Until the mid 1950s, the Jews of Egypt lived in a multicultural and
diverse society, which constituted a model of conviviality and
tolerance, using French as its lingua franca. The Jews constituted
a respected and well-integrated urban community of about 80 to
100,000, and made an impressive contribution to the socioeconomic
modernization of the country. Together with the rise of Arab
nationalism and the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the
escalating Arab-Israeli conflict brought about the rapid demise of
Egyptian Jewry. Like the other Jewish communities of Arab lands,
these people were either expelled or forced into exile in the
aftermath of the 1948, 1956, and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars. As a
consequence, close to half of the Jewish population of Egypt found
refuge in Israel while the rest dispersed throughout the Western
world, mainly in France, Brazil, and the United States. This book
focuses on a group of about two thousand who settled in Australia,
the "Edge of the Diaspora." It also examines the migration
experience of Egyptian Jews who settled in France, in order to
compare and contrast their integration in a non Anglo-Celtic
environment. Although the Jews of Egypt, like most refugees,
suffered the trauma of dispossession, expulsion, and dislocation,
their particular experience did not attract the attention of
Australian sociologists or historians. Even within the context of
Australian Jewry, their story was largely unknown even though there
has been much discussion about the postwar migration of European
Jews. The author Racheline Barda believes that it is important to
give them a voice, to tell their stories, and delve into their past
history, thereby discovering the richness of their cultural
heritage which ultimately gave them the tools for a successful
integration in Australian society. One of the crucial concerns of
this work was the preservation and transmission of the rich and
dynamic history of this unique group to successive generations,
through the oral testimonies of first-hand witnesses of a vanished
world. This book makes an important contribution to the study of
contemporary Australian society as well as diaspora studies. It
deals with a topic that has rarely been reported on or studied in
Australia--the migration experience of a small and unique
ethnoreligious population such as the Jews of Egypt. It is the
first comprehensive research on their immigration and integration
into Australian society. Traditionally, sociohistorians have mostly
concentrated on the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe or on the long
established local Jewish community, which was historically of
British and German origin. The Jews of Egypt constitute one of the
largest Jewish communities to settle in Australia from outside
European societies, in response to the rise of Arab nationalism and
hostility to Israel. Based on a series of comprehensive interviews
conducted mainly in Australia and France, this study reconstructs
the history of a Jewish community and the circumstances of its
demise. It takes the innovative approach of systematically
analyzing the ethnic, religious, and cultural characteristics of
both sample groups, highlighting the diversity that is inherent to
the group as a whole. By specifically targeting the issue of
identity, it provides an insight into the dynamics of a
multilayered identity, which performs as a vehicle of integration
and acculturation for a migrant group in any host society. Apart
from individuals studying the particular history of Egyptian Jews
wherever they settled after their forced emigration from Egypt, the
book would be of interest to scholars specializing in diaspora
studies, ethnic and immigrant studies, and social history.
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