JIMENA Books and Articles

A Summer in La Goulette - A comedy that explores the complicated relationships in the Middle East. The place is La Goulette, a small Tunisian harbor town. The time is a few months before the 6-Day War in June 1967, a time when people of different religions in North Africa exist side by side. Flach Pyramide Intnl. French with English subtitles. www.jhvc.org

Braids - Based on a true story, Braids tells the tale of So’ad, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl imprisoned by the Iraqi government in 1947 for her participation in the Zionist movement. The film illuminates a complex and sensitive period of Jewish life in Iraq when Jews felt their security threatened as antisemitism surfaced with the growth of Zionism. Jailed for three years, So’ad joined other political prisoners in a campaign of disobedience until Iraq opened its gates in 1950 and allowed Jews to emigrate to Israel. This program holds strong appeal for those interested in Sephardic culture. Israel Educational TV; National Center for Jewish Film www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

Day of Deliverance - Composed of footage showing the historic break-up for the DP camps of Germany following WWII, on the closing of the Cyprus detention camps, and on Operation Magic Carpet which brought the Jews of Yemen to Israel. By the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. www.yivoinstitute.org

Doda Diya - Diya, is a widow. She lives a simple life. She has waited 40 years to return to the Island of Djerba. It is her dream. She arrives in Tunisia and Djerba with hundreds of other Jews for a memorial event in celebration of a righteous woman. Maale School of TV Film and Arts, Jerusalem. Hebrew with English subtitles. mahale06@inter.net.il

From Morocco to Montréal - Solly Lévy from Morocco to Montréal takes the audience into the world of Solly Lévy, a Sephardic Jew who came to Canada from Morocco in 1968. www.whitepinepictures.com

Home - As a Baghdad-born Israeli family watch the live CNN images of the Gulf War on their television, the images of bombed-out Baghdad evoke potent memories of their Iraqi-Jewish past. The Jerusalem Film & Television School. (972) 2/731-950 / fax:(972) 2/731-949 www.jsfs.co.il

I Miss The Sun - Mary Halawani, the filmmaker, takes a look at the life of her grandmother, Rosette Hakim, who was born in Egypt. She uses the Pesach seder, which tells the story of the Hebrew's exodus from Egypt, as a symbol of her grandmother's exodus from modern Egypt. National Center for Jewish Film or (718) 858-4898. www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

In The Beginning: Once Upon a Time... There Were Arab Jews - A story of Jews living in the Islamic world as neighbors with Moslems. The memories of 3 generations of a family now living in France, but from Laghouat, Algeria. They recall a Islamic Jewish culture where Jews and Muslims worked, studied and socialized together, and sought common ground in the Torah and the Koran. French and Arabic with English Subtitles; Les Films d'ici, films.dici@wanadoo.fr Tel: 33 1 4452 2323.

In the Shadows/ Forgotten Jews of Syria - Interviewed in silouette, several Syrian Jews tell about their lives in that Arab community. There are less than 4000 Jews [c. 1995] in Syria, and they were afraid to reveal their identities, but in the “shadows” they tell of the doom and terror under which they live. The interviews are interspersed with experts who tell about this community and its history. Beth Hatefutsoth - The Israel Diaspora Museum http://www.bh.org.il

Jew of Iran - This film concentrates on Jews living in Iran presently, with an eye on recent historic developments. In Tehran, young and old Jews speak about different kinds of discrimination as well as friendships between two tolerant Muslim and Jewish families. NIK Media, The Netherlands. www.joodseomroep.nl

L'Exode oublié, Juifs des pays arabes (Forgotten Exodus, Jews of Arab Countries)
Documentary film in French by Moise Rahamni. Available through: www.moise.sefarad.org/ouvrages/arabe/index.html

Nana: Un Portrait - From her apartment in New York, eighty-year-old Louise Zilkha reviews the highlights of her life that began with a traditional Jewish upbringing in Baghdad. Zilkha reminisces about her youth, of playing Queen Esther and of her arranged courtship and marriage to a leading Middle Eastern banker. She talks about the often turbulent coexistence of Iraqi Jews and Moslems, and of the persecution and threats that led the family on a journey out of Iraq to Beirut, Cairo, and finally, New York. The film is at once a very personal portrait and a documentary tribute to a lost culture. National Center for Jewish Film www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

Pillar of Salt - Based on the autobiographical novel by sociologist Albert Memmi, Pillar of Salt captures the cultural richness and social complexity of a Jewish boy's life in Tunisia, North Africa. Alexander, age 13, is an expressive and intelligent boy who sensitively responds to conflicting pressures from surrounding French and Arab societies. A rare opportunity to see the unique customs of Jewish life in Tunisia, including Sabbath dinner and Alexander's bar mitzvah. National Center for Jewish Film www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

Return to Oulad Moumen - In south Marrakesh amidst the olive groves lies the village of Oulad Moumen where Habiba and Yossef Edery began their family in the 1920s. Director Genini, the youngest of the nine Edery children, organized a family reunion in 1992 to bring her family (now dispersed geographically and culturally) together in the place where is all began. 50 members of the family, came from Morocco, France, America, Canada, Mexico, Italy, and Israel to Oulad Moumen to learn of the dynasty’s origins. Genini melds the family reunion with archival photos, giving both a personal view of a Sephardic family and a historical picture of Jewish-Arabic-Berber coexistence in Oulad Moumen. National Center for Jewish Film www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

Searching For Baghdad: A Daughter's Journey - Searching For Baghdad documents Carole Basri’s travels to find the remnants of her heritage, outside of Iraq. With an eye toward history, her 21st century search leads her to the Iraqi-Jewish outposts established in the 19th century in the Far East. As she visits India, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Myanmar she seeks out the people, culture and contributions left by those Iraqi Jews who ventured out of Baghdad looking for a better life. As Carole journeys from synagogue to synagogue and sees food, music and names that could only have come from Baghdad, her desire to see the place of her ancestor’s origin grows deeper. However, witnessing the enduring contributions of her ancestors to their adopted homes while realizing they still maintained their Iraqi-Jewish roots made her search a success. D-Squared Media, NYC http://lastjewsofbaghdad.com

Soleil - Professor Levy, a surgeon in Paris, suffers a heart attack in the opening scene of the film, and flashes back to his Algerian Jewish boyhood. Sophia Loren acts in the role of his mother, Mamma Titine. It is a beautifully shot, sentimental but occasionally splendid evocation of a WWII boyhood in a large Jewish family in Algiers. Mamma raised five children, while Papa worked in a Paris post office under a non-Jewish name. Meyer is her favorite, yet rebellious, child. In Vichy controlled Algeria, Meyer is expelled from school at age 13, but reinstated. President Films, 2 rue Lord Byron, Paris 75008, France, 011-33-1-45-628222

The Forgotten Refugees - A documentary film and educational portal about the mass exodus of up to one million Jews from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century. By The David Project, non-profit educational initiative. Available through www.theforgottenrefugees.com

The Jews of Djerba [Tunisia] - This video explores the rich history and customs of this unique place. The Jews left Babylon over 2,500 years ago and were scattered over a wide geographical terrain. The Jewish community on this island sees itself as the remnant of an earlier congregation, and it claims to have the “Ghriba” stones from the Temple. National Center for Jewish Film www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm

The Last Jews of Baghdad: End of an Exile; Beginning of a Journey - In 2004, there are just 26 Jews living in Iraq from a population of over 160,000. A documentary examining the historical and personal journey of Jews through persecution, torture, escape and exile in the Middle Eastern land now known as Iraq. Jews have lived in Iraq since 586 BCE, at one time numbering as many as 160,000. Today, just 22 of this once vibrant community remain. The Last Jews of Baghdad: End of an Exile, Beginning of a Journey shares first-person accounts from members of this exiled group, putting Iraq's complicated political history in context and providing a lens through which to understand today's headlines. This film asks the twofold question, “Why did the Iraqi Jews leave and in a post-Saddam Iraq will they return?” D-Squared Media, NYC http://lastjewsofbaghdad.com

The Life of Frank Iny: A Granddaughter's Journey - The Life of Frank Iny tells the story of a man whose search for religious freedom took him from Baghdad to India, Belgium, Berlin, Israel and New York. His name was Frank Iny and this film is a tribute from his granddaughter, Carole Basri, an attorney living in New York City. Frank Iny was a highly respected Iraqi-Jewish businessman, philanthropist and leader. He established a very successful school for the children of his community, in 1941, when Jews were no longer welcome in the state run schools. Throughout his 81 years, Frank Iny’s survival and that of his family were tested. In fact, his stories of escape and persecution are, sadly, not unique among the Iraqi-Jews whose numbers in that country shrank from over 200,000 in the early 1900’s to only 40 living there today. D-Squared Media, NYC http://lastjewsofbaghdad.com

The Silent Exodus - And if they came from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq or from Yemen, if they had lost everything, even their relatives and their cemeteries, they were ready to rebuild their lives in the West and for many - in Israel - and try to forget their past—without ever asking for compensation or the right of return, or even wishing that their story be told. A film by documentarian Pierre Rehov. Available through www.pierrerehov.com or Haggiti@hotmail.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JEWS FROM ARAB COUNTRIES
Thanks to Justice for Jews for Arab Countries for compiling the list

Abitbol, Michel. The Jews of North Africa During the Second World War. Detroit: Wayne University Press, 1989.

Ahroni, Reuben. Jews of the British Crown Colony of Aden: History, Culture & Ethnic Relations. London: Brill, 1994.

Allali, Jean-Pierre. Sefarades-Palestiniens. Safed Editions, 2005.

Avneri, Ariel L. The Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land-Settlement and the Arabs 1878-1948. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 2003.

Awret, Irene. Days of Honey. New York: Schocken, 1984.

Bard, Mitchell. Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israel Conflict. New York: American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2002.

Beinin, Joel. The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics and The Formation of a Modern Diaspora. Berkley: University of California Press, 1998.

Beker, Avi. Jewish Communities of the World. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1998.

Bell, Idris H. Jews and Christians in Egypt: The Jewish Troubles in Alexandria and the Athanasian Controversy. England: Oxford UP, 1924.

Ben-Zvi, Itzhak. The Exiled and the Redeemed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1957.

Ben-Porat, Mordechai. To Baghdad and Back: The Miraculous 2,000 Year Homecoming of the Iraqi Jews. New York: Gefen Publishing House, 1998.

Bernet, Michael. Between East & West: A History of the Jews in North Africa. Philadelphia: JPS, 1968.

Black, Edwin. Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7,000-Year History of War, Profit, and Conflict. New York: Wiley, 2002.

Chira, Robert. From Aleppo to America: Stories. Orlando: Rivercross: 2002.

Cohen, Ben. Review of “The Jewish Exodus from Iraq.” Journal of Palestine Studies, 27(4):110-111., 1999.

Cohen, Hayyim. “The Anti-Jewish Farhud in Baghdad, 1941.” Middle Eastern Studies, 3:2-17., 1966.

Cohen, Hayyim J. The Jews of the Middle East, 1860-1972. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, 1973.

Cohen, Mark R. and Abraham L. Udovitch. Jews Among Arabs: Contacts and Boundaries. Princeton: The Darwin Press, Inc., 1989.

Cohen, Mark R. Under Crescent and Cross. Princeton UP, 1995.

Davis, Uri and Mezvinsky, Norton. eds. The Iraqi Jews and Their Coming to Israel, Documents from Israel 1967-1973. London: Ithaca Press: 1975.

De Felice, Renzo. Jews in an Arab Land: Libya, 1835-1970. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.

Deshem, Shlomo and Zenner, Walter P. (eds.) Jews Among Muslims: Communities in the Precolonial Middle East. New York: Washington Square, 1996.

Deshem, Shlomo and Zenner, Walter P. Jewish Societies in the Middle East Community, Culture, and Authority. University Press of America, 1982.

Esposito John L. (ed.), The Iranian Revolution: Its Global Impact. NYC, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Florence, Ronald. Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840. University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.

Frankel, Jonathan. The Damascus Affair: 'Ritual Murder', Politics, and the Jews in 1840. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Friedman, Saul S. Without Future: The Plight of Syrian Jewry. Praeger: New York, 1989.

Gat, Moshe. The Jewish Exodus from Iraq: 1948-1951. London: Frank Cass, 1997.

Gerber, Jane S. Jewish Society in Fez 1450-1700: Studies in Communal and Economic Life. Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1980.

Gilbert, Martin. Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. London: Oxford UP, 1993.

Gilbert, Martin. The Jews of Arab Lands: Their History In Maps. World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries, 1976.

Goldberg, Arthur J. 1999. “Findings of the Tribunal relating to the Claims of Jews from Arab Lands.” World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC), 1987.

Goldberg, Harvey E. Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and Relatives. University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Goldberg, Harvey E. Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Greuen, George E. Ottoman Empire to Modern Era. Reprinted from: The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. Simon, Reeva S., Michael M. Laskier and Sara Reguer; editors .

Gruen, George E. Tunisia's Troubled Jewish Community. New York: American Jewish Committee, 1983.

Gubbay, Lucien. Sunlight & Shadow: The Jewish Experience in Islam. New York: Other Press, 2000.

Haddad, Heskel M. Born in Baghdad. Lincoln, NE: Authors Choice Press, 2004.

Haddad, Heskel M. Flight from Babylon. New York, McGraw Hill, 1986.

Haddad, Heskel M. Jews of Arab and Islamic Countries: History, Problems, Solutions. New York: Shengold Publishers, Inc., 1984.

Hillel, Shlomo. Operation Babylon: Jewish Clandestine Activity in the Middle East 1946-51. Glasgow: Bantam, 1987.

Hirschberg, H.Z. A History of the Jews in North Africa Volume 1: From Antiquities to Sixteenth Century. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1974.

Hunwick, John. Jews of a Saharan Oasis. Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2006.

Jabes, Andre. Jews in Arab Countries: Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya: A Survey of Events Since August 1967. London: Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1971.

Kazzaz, David. Mother of the Pound: Memoirs on the Life and History of the Iraqi Jews. New York: Sepher Hermon, 1990.

Kramer, Gudrun. The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914-1952. (Publications on the Near East, No. 4.) University of Washington Press, 1989.

Landau, Jacob M. Jews and non-Jews in nineteenth-century Egypt and Syria. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1974.

Landau, Jacob M. The Arab Minority in Israel, 1967-1991: Political Aspects. Oxford UP, 1993.
Landshut, Siegfried. Jewish Communities in the Muslim Countries of the Middle East. Westport: Hyperion Press, 1950.
Laskier, Michael M. North African Jewry in the Twentieth Century: The Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. New York University Press, 1997.

Laskier, Michael. The Jews of Egypt, 1920-1970: In the Midst of Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and the Middle East Conflict. New York UP, 1991.

Levin, Itmar. Locked Doors: The Seizure of Jewish Property in Arab Countries. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2001.

Lewis, Bernard, The Jews of Islam. Princeton UP, 1984.

Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. Touchstone Books, 1997.

Lewis, Bernard. The Multiple Identities of the Middle East. NYC, Schocken Books, 2001.

Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. New York, Norton, 1987.

Lewis, Bernard. The Shaping of the Modern Middle East. NYC, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Malka, Eli S. Jacob’s Children in the Land of the Mahdi; Jews of Sudan. Syracuse University Press: Syracuse, 1997.

Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther. Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s. Frank Cass & Co, 2004.

Meyers, Allan R. Patronage and Protection: Status of Jews in Pre-colonial Morocco Reprinted from: Jews Among Muslims: Communities in the Pre-colonial Middle East.

Meron, Ya'akov. 1995. “Why Jews Fled the Arab Countries.” Middle East Quarterly, 2(3):47-55. - http://meforum.org/article/263.

Miller, Susan Gilson. Kippur on the Amazon: Jewish Emigration from Northern Morocco in the Late Nineteenth Century. Reprinted from: Goldberg, Harvey E.

Mizrahi, Menahem Y. I Dream of Egypt: A memoir about the life of Egyptian Jews and the events of the Second Exodus from 1936-1965. 1998.

Newby, Gordon Darnell. A History of the Jews in Arabia: From Ancient Times to Their Eclipse under Islam. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988.

Nissan, Mordechai. Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression. London: McFarland & Company, 1991.

Patai, Raphael. The Seed of Abraham: Jews and Arabs in Contact and Conflict. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1986.

Patai, Raphael. The Vanished World of Jewry. New York: Macmillan, 1980.

Rahmani, Moise. L’exode oublié: Juifs des Pays Arabes. Editions Raphael, Paris, 2003.

Rahmani, Moise Sous le joug du Croissant: Juifs en Terre d’Islam. Editions de l’Institut Sepharade Europeen, 1992.

Rejwan, Nissim. The Jews of Iraq: 3000 Years of History and Culture. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985.

Robinson, Nehemiah. The Arab Countries of the Near East and Their Jewish Communities. New York: World Jewish Congress, 1951.

Roumani, Maurice. The Case of the Jews from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue. Tel Aviv: World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC), 1978.

Safran, Nadav. Egypt in Search of Political Community : An Analysis of the Intellectual and Political Evolution of Egypt, 1804-1952. Harvard UP, 1981.

Sanua, Victor D. A Guide to Egyptian Jewry in the Mid-Twentieth Century. Orlando: International Society for Sephardic Progress, 2004.

Schechtman, Joseph. On Wings of Eagles: The Plight, Exodus, and Homecoming of Oriental Jewry. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961.

Schulze, Kirsten E. The Jews of Lebanon: Between Coexistamce and Conflict. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2001.

Serels, Mitchell M. A History of the Jews of Tangier in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. NYC, Sepher-Hermon Press, 1991.

Setton, Ruth Knafo. The Road to Fez. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2001.
Shiblak, Abbas. The Lure of Zion: The Case of the Iraqi Jews. London: Al Saqi, 1996.
Shulewitz, Malka Hillel. The Forgotten Millions: The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands. Cassell: New York, 1999.

Simon, Rachel. The Social, Cultural and Political Impact of Zionism in Libya. Jewish Political Studies Review, 1994.

Simon, Reeva S., Laskier, Michael M. and Reguer, Sara; eds. The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

Sitton, David. Sephardi Communities Today. Jerusalem: Council of Sephardi and Oriental Communities, 1985.

Stillman, Norman A. The Jews of Arab Lands. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1979.

Stillman, Norman A. The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991.

Troper, Harold. The Ransomed of God: The Remarkable Story of One Women’s Role in the Rescue of Syrian Jews. Toronto: Malcolm Lester Books, 1999.

Udovitch, Abraham L., Valensi, Lucettte. The Last Arab Jews: The Communities of Jerba, Tunisia. London: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1984.

Woolfson, Marion. Prophets in Babylon: Jews in the Arab World. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1980.

Ye’or, Bat. Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide. Cranbury: Associated University Press, 2002.

Zafrani, Haim. Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life in Morocco. New York: Ktav, 2005.

Zenner, Walter P. Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria (Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology) Wayne State UP, 2000.

Zenner, Walter P. and Zenner, Shlomo. “Southern Tunisian Jewry in the Early Twentieth Century.” The Journal of North African Studies. Volume 10, Number 2/June 2005.