My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq | 
 enlarge | Author: Ariel Sabar
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 6909
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 325
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 1565124901
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.892405672092
EAN: 9781565124905
ASIN: 1565124901
Publication Date: August 21, 2008
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Product Description
In 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 Aramaic#8212;the 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.br br 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 Iraq#8212;one 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 back#8212;until he had a son of his own. br br iMy Father's Paradise/i 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.brbr Populated by Kurdish chieftains, trailblazing linguists, Arab nomads, devout believers#8212;marvelous characters all#8212; this intimate yet powerful book uncovers the vanished history of a place that is now at the very center of the world's attention.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
WONDERFUL READ November 13, 2008
K. Faasse (Minnesota, MN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I actually loved this book. It was well written. Pictures in your mind of the scenes were actually painted as you read the stories. As the author walked through his heritage and through his father's country you walked right beside him. Cried with him and laughed with him, was disappointed when he was and wanted more. This story is about a man taking his fathers legacy and putting it into print. It is a story of a dying language being brought back to life. I will read this book again and again and highly recommend it as a good read.
Vanishing Culture November 9, 2008
J Martin Jellinek (Memphis, TN United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My Father's Paradise is a wonderful homage to Ariel Sabar's father, who was born in Kurdish Iraq and spent his childhood years in a Jew in an ancient society Iraq and as an unappreciated immigrant in the new state of Israel. The book opened my eyes to a culture that has mostly vanished except in the lives of its survivors. It also shows the power of language in reflecting the culture of people, so that even when the inital culture dies, it can remain alive within the language and oral traditions of its people. br / br /Sabar uses his father's history to dscover who he is and where he fits into the melting pot that is twenty-first century America. He discovers that which makes him unique, which ultimately makes him strong. This is something that so many second generation Americans learn, and it is very nicely explored and analyzed in this book. br / br /I very much encourage anyone with an interest in the dynamics of social change to read this fascinating book.
Looking Beyond the Stigma to the History of a Man from another Place and another Time October 27, 2008
Richard R. Blake (San Leandro, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"My Father's Paradise" is the haunting story of Yona Sabar, born a Jew in Zakho, in the heart of Kurdish Iraq. Yona's family immigrated to Israel in 1951. Yona was 13 years old when they arrived in Israel. He worked days and completed his high school in evening schools provided for the young workmen. He was admitted to Hebrew University he studied Aramaic. In 1967 he was awarded a scholarship to Yale University in America. Yona Sabar went on to become a well regarded professor of Aramaic at UCLA. br / br /It was not until Ariel held his first son in his arms that he begin to think he might have misjudged his father and determined to seek out answers. By then he was a journalist, questions were a natural part of the trade. But this was something deeper...then a story. br / br /Ariel Sabar's quest, to better understand his father, took him on a journey to Kurdish Iraq. Yona accompanied him. They went to find what was left of Zahko, Yono's paradise. Ariel wanted to learn the story of the Sabar family. This book is the result of his careful research, interviews, letters, diaries, photographs, and official documents. Ariel has made every effort to provide a framework that tells his family story. br / br /His findings are rich in historical, geographical, and cultural background. He goes back into the history of his Jewish ancestry (the Jews of Kurdistan) but also highlights the history and politics of the Kurds, the Turks, and the Arabs. br / br /The book provides photo illustrations that bring the pages to life and add another dimension to this awe inspiring tribute to a deserving father from a loving son. br / br /Sabar's writing is heartfelt, thought provoking, and moving. Yona's person, character, and story will haunt the reader for days. I find myself going back to recapture something I might have missed. Highly recommended. br / br /
Kurdistan to L.A.: An awesome ride October 26, 2008
Judith Paley (Denver, CO)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are an American Jew, the offspring of immigrants, a linguist, a student of the Mideast crisis, or an ex-teen who's finally dropped the attitude, you should read this book. And if I'm not mistaken, that would be all of us. br / br /I've scarcely considered the plight of the Sephardic Jews of Western Asia much less the disposition of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Nor pondered the enormity of forced exile and the task of assimilating these uprooted peoples in America or Israel. Never knew the painstaking scholarship involved in archiving an ancient language. I was taken aback by the prejudices held by European immigrants towards those from the Middle East and Africa during the settlement of Israel. And heartened to learn that in Kurdish Iraq midway through the 20th century per a village elder there, "We and the Jews were loving each other...We were blood brothers." br / br /I am no stranger, however, to the know-it-all attitudes with which children view their parents, and the father and child reunion that dominates the last chapters of this book is the best part of all. br / br /Take a journey with Mr. Sabar back to a lost homeland, back to family. It's a place we all need to visit.
True immigrant tale that documents a now lost community October 23, 2008
C. Quinn (Washington, DC)
Though Ariel Sabar may regret that his relationship with his father was so contentious, readers have cause to rejoice because that fractured relationship led Sabar to pen this elegant tale of his father's life and language. br / br /Yona Sabar, a Jewish Kurd, grew up speaking Aramaic, an ancient language now all but lost. He is also a celebrated linguist who has worked tirelessly to document his language before it dies. This book traces that effort, weaving a colorful tapestry of Jewish life in Iraq, Kurdish life in Israel, and immigrant life in America. br / br /Though the portions of the book dealing with Ariel himself were less compelling, the tales of Yona's early life in Kurdistan are hypnotic- I had a difficult time putting this book down. The writing is excellent and the character of Yona breathes throughout the book. The book is never technical about linguistics; the story of Yona's work is presented as I believe he experienced it- a treasure hunt generating excitement with each new clue. br / br /Highly recommended!
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