As Estrangement Grew
MARCUS, ABRAHAM
As Estrangement Grew The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times Norman Stillman Jewish Publication Society, 1991. 600 pp., S39.95 Reviewed by Abraham Marcus The emigration of Jews from the Soviet...
...Stillman's book is an expert account that brings insights into Jewish life in the Muslim world, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the different paths of development followed by European and Middle Eastern Jews in modern times...
...Abraham Marcus is associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin...
...The experience of Arabic-speaking Jewish emigrants appears to have been more fortunate than that of Europeans: The former left their birthplaces safely and rapidly and came out, by and large, with an intact identity and religious tradition...
...Yet, even on the eve of their exodus, the Jews maintained many contacts with their larger environment...
...Press, 1989...
...Iraqi Jews, for instance, were among the most accomplished performers of Iraqi traditional music...
...How the more than 13 centuries of vibrant Jewish presence in the Arab lands virtually ended and what the Jewish experiences were in the 150 years leading to this break are the main themes of TheJews of Arab Lands in Modem Times, Norman Stillman's sequel to his The Jews of Arab Lands (JPS, 1979), a survey of the history of Arabic-speaking Jews from the seventh to the nineteenth centuries...
...The documents, many available for the first time in English, offer glimpses into events experienced by people of the time...
...His account of Jewish experiences since 1914 narrows to a survey of political developments and Jewish responses without clarifying sufficiently what role Jews played in the Arab economies, how much they participated in general cultural activities, what their daily associations with their non-Jewish neighbors were like and what inroads modernization made into their life...
...They found little appeal in rising Arab nationalism...
...The limits of Westernization and estrangement among Jews deserve more stress than Stillman gives them...
...Like its predecessor, one-third is a historical overview...
...600 pp., S39.95 Reviewed by Abraham Marcus The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is the latest of several mass movements of Jews in this century...
...Stillman superbly analyzes the growing estrangement between Jews and Muslims, showing how uneasy circumstances led most Jews to stay out of politics and to keep a low profile...
...While he describes the social, cultural and economic changes that affected nineteenth century Jews, he curiously fails to follow these changes into the twentieth century...
...Jewish life in the modern Arab world had its benign and its unpleasant sides...
...About Palestine they usually were sympathetic with Zionists...
...Jews welcomed European colonial rule, thinking it would favor them more than Muslim rule...
...1986): 58-69...
...Like the two dislocations that preceded it—the exodus of Jews from Arab lands following Israel's birth and the uprooting and destruction of Jewish communities during the Nazi era—the Soviet emigration promises to reshape Jewish life, primarily in Israel...
...Yet, as the twentieth century unfolded, Jews found their political sympathies and interests increasingly at odds with the majority population...
...He is the author of The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity (Columbia Univ...
...Jewish emigrants from Arab lands included many who appeared backward and exotic to their European coreligionists in Israel, who did not understand their folklore, music, proverbs, home cures, customs and superstitions, a rich cultural heritage that had deep roots in the Arab environment...
...Stillman describes how most Jewish communities benefited from improvements in their civil status, how they promoted among their members a modern secular education and how economic opportunities and external contacts expanded...
...Since 1948 more than *See Louis H. Feldman, "The Omnipresence 'of the God-fearers," Biblical Archaeology Review 12:5 (Sep./Oct...
...His solidly documented narrative presents the fruits of the most recent research in a readable style accessible to nonspecialists...
...their emigration temporarily impoverished the musical scene in Baghdad...
...three-quarters of a million Jews from the Middle East and North Africa departed for good, leaving behind remnants now near extinction...
...During the Nazi era they watched with dismay as many Arabs supported the Axis Powers and adopted virulent forms of German antisemitism...
...Stillman navigates with skill among the Jewish communities and highlights their varied experiences...
...two-thirds presents documents drawn from memoirs, travelers' accounts, official reWestern ideas and power penetrated the region, and local rulers launched bold modernization programs...
...Stillman rightly emphasizes the importance of modernization and of the Jews' growing political alienation from their Arab-Muslim milieu...
...From time to time Jews asked themselves whether a future remained for them in Arab society, but few were motivated to leave until the creation of Israel forced the issue...
Vol. 16 • December 1991 • No. 6
