decolonize jewish

[sniper-at-the-gates-of-heaven]

lecture by ella shohat on arab jews

[linguisticcolonialism]

very interesting considerations on language, identity policing, and shame 

[jewish-archives-blog]

Example of the Judeo-Arabic alphabet employed by the Arabic-speaking Jews of Libya.

While it is well known that Judeo-Arabic usually uses Hebrew letters, what isn’t as well known is that it also writes many of these letters in unique ways. The right is the popular Hebrew script, while the left is the way that the Libyan Jews wrote these letters. 

[decolonizejewish]

Guedj Family, Constantine, Algeria, 1914

[nadsy222]

#french #algerian #imam #muslim #jews #germany #read #english #history #truth #wakeupworld #muslims are not #enemies #standwithpalestine #standwithkashmir #standwithuyghurs #standwithmuslims #ummahwakeup #alquds #alaqsa #sheikhjarrah https://www.instagram.com/p/CP2vT4dl3z_/?utm_medium=tumblr

[grecoromanyaoi]

Jewish wedding in Fez, 1930 / que du bonheur- Riff Cohen, 2014

[decolonizejewish]

[ithri0uragh]

Line Monty the Algerian Jewish Diva:

She was born Éliane Serfati in 1926 in the Algerian capital Algiers and grew up to have an international carrier.

She sang in Algerian dialect, Hebrew and French and has a rich discography as well as multiple awards. Her songs spoke of her love for her country (Alger Alger and Ma Guitare et Mon Pays), her strong attachment to her faith ( Les Lumières de Shabbat) and of course love and heartbreak (Ektebli Chouya).

[decolonizejewish]

Mon pays m’a quitté 

[decolonizejewish]

Extract from a documentary about the exile of Tunisian jews. The title is “My country left me”.

[laineystein]

Okay I have some candles to light so I really am logging off now.

But.

Uh.

Why are we calling Mizrahim “Arab”? Because they’re not. They’re Mizrahim?

Mizrahi Jews in Israel do not call themselves Arab Jews. So you shouldn’t call them Arab Jews. They’re Mizrahim.

Mizrahim exist because Middle Eastern Jews did not fit into the imperialist Arab (non-Jew) world. They were ethnically cleansed from those lands and most came to Israel to escape persecution. 50% of Israel is Mizrahim. Not Arab Jews. Mizrahim.

I just…they’re Mizrahim.

[decolonizejewish]

Are you seriously out here telling people what they can or can't call themselves?

MANY people call themselves Arab Jews. I am one of them. For several reasons I do not like the term Mizrahim and do not use it for myself.

Do you know what an Arab is? An Arab is someone whose native language is Arabic, or who is a citizen or descendant of citizens of a country where Arabic is the main language. So yes there are many Arab Jews. I am one of them.

Stop policing our identities.

[k1tsuune]

attn: jumblr

looking for non-ashkenormative works (memoirs, novels, nonfiction books, television, documentaries, etc.) to help broaden my understanding of judaism and jewish experiences in other spaces.

this includes works about or relating to sephardic, mizrachi, and ethiopian jews as well as other jews of color (in america and abroad).

if anyone can provide some resources, i’d greatly appreciate it. 

[decolonizejewish]

here is a list of movies (documentaries and fiction): https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031595206/  i especially recommend “Tinghir Jerusalem: les échos du Mellah”, a documentary by Kamal Hachkar about the Amazigh (Shleh) Jews of Morocco. the list also includes movies about Libyan, Ethiopian, Tunisian, Iraqi, Egyptian, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Iranian, and Algerian Jews. this book by Ella Shohat: “Zionism from the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims” is an absolute must-read, here is the pdf and it’s a quick read, only 36 pages.  and on this tumblr you will find a number of resources (images, videos, documentaries, book recommendations and pdf links...) on the histories, cultures, memories and identities of Arab, Amazigh, African, Maghrebi, Mizrahi, Sephardic, Ethiopian, Indian, Ghanaian, Egyptian, Ugandan, Chinese, Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, Persian, Kurdish, Iraqi, Yemeni Jews... 

i’d also like to point that as you use the terms “non-ashkenormative” and “other” to refer to these Jewish identities, experiences and histories, you are continuing to use Ashkenazi identities as a reference, and to operate from an Ashkecentric perspective. 

[kcameranzeb-deactivated20140909]

Palestinians protecting a Jewish Synagogue in Beirut from attacks during the Lebanese Civil War. December, 1975 Until 1982, about 25,000 Jews remained in Lebanon. However in that year, the Israeli Defence Forces attacked Beirut and bombed the Wadi Jmil synagogue [pictured], nearly destroying it. The siege of Beirut and the widespread destruction of the city by Israeli forces led the majority of Lebanese Jews to flee. Today it is being rebuilt with Lebanese state money for the remaining Jewish community of Lebanon, numbering around 100.

[decolonizejewish]

can someone tell me more about this? is that information accurate?

[regularlesbian]

From the archives of the New York Times, 12 August 1982: “Beirut’s Only Synagogue Casualty of the Israelis”

[decolonizejewish]

thank you for the source !  here is the article, for my followers who, just like me, have too many tabs open and can’t click on any more links or their browser will crash:  Beirut’s Only Synagogue Casualty of the Israelis  Israeli shells have fallen on Beirut's only synagogue, sending dozens of Jewish families fleeing for safety, residents said today.Before the Israelis invaded Lebanon to crush the Palestine Liberation Organization, about 100 Jewish families lived in the quarter near the Maghen Abraham synagogue on Wadi Abu Jamil Street in the northern half of Israeli-ringed west Beirut. It is a few blocks from the so-called green line that divides the capital into Moslem and Christian sectors.Now the once-lively neighborhood is virtually abandoned. Seven Jewish families remain, members of the community said in interviews. No Harassment by Arabs ''My house is broken, my house is broken,'' an old Jewish woman, practically deaf, mumbled in French as she sat in a chair behind the synagogue. Jewish residents say they have not been harassed by their Moslem neighbors or the Palestinians since the Israelis invaded Lebanon on June 6. Neighborhood residents, including the Jewish families, said Israeli artillery firing from east Beirut and gunboats cruising offshore had persistently pounded the district, which is also populated by large numbers of Kurds and Lebanese Shiite Moslems. A week ago, during a fierce Israeli assault, a shell blew a hole in the roof of the cream-colored stucco synagogue, sending about 60 Jewish and Moslem refugees sleeping there fleeing into the street, residents said. The building is now locked and vacant, plaster and concrete strewn on the floor. Without Water for a Week A block away, 80-year-old Khuder Namoud lives on the fourth floor of an apartment building with his wife, Rachel, and son and daughter, Ibrahim and Lisa. Their apartment has been without water and electricity for a week, Mr. Namoud said. ''We are sick of this war,'' Mr. Nahmoud said, his son interpreting from Arabic. ''All the money is gone. We can't work. The electricity is gone, the water too. We have just stayed here in the house for two months.'' Wearing a Jewish prayer shawl and skullcap, he said he prays daily for the bombardments to stop. His son said about seven families remain - the ones without enough money to flee. The others have gone to Junieh, the Christian port north of Beirut in an Israeli-held area, or to safer districts in east Beirut, he said. Israel has said several families have emigrated to Israel since the invasion.

[libhobn]

Jewish weddings around the world

[decolonizejewish]

Young Jewish woman - 1904, Oran, Algeria 

[ofskfe]

Daisy Seror, a Jewish woman from Qabis, Tunisia, wearing traditional costume, ca 1950.

Click here to listen to an interview in which Daisy Seror describes the Tunisian Consul’s attempt to recruit members of the Jewish community of Qabis; the requisition of Jews for forced labor; the liberation of Tunisia; her job providing assistance to a local Jewish doctor; the Jewish community’s mass exodus to Israel; her marriage to Youna Chelly and their four children; and the Chelly family’s immigration to France.

[mizrahisephardicjews-blog]

Libyan Jewish girls from Tripoli

[ofskfe]

Jewish girls from Tafilalet, south east Morocco.

ca. early 1900s. 

[decolonizejewish]

Livre du samedi : Les juifs algériens dans la lutte anticoloniale

Les juifs algériens dans la lutte anticoloniale Trajectoires dissidentes (1934-1965) Pierre-Jean Le Foll-Luciani Présentation : « Pour nous qui venions à peine d’avoir l’âge de raison en ces jours …

[itsnotserious]

« Pour nous qui venions à peine d’avoir l’âge de raison en ces jours d’humiliation, ces années de jeunesse ont à jamais marqué notre vie et c’est pourquoi nous sommes fiers de l’injure qu’on nous lançait comme un opprobre : Oui, nous sommes des juifs indigènes algériens… Et après ? Vous n’aurez pas notre cœur contre un certificat de nationalité dont vous vous servez comme d’un couperet de guillotine. »

Diffusées clandestinement durant la guerre d’indépendance, ces lignes ont été écrites en 1957 par des juifs algériens qui, nés citoyens français vers 1930, déchus de la citoyenneté française durant trois années et exclus de l’école sous Vichy, sont devenus des militants communistes algériens après la Seconde Guerre mondiale avant de rejoindre le FLN en 1956.

De l’entre-deux-guerres à l’indépendance de l’Algérie, une petite minorité de juifs issus de familles autochtones ont suivi des trajectoires comparables, les déplaçant en quelques années des projets sociaux ordinaires de leurs parents – faire de leurs enfants de bons Français plus ou moins juifs – vers le projet politique inouï de s’affirmer Algériens. Bouleversant l’ordre du monde colonial par leurs prises de position politiques, par leurs sociabilités transgressives et jusque dans leur intimité affective, ces hommes et ces femmes ont engagé leur vie pour une Algérie décolonisée et socialiste dont ils seraient citoyens, participant pleinement – mais non sans difficultés dans leur confrontation avec le nationalisme algérien dominant – au mouvement national, aux épreuves de la clandestinité et de la répression durant la guerre d’indépendance, et aux premières années de construction de l’Algérie indépendante.

[nostalgerie]

Tunisian Jewish boxing champion Victor Perez who survived by boxing until 1945, when he died during the death march from Auschwitz.