Memoir of Jewish Life in Bagdad 12/11/16
The writer was born in Bagdad in 1937 and the book describes the period after Israel's war of Independence when life for Jews in Iraq became difficult after the Farhud 1941, in which 175 Jews were killed and many homes and businesses were looted or destroyed,.. The book narrated by Kabi (Yacob Imri) or is called Id in Arabic. Salim the schoolteacher whose parents died when he was young and doesn't feel spiritually Jewish and becomes a communist but is attracted to Bahai the Moslem belly dancer. The book shows how under the Turks and later the British, Jews were part of the society but an Independent Arab country has no place for minorities.
The writer's uncle Hizakil is arrested as a Zionist and the family tries all sorts of soothsayers to find out what has happened to him.
They bunk school go to movies and are beaten up. There is British lady teacher who teaches English and is so alien to the Arab customs. Ismael was born the same week as him and was a neighbor in the Moslem quarter and the families were very close but the times have changed and they moved to a poorer house in the Jewish quarter.
There is a protest of the community about where are their men are and the fact that chief rabbi Bashi can't do anything about it.
1942 Rashid Aali al-Kaylani the PM influenced by Nazi and Hajj Amin Husseini wanted to deport Jews to a concentration camp in the dessert.
1905-1944 Enzi Sereni was in Iraq and very influential in organizing the Jewish movement there.
Selema Murad born 1900 was a famous Jewish singer who never left Iraq and died in 1974. She was married to Nazem al-Ghazali a famous singer
You get a description of a hanging in the town square. The only Moslem in the Jewish neighbourhood is an Islamist he has a son who was a soldier in the war against Israel and the other son who is a civil rights lawyer. we read about the foods they ate including quince jam. How unsafe Jewish life became under the dictator
The British Mandate ended in 1932 negotiated by Nuri Said. The monarchy was toppled in 1958 and massacred. Abd al-Karim Qasim became PM between 1958 and 1963 when he was assassinated.
Tewfiq el Hakiman 1889 -1987 Arabic writer in Egypt
Taha Hussien 1889 to 1973 wrote theater works in Cairo
You get a description of the way a bribe is arranged and what Kabi's visits to his uncle in prison where a lot of political are together. He tell him that they must take his wife Reshel to Israel.
Kabi is made editor of the magazine and is taken by George Imari to his home where he meets Big Imari and wife and see the photograph of his great grandfather on the wall. Big Imari who entertains the Regent and Nuri Said does not want to recognize the poorer relatives as he manipulated and inherited the family wealth.
"Big Amari," the sole inheritor of the rice farms that made the family fortune.
We meet the Regent at Big Amari's house and the fact that the leaders drink all the best alcohol. Feisal 11 was king from 1944 till 1958 when he and the royal family were all executed. Till 1953 his uncle Abdullah was regent.
Big Amari is approached to get Hizakil out of jail. He doesn't believe that Israel will survive the next Arab attack and that Iraq needs the Jews to remain there. The Iraqi government is going to allow Jews to leave. Palestinians do appear in Bagdad. Slowly people are leaving and other Jews are moving into the Jewish neighborhood.
He describes going to the bathhouse and Arab men wanting to molest him. The people who get the worst job are Kurds who come from the mountain regions and are also discriminated against and also want their own country. Jewish communists who fled to Iran ended up in Israel. Big Imari is tipped off that his son is involved in politics and will get into trouble and he gets sent to England to go to school at Eton. Amira who applies for a scholarship to study engineering in the States is told she is wasting money applying as Jews are not being sent.
Finally their turn arrives to go to Israel and by this time the neighborhood is no longer Jewish so even non Zionists don't feel happy. The image of the Jewish Dove Flyer's territory being displaced by the new Moslem neighbor who sets eye Jewish women.
We also read that Rabbi Bashi had arranged that certain wealthy Jewish families would entertain and cultivate connections to the great Iraqi or princely families and this paid dividends for years.
In Big Imari talks to the Pasha we discover that is doing all he can to get Jews to Israel for their own good as he seen no place for them in the future Islamic Iraq. We also read that the Iraqi fighters against Israel were not professional soldiers but Islamic inspired volunteers who mostly got killed and the coffins returned.
The book ends with the arrival in a transit camp in Israel, and the struggle to settle down adapt to the new life and the birth of a son.
The writer was born in Bagdad in 1937 and the book describes the period after Israel's war of Independence when life for Jews in Iraq became difficult after the Farhud 1941, in which 175 Jews were killed and many homes and businesses were looted or destroyed,.. The book narrated by Kabi (Yacob Imri) or is called Id in Arabic. Salim the schoolteacher whose parents died when he was young and doesn't feel spiritually Jewish and becomes a communist but is attracted to Bahai the Moslem belly dancer. The book shows how under the Turks and later the British, Jews were part of the society but an Independent Arab country has no place for minorities.
The writer's uncle Hizakil is arrested as a Zionist and the family tries all sorts of soothsayers to find out what has happened to him.
They bunk school go to movies and are beaten up. There is British lady teacher who teaches English and is so alien to the Arab customs. Ismael was born the same week as him and was a neighbor in the Moslem quarter and the families were very close but the times have changed and they moved to a poorer house in the Jewish quarter.
There is a protest of the community about where are their men are and the fact that chief rabbi Bashi can't do anything about it.
1942 Rashid Aali al-Kaylani the PM influenced by Nazi and Hajj Amin Husseini wanted to deport Jews to a concentration camp in the dessert.
1905-1944 Enzi Sereni was in Iraq and very influential in organizing the Jewish movement there.
Selema Murad born 1900 was a famous Jewish singer who never left Iraq and died in 1974. She was married to Nazem al-Ghazali a famous singer
You get a description of a hanging in the town square. The only Moslem in the Jewish neighbourhood is an Islamist he has a son who was a soldier in the war against Israel and the other son who is a civil rights lawyer. we read about the foods they ate including quince jam. How unsafe Jewish life became under the dictator
The British Mandate ended in 1932 negotiated by Nuri Said. The monarchy was toppled in 1958 and massacred. Abd al-Karim Qasim became PM between 1958 and 1963 when he was assassinated.
Tewfiq el Hakiman 1889 -1987 Arabic writer in Egypt
Taha Hussien 1889 to 1973 wrote theater works in Cairo
You get a description of the way a bribe is arranged and what Kabi's visits to his uncle in prison where a lot of political are together. He tell him that they must take his wife Reshel to Israel.
Kabi is made editor of the magazine and is taken by George Imari to his home where he meets Big Imari and wife and see the photograph of his great grandfather on the wall. Big Imari who entertains the Regent and Nuri Said does not want to recognize the poorer relatives as he manipulated and inherited the family wealth.
"Big Amari," the sole inheritor of the rice farms that made the family fortune.
We meet the Regent at Big Amari's house and the fact that the leaders drink all the best alcohol. Feisal 11 was king from 1944 till 1958 when he and the royal family were all executed. Till 1953 his uncle Abdullah was regent.
Big Amari is approached to get Hizakil out of jail. He doesn't believe that Israel will survive the next Arab attack and that Iraq needs the Jews to remain there. The Iraqi government is going to allow Jews to leave. Palestinians do appear in Bagdad. Slowly people are leaving and other Jews are moving into the Jewish neighborhood.
He describes going to the bathhouse and Arab men wanting to molest him. The people who get the worst job are Kurds who come from the mountain regions and are also discriminated against and also want their own country. Jewish communists who fled to Iran ended up in Israel. Big Imari is tipped off that his son is involved in politics and will get into trouble and he gets sent to England to go to school at Eton. Amira who applies for a scholarship to study engineering in the States is told she is wasting money applying as Jews are not being sent.
Finally their turn arrives to go to Israel and by this time the neighborhood is no longer Jewish so even non Zionists don't feel happy. The image of the Jewish Dove Flyer's territory being displaced by the new Moslem neighbor who sets eye Jewish women.
We also read that Rabbi Bashi had arranged that certain wealthy Jewish families would entertain and cultivate connections to the great Iraqi or princely families and this paid dividends for years.
In Big Imari talks to the Pasha we discover that is doing all he can to get Jews to Israel for their own good as he seen no place for them in the future Islamic Iraq. We also read that the Iraqi fighters against Israel were not professional soldiers but Islamic inspired volunteers who mostly got killed and the coffins returned.
The book ends with the arrival in a transit camp in Israel, and the struggle to settle down adapt to the new life and the birth of a son.
No comments:
Post a Comment