While the term "Arab-Jew" was used to describe Jews living in Arab countries who saw themselves as part of Arab society, not all "Arab-Jews" were the same in practice. In Iraq, a liberal Arab-Jew who worked for the state was very different from a contemporary Jewish communist, who also identified himself as an Arab-Jew. Although both were critical of Zionism and saw themselves as Iraqi patriots, their perception of the state, its relationship to Britain and the United States, and the sociocultural context in which they operated were radically different. Even Jews who did not use the term "Arab-Jew" practiced "Arab-Jewish-ness" by adopting Arabic as their writing language, reading Arabic texts like novels, poems, short stories and newspapers, interacting with fellow Muslim and Christian Arabs, and enjoying Arab cinema, Arab music, and Arab theater. Concurrently, however, they preserved their Jewish identity by celebrating Jewish holidays, socializing with other Jews, and speaking the local-Jewish dialect at home. This talk will thus explore the various kinds of Arab Jews who lived in Iraq in an attempt to enrich our knowledge of both Iraqi and Jewish history.
Sponsored by the Wayman Crow College, the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, the Department of History, the Program in Jewish, Islamic and Near Eastern Studies, and the Program in Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. For more information please contact Sarah Massey in the Program in Religious Studies at relst@artsci.wustl.edu or (314) 935-8677.