Summary
Maurice Shammas, an Arabic-speaking Karaite writer born in Cairo’s harat al-yahud in 1930, who emigrated to Israel in 1951 and published Shaykh shabtay wa-hikayat min harat al-yahud (1979) for the peace treaty, portraying the quarter’s Jews as authentic Egyptians, in The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 3702-3717).
Details
- He wrote for the Arabic Jewish weekly al-Shams and the Karaite biweekly Al-Kalim and worked in Arabic theaters in Cairo before emigrating in 1951; in Jerusalem he remained engaged with Arabic culture through the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s Arabic department, eventually as director of musical programs (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 3702-3717).
- Shaykh shabtay portrays Jews who “lived among the Egyptian people, as part of that ancient people” — “carbon copies of ibn al-balad (a native son),” his memories preserved “like a whiff of pure perfume” (Chapter 8, note 52). He never distinguishes Rabbanites from Karaites, consistent with his belief that Karaites should not emphasize their distinctive identity in Israel (note 53) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 3702-3717).
- In contrast to Ada Aharoni and Anda Harel-Dagan, he relates only positive memories of Jewish-Muslim relations — “Al-‘Amm Mahmud,” the poor Muslim who became an “inseparable part” of the quarter’s reality, and the “Cafe Lanciano” debate over Layla Murad’s conversion, resolved when her picture is restored after the story of her midnight visit to the Maimonides synagogue (Chapter 8, notes 54–56) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 3702-3717).
- His estimate that 500 Karaites were already in Israel by 1950 is one of the Chapter 7 figures the text holds unreconciled against the Cairo bet din’s records of fewer than 100 departures before 1956 (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 3158-3481).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Karaites, Al-Kalim, Layla Murad, Post-Zionism