaire What development in Jewish studies over the last twenty years has most excited you? 55 AJS Perspectives: The Magazine of the President Please direct correspondence to: Association for Jewish Studies Marsha Rozenblit Association for Jewish Studies University of Maryland Center for Jewish History Editors 15 West 16th Street Matti Bunzl Vice President/Publications New York, NY 10011 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jeffrey Shandler Rachel Havrelock Rutgers University Voice: (917) 606-8249 University of Illinois at Chicago Fax: (917) 606-8222 Vice President/Program E-Mail: [email protected] Derek Penslar Web Site: www.ajsnet.org Editorial Board Allan Arkush University of Toronto Binghamton University AJS Perspectives is published bi-annually Vice President/Membership by the Association for Jewish Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    Tradition and Modernity... What it meant to be an educated Baghdadi Jew in the late nineteenth to early-mid twentieth century Tania Korin Integrated Studies in Education; Culture and Values McGill University, Montreal August, 2007 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters in Integrated Studies in Education, Culture and Values © Copyright by Tania Korin (2007) Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51387-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51387-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Arabic And/Or Hebrew: the Languages of Arab Writers in Israel 151
    132 Arnold]. Band neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986) ate standard for "cultural crit­ ics," particularly those who follow the postcolonialist theories of Edward Said. The applicability of these theories are convincing in Hever's article on Sham mas's ArabeJqlles, "Hebrew in an Israeli Arab Hand: Six Miniatures on Anton Shammas's Arabesql/CS," Cultural Critique 7 (1987): 47-76, reprinted in Tbe Nature and Context of Minority Discourse, eds. Abdul R. and David Lloyd (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 264-93. They 8 become less convincing as he attempts to apply his ideas to the entire corpus of Israeli literature. In a subsequent article, "Lehakot ba'aqevo shel Achilles," in Alpayim 1 (June 1989): 186-93, [English version in Tikkun 4/5 (Sept.lOcc. 1989): 30-33], Hever considers the new openness of Israeli literature to Palestinian writers, usually translated from Arabic, as a major cultural break- Arabic and/or Hebrew: The Languages of an attack on the "Achilles heel" of the Zionist narrative that has Arab Writers in Israel * dominated Israeli Hebrew literature. The theories of Deleuze and Guattari, especially "deterritorialization," support Hever's argument only if inverted, only if the features of the minority culture are appropriated--consciously or Ami Elad-Bouskila unconsciously-by the majority literature, 12. The first appearances of these stories are noteworthy: A.B. Yehoshua's "Fac- the Forests" (Mul haya'arot), Qesbet 5 (Spring 1963):18-45; Amos Oz's "Nomad and Viper" (Navvadim vatsefa), Ha'arets, Feb. 7. 1964; Amaliah Ka­ hana-Carmon's "Heart of Summer. Heart of Light" (Lev haqayits.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's Mizrahim: "Other" Victims of Zionism Or a Bridge to Regional Reconciliation? Franklin Hugh Adler Macalester College
    Macalester International Volume 23 The Israeli-Palestinian Impasse: Dialogic Article 13 Transformations Spring 2009 Israel's Mizrahim: "Other" Victims of Zionism or a Bridge to Regional Reconciliation? Franklin Hugh Adler Macalester College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/macintl Recommended Citation Adler, Franklin Hugh (2009) "Israel's Mizrahim: "Other" Victims of Zionism or a Bridge to Regional Reconciliation?," Macalester International: Vol. 23, Article 13. Available at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/macintl/vol23/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute for Global Citizenship at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Macalester International by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Israel’s Mizrahim: “Other” Victims of Zionism or a Bridge to Regional Reconciliation? Franklin Hugh Adler It may come as a surprise to those unfamiliar with Israeli society, and especially those who have been led to believe it primarily com- posed of European Jews who settled in the Middle East, that roughly half of Israel’s Jewish population is made up of Jews who for millennia were deeply rooted in the region and summarily expelled from Arab states after Israel was founded in 1948. In fact, this Arab Jewish popu- lation exceeds in number those Palestinians who were displaced, and it possessed substantially greater property that was confiscated without compensation upon expulsion.1 The purpose of this essay is not to illuminate the so-called “silent exodus” that went largely unnoticed in the West and remains stub- bornly unrecognized by Arab nationalists today insofar as they focus only on the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, neglecting the Jews, an organic part of Arab communities, who suffered a similar fate at their own hands.
    [Show full text]
  • 2008 Program in Judaic Studies
    FALL 2008 Program in Judaic Studies PERELMAN INSITITUE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY In this Issue 2 Courses DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE usual because of faculty leaves. In the fall of 2007 we sponsored, co-sponsored, or cross- 3 Students I was privileged to spend the entire academic listed nine courses in European Cultural 3 Class of 2008 year of 2007-2008 on leave at the Wissen- Studies, Comparative Literature, History, 3 Alumni 2008 schaftskolleg/Institute for Near Eastern Studies and Religion, plus four Advanced Study at Berlin, 4 Senior Theses 2008 Hebrew language courses. In the spring 7 Graduate Fellowships Germany. Leora Batnitzky of 2008 we offered ten courses (including 8 Graduate Students was kind enough to serve one graduate course), plus four courses in as acting director. She did a Hebrew language. They were cross-listed 11 Summer Funding great job, and most of what with American Studies, Center for Human 16 Special Highlights I am able to report is due Values, History, Near Eastern Studies, Music, 17 Committee Peter Schäfer to her efficient and tireless Religion, and Women and Gender Studies. 17 Advisory Council dedication to the success of the Program. We To make up for the faculty leaves, Jonathan 18 Faculty Research and News are all deeply indebted to her. Elukin from Trinity College, Hartford CT, filled in with a Jewish history course; Azzan 22 Events TIKvah FUND Yadin from Rutgers filled in for me with a One of the major achievements last year was course in Rabbinics; and Suzanne Last Stone a $4.5 million grant from the Tikvah Fund from the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva incoming graduate students in Near Eastern for the Tikvah Project on Jewish Thought at University taught an American Jewish Stud- Studies, Religion, and Sociology, and we Princeton.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Practices of Moroccan Jews in Brooklyn
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Redefining Diaspora Consciousness: Musical Practices Of Moroccan Jews In Brooklyn Samuel Reuben Thomas Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/392 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] REDEFINING DIASPORA CONSCIOUSNESS: MUSICAL PRACTICES OF MOROCCAN JEWS IN BROOKLYN by Samuel R. Thomas A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 Samuel Reuben Thomas All Rights Reserved ! ii! This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Stephen Blum Date Chair of the Examining Committee Norman Carey Date Executive Officer Jane Sugarman Jane Gerber Mark Kligman Edwin Seroussi Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ! iii! Abstract Redefining Diaspora Consciousness: Musical Practices of Moroccan Jews in Brooklyn by Samuel R. Thomas Advisor: Dr. Jane Sugarman This dissertation examines the role of musical practices in the synagogue life of Maroka’im (Moroccan Jews) in Brooklyn, New York. Living in an urban setting known for its diverse and robust Jewish life, community members utilize several different types of musical expression to emblematize three distinct diasporic ethnic identities: Jewish (of ancient Israel), Sephardi (Spanish), and Maroka’i (Moroccan).
    [Show full text]
  • Mizrahi Wanderings
    reviews Samir Naqqash, Shlomo Alkurdi wa ana wa alzaman [Shlomo Alkurdi, Myself and Time] Manshurat Aljamal (Al-Kamel Verlag): Cologne 2004, €16, paperback 360 pp Nancy Hawker MIZRAHI WANDERINGS Samir Naqqash is a leading Israeli novelist who writes only in his mother tongue: Arabic. Born into a Jewish family in Baghdad in 1938, he was a youthful witness to the turbulent period of Iraqi struggles against the British puppet government, led by Nuri Said. Iraqi Jews were by far the largest and most prosperous indigenous Jewish community in the Middle East at the time and played a significant role in the cultural, social and political life of the region. They were also, for the most part, staunchly anti-Zionist. Despite ongoing agitation for immigration to Mandate Palestine, the Iraqi Communist Party was a much stronger pole of attraction than the under- ground Zionist Hehalutz. ‘Iraqi patriotism’, as well as a notion of the Soviet Union as a bulwark against Nazism, were common Jewish motives for join- ing the icp. In November 1947 the General Council of the Iraqi Jewish community sent a telegram to the un General Assembly opposing the parti- tion of Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state. On the urging of its own Jewish members, the icp issued an official protest against the Soviet Union’s vote for the establishment of Israel at the un Security Council—the only Arab Communist Party to do so. Pressures on the community increased in 1950 when Nuri Said, work- ing in tandem with the Zionist Agency and with London’s full backing, instituted a voluntary ‘denaturalization’ programme for Iraqi Jews that would strip them of their nationality, citizenship and property rights, and give them twelve months to leave the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Invitation 'Baghdad, Yesterday. the Making of an Arab Jew'
    Invitation Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 7 pm ‘Baghdad, Yesterday. The Making of an Arab Jew’ Lecture by Prof Sasson Somekh (Tel Aviv University) He describes himself as an Arab Jew – Sasson Somekh, Venue: poet and professor for Arab literature at Tel Aviv University, born in 1933 in Baghdad. At that time one- Humboldt Universität zu Berlin third of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. The mass Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 exodus of Jews between 1949 and 1951 ended 2,500 Room 0109 years of Jewish presence in Mesopotamia. Among those 10117 Berlin who left their country was Sasson Somekh. In the first part of his memoirs, Baghdad, Yesterday. The Making of an Arab Jew, he tells the story of this vanished world, stating: ‘What spurred me to write these memoirs is the fact that there is no longer any sort of Jewish presence to speak of either in Baghdad or in Iraq. I belong, that is, to the last generation of Iraqi Jews who lived side by side with Iraqis of other religions, speaking a common language and participating actively in Iraqi culture.’ Prof Sasson Somekh started to read and write Arab poetry when he was a teenager in Baghdad. After his emigration in 1951 he studied in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Oxford. He received his PhD on the oeuvre of the Egyptian writer Nagib Mahfuz. Back in Israel he became a lecturer in Arabic Literature and head of the Arabic Language and Literature department at Tel Aviv University, where he is now professor emeritus. Sasson Somekh, who translated various Arabic novels and poems into Hebrew, became one of the best known critics of Arabic literature in Israel.
    [Show full text]