My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search For His Family's Past

My Father’s ParadiseBy Ariel SabarBeautifully crafted book.Ariel Sabar is a second generation Iraqi Kurdistani jew was born in the USA. While growing up he wasn’t sure about his parent’s cultural roots but became more interested and subsequently delved into a fascinating journey to search for his Jewish roots, culture, and ancestors.- Ariel adds additional evidence of the Iraqi political elite and government’s involvement in the 1941 Farhud/Farhood or pogrom inflicted upon the Jews of Iraq. Contrary to the propagated tell tales of the Farhud as simply an act of thugs and criminals on the loose, he shows less evidence of that. Iraqis Arab majority denial of the Farhud as an act of the political elite’s ideology is due to their inability to understanding that reconciliation with victims requires taking the responsibility of the criminal act to forgive oneself and to reconnect with the victims. Many Iraqis trying to crudely seduce the Jews into restoring Iraqi citizenship to them as a gesture of reconciliation rather than offering a sincere apology to feel dignified. One wonders how naive such suggestion is? The Jews of Iraq acquired Israeli citizenship and they feel safe and protected in Israel, so what entices them risking taking Iraqi citizenship again and become under the rule of an erratic and inconsistent behaviour of a not-fully-fledged democracy.- Arie’s dazzling description of his family’s tough conditions before and after the forced departure from Zakho their hometown in Kurdistan Iraq. The deportation of the Jews from all parts of Iraq has its place in my heart like my own family account of deportation and disposition. Ephraim, Ariel’s grandad, reminds me of my father’s hopes of witnessing the fall of tyrannical regime fading away as years passing. Ephraim and my father’s story of fading hopes of finding fragments of their past life in the new homeland is a tale of humans’ attachment regardless of past’s moments of discomfort or even pain. Ariel’ description of Ephraim’s death saddened me as much as my own father’s death.- Ariel’s staggering honesty and openness to convey the truth about the difficult time his dad’s family experienced in Israel at it’s inception made me feel more confident to open up to talk about my Iraqi cultural heritage in my new homeland. He talks about Israel’s imperfections beside its determination to develop further rather than attempting to portray a perfect utopian image of it. Although he was fully aware that his book will be in public domain, he reflected non-defensively, openly and deeply on Israeli society and its associated problems. In other words he was not ashamed of any of its imperfections after all we are dealing with humans and their societies. He seems to feel the pain and suffering of his family, and he tells how determined his family was while starting their new life in Israel. These images of pain, suffering and determination to survive and even excel seem to have universal bases shared by my own family’s experience of deportation and successful resettling.- Beautifully crafted portrayal of a family dynamics where Yano’s parents expectation of him returning to Israel and him raising a family in the USA with his wife whom he loved. When his parents started struggling financially, the guilt seeped in but nothing he could do to meet his parents desire of returning to Israel his homeland.That family dynamics is as universal as any other human quality.- Humane description of Ariel’s dad insecurity and at times ambivalence toward the life in USA. The forces of nostalgia to Zakho’s simple life and missing his family in Israel were strong and torn Yano deeply. I share similar sentiment, but since my retirement I see it as a matter of being content with what I achieved and feeling secure in my new homeland, rather than nostalgia to return to my country, roots and its culture of origin.- As for Ariel’s teens years and the battles with his father, he precisely captured the essence of the conflicts with his dad; he eloquently identifies the nature of the conflict as a normal desire of a teenager to fit in by denying his father’s roots and heritages as if they were unwanted ugly shadow trailing behind him due to the sun shining on his handsome face.- “He’s a person of folk, not an elitist” Nancy Ezer told Ariel describing his dad Yona. She thought this attitude originates from cultural modesty, but as someone who can identify with Yona I think her analysis could be partially true. In my view, relating to folks rather than the elite reflects his insecurity when in doubt how much of the new culture he has absorbed while living in the new homeland for decades. Yona’s culture of origin inhibits openness to express views that might be quite different or contradictory to his elite colleagues, but interacting with ordinary folk is much easier because it does not require competitive edge or being a demanding interaction. Yona said few pages later “My mood changes after I teach.....psychologically, this is an encounter where I know what to say and people listen” ....”Unlike some other kinds of social encounters, where the rules are not easy to follow”. This could prove my point of his awkwardness interacting with elite peers.- Ariel’s relentless search for his kidnapped baby aunt Rifqa on trips with his dad Yona and on his own gave me a sense of my own quest for the lost thing I never knew what it was? I was born in Iraq but expelled from it and it took us 3 years to get to our new homeland Britain. I showed no interest to find more about my father Iranian descents or mother unknown roots, and that probably a denial of their roots importance, but Ariel’s search intrigued me and I was glued to his book, so could his search be mine too? My search is to find the unknown loss which I never knew its essence.- Ariel Sabar and Marina Benjamin books have helped me to accept my Iraqi cultural roots which I always was ashamed of. His way of describing the acceptable and the unacceptable elements of Kurdistan Jewish culture enabled me to reflect on my feeling of antagonism toward my roots.

My Fathers Paradise by Ariel Sabar 2008,328pg au.I am always keen to read a new Jewish writer, and a gratefull for someone who has made an effort to write about the history and culture of a Jewish community that has dissapeared.This is the biography of Yona Sabar written by his son. Yona was brought up in Kurdistan in the town.Zakho. At home he spoke Aramaic in the streets Kurdish and at school he learned Arabic, then arrived in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old. What is interesting is that he and his siblings were good students and finished school while most of his generation were dropouts. At university he was recognised as having something unique of mother tongue Aramaic and this resulted in him getting into Yale and he ends of living his life in America with an American wife and becomes a professor of Middle Eastern Languages.His son only becomes interested in the family history when he has his own children and Ariel who by then is a reporter researches the whole family background.It is also interesting that there are 35 million Kurds in the world and they don't have a national state. While the few million Palestinian who nobody is interested in have such a big noise because Jews are involved.This book interests me as I learned 3 dead or dying languages. In South Africa , at school we had to learn the other official language Afrikaans, however in post Apartheid SA it has been relegated to one of many 9 tribal languages. Yiddish was the language my grandparents brought from Lithuania and that no longer has a new generation of speakers like when I was a kid. We had to learn a 3rd language at school and the only teachers available were Latin teachers and today very few learn classical dead languages.It also interests me as my son's girlfriend is of Iraqi Kurdish extraction and is working on her Masters degree. So with time the 2nd or 3rd generations of Israelis have melted into the pot.

Ariel`s writing about his family history is interesting informative and moving.His father turns out to be a gifted linguist and proud of his roots as a Jewish Kurd..........great.

Anyone interested in topical history & have friends in or from these areas must read this. Although Christians don't get much show time it's all so topical & can relate to the biblical truths.

Beautifully written and entwines fiction with non fiction wonderfully. Very poignant and a must read. Informing, amusing, poignant and heart warming. Superb descriptions of a time and place lost to us. Highly recommend.