My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish IraqIn a remote and dusty corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an ancient community of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke AramaicÑthe language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers, humble peddlers and rugged loggers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born. In the 1950s, after the founding of the state of Israel, Yona and his family emigrated there with the mass exodus of 120,000 Jews from IraqÑone of the world's largest and least-known diasporas. Almost overnight, the Kurdish Jews' exotic culture and language were doomed to extinction. Yona, who became an esteemed professor at UCLA, dedicated his career to preserving his people's traditions. But to his first-generation American son Ariel, Yona was a reminder of a strange immigrant heritage on which he had turned his backÑuntil he had a son of his own. My Father's Paradise is Ariel Sabar's quest to reconcile present and past. As father and son travel together to today's postwar Iraq to find what's left of Yona's birthplace, Ariel brings to life the ancient town of Zakho, telling his family's story and discovering his own role in this sweeping saga. What he finds in the Sephardic Jews' millennia-long survival in Islamic lands is an improbable story of tolerance and hope. Populated by Kurdish chieftains, trailblazing linguists, Arab nomads, devout believersÑmarvelous characters allÑ this intimate yet powerful book uncovers the vanished history of a place that is now at the very center of the world's attention. Ariel Sabar's My Father's Paradise is the Winner of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. |
Contents
II | 1 |
III | 7 |
IV | 9 |
V | 12 |
VI | 16 |
VII | 19 |
VIII | 25 |
IX | 28 |
XLI | 164 |
XLII | 172 |
XLIII | 175 |
XLIV | 183 |
XLV | 189 |
XLVI | 192 |
XLVII | 195 |
XLVIII | 197 |
X | 31 |
XI | 42 |
XII | 45 |
XIII | 48 |
XIV | 51 |
XV | 57 |
XVI | 61 |
XVII | 65 |
XVIII | 67 |
XIX | 72 |
XX | 76 |
XXI | 80 |
XXII | 83 |
XXIII | 87 |
XXIV | 93 |
XXV | 96 |
XXVII | 102 |
XXVIII | 103 |
XXIX | 107 |
XXX | 109 |
XXXI | 111 |
XXXII | 117 |
XXXIII | 120 |
XXXIV | 124 |
XXXV | 126 |
XXXVI | 134 |
XXXVII | 149 |
XXXVIII | 153 |
XXXIX | 155 |
XL | 159 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abba agas Agha American Angeles Arab Aramaic Ariel Ayala Babba baby Baghdad Beh Sabagha Ben-Zvi brother called courtyard David Ben-Gurion door Ephraim eyes family's Farhud father felt friends Gamra girl Habur Habur River hair hand Hazale head heard Hebrew immigrants Iraq Iraq's Iraqi Iraqi Jews Israel Israeli Jerusalem Jewish Katamonim knew Kurdish Jews Kurdistan Kurds land language later laughed linguistic lived looked Lubayd ma'abarot Mamo Yona Miryam Mosul mother mountains Murdakh Muslim Nashwan neighborhood Neo-Aramaic never night okay Palestine parents Polotsky professor rabbi Rahamim Rifqa river Sabar Sara scholars Shabbat Shalom Sherabi smile someone Stephanie story street Suleiman synagogue tell thought told took Torah town trip turned Tusani Tzion UCLA village walked wanted woman words wrote X-Files Yale Yona Sabar Yona's Zakho Zilkha Zionist