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JANUARY 23, 2015 Z The Jewish master of Arabic The story of the man who made the Koran available in English 14 Childhood tracks 18 Legally speaking: The IDF and ICC 28 The food and flavors of Azerbaijan COVER NESSIM DAWOOD, in an undated photo, dedicated his life to the art of translation. (Courtesy) Most revered for his Arabic to English translation of the Koran, Nessim Joseph Dawood was a revolutionary in introducing the West to Arab literature and culture – but his life story is so much more The Jewish master MARION FISCHEL of Arabic n November 20 the world lost a rare talent with the death of Nessim Joseph Dawood. An Iraqi Jew, he is revered for his master- ful translation of the Koran into English for Penguin Classics, never out of print Osince 1956. He was the 20th century’s most outstand- ing translator of Arabic to English and English to Arabic, and a man with an extraordinary sense of language and poetry. To paraphrase William Shakespeare, whose work fascinated the scholar from an early age: The man had music in himself. Dawood’s translations of tales from The Thousand and One Nights collection put the original Arabic sto- ries of Shahrazad onto the bookshelves of many an En- glish-speaking living room, and his idiomatic version of the Koran became the go-to text for those who, while in- terested in its content, had been unable to contend with the old-fashioned and more literal renditions previously in existence. The descendant of an ancient Jewish family that had left the Land of Israel before the destruction of the Tem- ple, he was born in Baghdad, the sixth of seven children. Yakov Yehuda, the youngest of the seven, and today one 8 JANUARY 23, 2015 of Dawood’s three surviving brothers, spoke to The Jerusalem Post about his scholarly sibling and their family history. Their parents, whose marriage had been arranged – as was the custom at the time – both attended the Alliance Française school in Baghdad. They were fluent in French as well as Arabic, and their mother spoke enough English to teach the rudiments to her children. “Our father, Yosef, was a merchant who had been an officer in the Ottoman Empire. Before we were born he had business concerns in Iran, in Isfahan I think, and therefore also spoke fluent Persian,” said Yehuda. “Our [original] surname is Yehuda,” he said, ex- plaining that the family is related to Sarah Yehuda, the mother of David Yellin, of David Yellin Academ- ic College fame. This ancient family name did not, however, appear on Dawood’s Iraqi ID card, just his own given name, plus those of his father and pa- ternal grandfather, “Nessim Yosef [Joseph] David.” When he left his native land for England in 1945, the third name, adapted from David to Dawood (the equivalent in Arabic), became the surname on his passport. Later, his nom de plume was to be N.J. Dawood. The Yehudas left Iraq for Israel when Yakov was 19, as a result of the difficult situation for Jews in Arab countries after the establishment of the state in 1948. “Shortly after we came to Israel [in December 1950], we returned to the airport to collect a Torah scroll that my father had commissioned in Baghdad in the name of his brother, Salah, who died at a very young age, and that Torah scroll is now in an Iraqi synagogue, Ohel Ari, in Ra’anana.” Yosef’s sons did not know “much” about their fa- ther’s side of the family. Yakov said that they were aware that their mother, “had two uncles, Aharon and Ephraim Tweg, who went to Turkey, to Istanbul, to learn to be pharmacists and then became the first two pharmacists in Israel.” DAWOOD’S LIFE took him from Iraq to London The medical vocation appears to have run in the to Israel. (Clockwise) Dawood and his wife Juliet family, as Dawood’s eldest son, Richard, is a doctor, on their wedding day. Dawood in his late 80s. author of Traveler’s Health, and his youngest, An- Dawood and Juliet pose with a birthday cake that drew, a dentist, is involved with 3D printing, which also celebrates his achievements translating ‘The includes making medical applications. The middle Thousand and One Nights.’ (Courtesy) son, Norman, however, followed his father’s profes- sional footsteps and works in translation. Arriving in the Promised Land in the ’50s “was very difficult, we had left everything behind. There was not much money and we lived on a moshav at first, and after two years moved to Tel Aviv,” Yehuda explained. The eldest of Dawood’s brothers, David, who left Iraq at the age of 16 to study in Beirut, was already in On Dawood’s 27th birthday, August Israel, having arrived in 1930. Upon immigrating, he changed his last name to Eshed. 27, 1954 – and as the 1,001st Penguin “It was usual for people to change their names when they came to Israel in those days,” explained Yehuda. publication – his translation of David spent some time in the UK, only to return to Israel and work in the government, in the Agricul- ‘The Thousand and One Nights: ture Ministry. Another brother, Fouad Salah Yehuda – named after his uncle – (who changed his name to The Hunchback, Sinbad and Other Gad Eshed when he came to Israel, at David’s sugges- tion), “studied aviation in the UK, and when he fin- Tales’ hit the shelves ished [his studies] El Al contacted him and he came to work with them at the airport. He left [that posi- tion] after a few years and opened a motorcycle shop and a driving school for motorbikes,” said Yehuda. The fourth of the brothers, Heskel, worked at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv as commercial attaché. The two sisters were Matilda, who came to Israel www.jpost.com 9 COVER late Shakespeare into Arabic – In the introduction er Tales, was published in 1957. qualified as a teacher and taught In 1973 they were combined into English at a secondary school in to his translation, a single volume, Tales from The South London. He also spent three Thousand and One Nights. He also years as a journalist at The Jewish Dawood refers to created child-friendly versions of Chronicle. the tales, published by Puffin, a In 1948, as an internation- the Koran as ‘not subsidiary of Penguin Books. All al student in London, he was of these works remain in print. thrilled to be invited to attend only one of the Following the success of Tales, Shakespeare’s birthday celebra- Dawood approached Rieu and tion in Stratford-upon-Avon, most influential Sir Allen Lane (Penguin Books’ a previously annual event that founder) about the possibility had only just resumed, following books of prophetic of a new translation of the Ko- the end of the war. Years later – ran. The publishers did not ex- in 2011 – he was asked to speak literature, but pect that there might be a large at the same anniversary as the potential readership for such a oldest survivor of that first post- also a literary project. war lunch, and shared anecdotes Nevertheless, Dawood man- of the time, including how he masterpiece in aged to convince them that this met Shakespearean actors Claire translation would be like no oth- Bloom and Alfie Bass at the the- its own right’ er, rooted in the parameters that ater bar. Over the years, Dawood Rieu himself had laid down, and attended several such lunches utilizing “idiomatic” English, “as in commemoration of the Bard, you would feel the best authors whose work he continued to delight in. of the day would write in,” Dawood told The Bookseller. In 1949 he married Juliet Abraham – the sister of his He wished to showcase to English-speaking readers childhood friend Eliahu Abraham – at the Lauderdale what he considered the greatest work of classical Ara- Road Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London. bic literature. The couple were married for 65 years and had three In the introduction to his translation, Dawood re- sons and nine grandchildren. fers to the Koran as “not only one of the most influ- But it was in 1952, when the young scholar attend- ential books of prophetic literature, but also a literary ed a talk by E.V. Rieu, renowned for his Greek-to-En- masterpiece in its own right.” glish translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and As it turned out, Dawood’s Koran became probably founding editor of Penguin Classics (a subdivision of the best-selling English-language version, and has so DAWOOD IN London in 1947. He was able to attend Penguin Books), that his life-course would change. far been reprinted 70 times since 1956, with nine ma- university on a grant from Iraq. (Courtesy) Rieu’s novel concepts went straight to Dawood’s core, jor revisions, including the most recent carried out by as he explained in a 1990 interview with The Booksell- Dawood in May of last year. er magazine. The revisions were the result of the translator’s life- in 1946, and Flora, who married in Iraq and moved to Lon- The publisher spoke of “a new kind of translation,” long preoccupation with the style and language of don, then Nice, and spent her final years in Monaco. of the “challenge of emulating the excellence of the the original text. Although in later versions Dawood Upon arrival in Israel, Yakov enlisted in the IDF and original”; and the concept that “a good translator reverted to the original sequence of the text – that is then “worked in a factory, and after that I went to Bank must be a good writer” and should use surahs (chapters) arranged in descending or- Leumi at the airport at the age of 25; I left in 1985 hav- “idiomatic English”; that “a transla- der of length – in the early versions he ing attained the position of assistant manager.” tion had to sound well when read organized these into more-or-less out loud.” chronological order, seeking to DAWOOD DID not immigrate to Israel with the rest “I was enthralled,” said make them clearer to an au- of his family.

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