Henry Green and Richard Stursberg
SEPHARDI VOICES: THE UNTOLD EXPULSION OF JEWS FROM ARAB LANDS
Vancouver, B.C., Finger 1 Publishing, Inc., 2021: ISBN 978-1-77327-153-8
Reviewed by Ruth Ohayon1
Sephardi Voices focuses on recounting the history of the expulsion of Jews from their Arab homelands and on preserving individuals’ memories and childhood experiences. Beautiful photos and portraits of Sephardi families from numerous Arab countries and artifacts from a world that was lost reflect the powerful stories of a few of the 850,000 displaced Jews. The book consists of five chapters on the history of the Sephardim, as well as interviews with individuals from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Iran.
In 2009, The Sephardi Voices International project started to document the lives and the stories of the diaspora. The book draws from this collection to describe and explore the lives of individuals who were expelled from Arab lands. According to the authors, the terms “Sephardi and Mizrahi (refer) to Jews who shared a common heritage, culture, language with their Arab neighbors” (p. 3). Sephardic Jews can trace their roots to the Iberian Peninsula. Jews have lived in the Middle East and North Africa for 2,000 years. Mizrahi is a newer term dating from the founding of the state of Israel and encompasses non-Western Jews.
In Chapter 1, “Ancient Homelands,” Greene and Stursberg present historical background since Exodus including the Babylonian period, the Roman conquest, the Crusades, and the rise of Zionism. In the chapter “The Arab Jews before Israel,” the authors write, “The complex cauldron of colonialism, thwarted Arab national ambitions, Zionism…and the traditional Muslim view of Jews as second-class citizens was a challenging status for the Sephardim, which was worsened by the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s and their anti-Semitic platform” (p. 22). An overview of the history of Jews from Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, and Iran is critical to understanding the fate of the Sephardim. Their status was always perilous and at the mercy of the government in place at the time. For example, the family of Levana Vidal Zamir was wealthy; with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, which created hatred for the Jews, their situation worsened. As war broke out in Europe in late 1930s, there were 800,000 Jews in Arab lands. In some countries, Jews were faring well; in other countries pogroms and violence were legitimated, as during the Vichy regime when France controlled the French colonies. Fortunately in Morocco, King Mohammed V met with Vichy French representatives and affirmed that Jews were Moroccan citizens and, thus, protected. In Tunisia, however, Jews were forced into labor camps.
The exodus begins between 1948 and 1967, following the creation of the State of Israel. Jews in Arab lands suffered greatly, property and assets were confiscated, bank accounts frozen, synagogues burned. Jews were viewed as enemies of the state. They realized that they would always be viewed as Zionists not Iraqis or Egyptians. The major wave of emigration began in 1949. Almost 400,000 Jews left their homelands for Israel, France, and North America. Dispossession and displacement dominated the lives of the Sephardim. The process of nationalism and Arabization meant that priority in jobs went to Muslims; it impacted all aspects of daily life.
The wave of emigration continued between 1967 and 1980. One man from Morocco recalls that after the Six-Day War in 1967, kids in his class confronted him and said, “We are going to kill you because you are a Jew, you’re a Zionist” (p. 86). In Iraq after the Six Day War, Jewish houses were plundered, men and children disappeared. In Syria, as a result of the loss of the Golan Heights, restrictions on Jews ensued. They were not allowed to emigrate and they were subjected to curfews and barred from jobs. In Libya, a wave of killing and looting terrorized “the Jewish community that had been in Libya since the Roman Empire (and it) vanished completely, along with all evidence of their ever having been there” (p. 95). As a result of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, during the Syrian and Egyptian siege of Israel, the Syrian government refused to let the 4,000 remaining Jews emigrate, subjecting them to violence and imprisonment. In Iran, the Shah’s protection of the Jews was short-lived. During the rule of Ayatollah Khomeni, the government’s attitudes became as hostile as in the rest of the Muslim countries.
The authors describe how Jewish communities that had existed for thousands of years disappeared from their Arab homelands in the last chapter of the book, “Today and Tomorrow.” It was necessary to rebuild their lives in foreign lands. No reparations have been made or even discussed. On a personal note, my own family had to leave Morocco in the 1960s; we resettled in New York City. My extended family emigrated to Israel, France, and Canada. The trauma of dislocation affected some families more than others. Some individuals who moved to Israel describe how they were ill-received and mistreated by Israelis. Arab cultures were seen as the enemy. An Iraqi describes how the Sephardim were received upon arriving in Israel, “The landing in Israel was a terrible time, because immediately we were called Arab Jews…We were nothing. We did not exist on the Jewish map and we became no ones” (pp. 107-109). Babies of Yemeni Jews were taken from them to be raised by Ashkenazi parents for a better future (p. 110).
Opportunities for creating successful lives were abundant as well. A number of Sephardim who settled in France, Israel, and America, became prominent in their fields. For example, Serge Haroche from Morocco held the chair in quantum physics at the College de France; internationally renowned intellectuals as Jacques Derrida and Bernard-Henri Lévy were born in Algeria; Israeli foreign minister David Levy originated from Morocco; Gisèle Halimi who was born in Tunisia became a notable human rights lawyer in France; and Paul Marciano who was from Morocco established Guess Jeans in the United States with his brothers.
Green and Stursberg argue that the exodus of Sephardi Jews from North Africa and the Middle East was accompanied by significant losses and displacement, but the loss of businessmen, politicians, and intellectuals created a great vacuum in the cultural life for the countries they left behind. In more recent times, Arab countries including Morocco aimed to rebuild the Jewish past, renovating synagogues, building museums, and restoring Jewish cemeteries (p. 121).
Sephardi Voices describes the exile of Sephardi Jews from North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran, and portrays a powerful story of endurance, resilience, and courage. I found the book and the personal stories powerful and illuminating. I am grateful for such a text that explores the history and journey of Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Arab lands. Sephardi Voices fills a major lacuna in the field of Jewish studies.
1 Ruth Ohayon, PhD, is Professor Emerita at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. She focuses on postcolonial literature, Francophone women writers, Caribbean and diasporic studies.