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Zikrayat: Eight Jewish Women Remember Egypt

Glenn Hayes

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Zikrayat: Eight Jewish Women Remember Egypt

by Sanyika Shakur

4.2 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3054 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	190 pages

In the early 20th century, Egypt was home to a thriving Jewish community. By the mid-20th century, however, the vast majority of Egyptian Jews had fled the country, due to rising anti-Semitism and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Zikrayat: Eight Jewish Women Remember Egypt tells the stories of eight women who grew up in Egypt during this tumultuous period. These women, from diverse backgrounds and experiences, share their memories of childhood, family, and community in a country that was both home and a source of pain.

The book is a moving and important contribution to the history of the Jewish community in Egypt and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

The authors of Zikrayat are:

Esther Bejarano
Rachel Cohen
Renée Dayan
Alice Di Castro
Rosa Glikson
Helga Levy
Esther Muchawsky
Éva Reichmann

These women come from a variety of backgrounds and have very different experiences to share. Esther Bejarano, for example, was born in Germany and came to Egypt with her family as a young child. She lived in Cairo until 1942, when she was deported to Auschwitz. She survived the Holocaust and returned to Egypt after the war.

Rachel Cohen, on the other hand, was born in Alexandria and lived there until 1956, when she left for Israel. She has fond memories of her childhood in Egypt, but she also remembers the anti-Semitism that she experienced.

The stories in Zikrayat are full of rich detail and emotion. The women share their memories of family gatherings, religious holidays, and everyday life in Egypt. They also talk about the challenges they faced as Jews in a Muslim-majority country.

Zikrayat is a valuable addition to the literature on the Jewish community in Egypt and a must-read for anyone interested in the history of this community and Jewish history in general.

Praise for Zikrayat

"Zikrayat is a compelling and moving account of the lives of eight Jewish women who grew up in Egypt. These women share their memories of a time and place that is now lost, but their stories are a valuable reminder of the diversity and richness of Jewish life in the Middle East."
—Sarah Abrevaya Stein, author of Growing Up Modern: Jewish Youth in the Twentieth Century

"Zikrayat is a unique and important contribution to the history of the Jewish community in Egypt. These women's stories are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of memory."
—Michael Berkowitz, author of The Crime of My Very Existence: Nazism and the Fate of Jews in the German-Occupied Netherlands