Books of Jewish Interest 2022 - Discovering our Roots:  Mizrahi Jews

In Person at Bethlehem Public Library (2245 Main St, Bethlehem, NH 03574)
and by Zoom  

Gail Robinson 

Mizrahi Jews are also called Oriental Jews, members or descendants of the approximately 1.5 million Jews who lived in North Africa and the Middle East up until the mid-20th century and whose ancestors did not previously reside in Europe. These immigrants were collectively labeled ʿEdot Ha-Mizraḥ (Hebrew: “Ethnic Groups of the East”) in Israel upon their mass migration into the country after 1948. They were distinguished from the two other major groups of Jews—the Ashkenazim (a tradition rooted in the Rhineland) and the Sephardim (a tradition rooted in Spain).  The latter two groups are most familiar to us in the US, but Mizrahi or Oriental Jews are more of a mystery.  Three of our four books have as their main characters Mizrahi Jews; while the fourth is set Turkey and whose characters are a German born man and a Turkish woman.  All four books open us to an unfamiliar culture and rich history, far different than the ones we know best.

We are starting our 2022 season. These books will totally captivate you. And thank you for all your suggestions.  Each book I read made it difficult for me to only pick four. 

Like last year, we will try to have either the author or a knowledgeable speaker join us in the discussion. If an author participates, the leader will have a preliminary phone meeting with the author.  Please don’t be shy and volunteer.  I will walk you through the whole process.  It’s actually exhilarating.  

Our co-sponsor, Bethlehem Public Library will be hosting BJI again this year in person and on Zoom.  The Library has conference call capability.  It is also handicapped accessible and has plenty of parking.  We will be meeting at the Library (2245 Main St, Bethlehem, NH 03574) on Wednesday afternoons at 4 p.m.

Books selected for this season are:

·      The Last Kings of Shanghai:  The Rival Jewish Dynasties that Helped Create Modern China, Jonathan Kaufman. Gordon Bennet leads the discussion.

July 13, 2022, 4:00 PM at Bethlehem Public Library and by Zoom

Chinese often claim a special relationship, sometimes verging on kinship, with Jews. The origins and reasons remain unclear but it may be at least in part due to two Jewish families—the Sassoons and their rivals, the Kadoories—both of whom played lasting roles in the development of two of China’s most modern cities: Shanghai and its rival, Hong Kong.  Both families had their roots in Bagdad.  Throughout the book, the Kadoorie family will be portrayed as more forward-thinking than the Sassoons. Where the Sassoons never learned Chinese and hired Jews from Iraq or escaping Nazi Europe, the Kadoories learned Chinese and hired Chinese employees. Both families worked closely with the various political leaders in China.  Jonathan Kaufman brings history alive through these two families. 

·      Sipping from the Nile:  My Exodus from Egypt. Jean Naggar. Author Naggar joins our discussion. Mike Adler hosts.

July 27, 2022, 4:00 PM at Bethlehem Public Library and by Zoom

Born into a prominent, sophisticated Jewish family who spend time in Europe and live in the Middle East, author Jean Naggar’s coming of age memoir tells the story of her protected youth in an exotic multicultural milieu. Naggar’s grandparents too came from a prominent Bagdad Jewish family.  To Naggar her childhood seemed a magical time that would never come to an end. But in 1956, Egyptian President Nasser’s nationalizing of the Suez Canal set in motion events that would change her life forever.

·      Serenade for Nadia.  Zulfu Livaneli. Edward Cowan hosts the discussion.

August 10, 2022, 4:00 PM at Bethlehem Public Library and by Zoom

Turkish writer and political activist Livaneli (Bliss, 2006, etc.) uses the story of a modern Turkish woman’s relationship with an aged professor from America to delve into ugly truths about Turkey’s past.

The plot is a cerebral thriller. In 2001, 36-year-old Maya Duran, a divorced single mother who works at Istanbul University, is assigned to entertain 87-year-old visiting Harvard professor Max Wagner. Then government agents try to coerce Maya into keeping tabs on Max, who was born in Germany and lived in Turkey from 1939 to '42. Instead, she and her computer-nerd son, Kerem, begin researching Max to learn what secrets the agents fear he might expose.

Sharing an intense, platonic intimacy with Maya, Max (not himself Jewish) lovingly describes his love for his Jewish wife, Nadia, and her tragic death.  Through Max’s story, Livaneli recounts a little-known actual World War II tragedy. In 1941, 769 Romanian Jewish refugees traveled on an ill-equipped ship bound for Palestine. The unseaworthy Struma reached Istanbul, where it sat for 71 day before Turkey—in collusion with Britain, which did not want the refugees to reach Palestine—had the ship with its broken engine hauled out to sea, where a Russian submarine torpedoed it. One passenger survived.  (review from Kirkus)

·      Concealed:  Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America. Esther Amini. Debra Simon hosts the discussion.

August 24, 2022, 4:00 PM at Bethlehem Public Library and by Zoom

Esther Amini grew up in Queens, New York, during the freewheeling 1960s. She also grew up in a Persian-Jewish household, the American-born daughter of parents who had fled Mashhad, Iran. In Concealed, she tells the story of being caught between these two worlds: the dutiful daughter of tradition-bound parents who hungers for more self-determination than tradition allows.

Exploring the roots of her father's deep silences and explosive temper, her mother's flamboyance and flights from home, and her own sense of indebtedness to her Iranian-born brothers, Amini uncovers the story of her parents' early years in Mashhad, Iran's holiest Muslim city; the little-known history of Mashhad's underground Jews; the incident that steeled her mother's resolve to leave; and her parents' arduous journey to the U.S., where they faced a new threat to their traditions: the threat of freedom. (review from Greenpoint Press)

All books are available at Amazon and Abe’s Books https://www.abebooks.com and are available at the Bethlehem Public Library.  

For the ZOOM link to our opening Books of Jewish Interest. Register at Bethlehemshul@gmail.com

Upon registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. This is a free event!!