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Zikrayat: Eight Jewish Women Remember Egypt
Jewish women exiled from Egypt to New York share glimpses of a lost world, by the author of Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories
Between 1948 and 1957, a period that witnessed two wars between Egypt and Israel, 60,000 members of Egypt’s 75,000-strong Jewish population left the country, compelled by growing hostility to them because of their presumed links to Zionism, economic insecurity, and after 1956, overt expulsion. Decades later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the personal reminiscences of eight Egyptian Jewish women, presently residents of New York who had left Egypt, were meticulously collected by Nayra Atiya.
While Atiya’s sample of eight narrators represents only a tiny percentage of the Jews who left Egypt, their accounts tell us much about the middle- and upper-class Jews who migrated to the Americas and Europe, giving us a vivid sense of their lives in Egypt before their departure and the dynamic role they played in Egyptian society. They were the children or grandchildren of generations of Jews who migrated to Egypt from around or near the Mediterranean to escape economic hardship and persecution or, in one case, a family conflict.
With one exception, Atiya’s interlocutors resided in relatively upscale neighborhoods in Egypt near other Jewish families. They lived in elegant apartments, with servants, fine foods, memberships in elite clubs, and summers spent near Alexandria or in Europe. In Zikrayat, Atiya movingly captures the essence of these women’s characters and experiences, the fabric of their day-to-day lives, and the complex, many-layered mood of those times in Egypt. In doing so she brings to life the ties that bind all Egyptians, offering a glimpse into a now vanished world―and the heartbreak of exile and migration.
About the Author
Nayra Atiya is an American oral historian, writer, and translator born in Egypt. She is the author of Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (1984,) winner of the UNICEF Prize, and Shahaama: Five Egyptian Men Tell Their Stories (2016).
Between 1948 and 1957, a period that witnessed two wars between Egypt and Israel, 60,000 members of Egypt’s 75,000-strong Jewish population left the country, compelled by growing hostility to them because of their presumed links to Zionism, economic insecurity, and after 1956, overt expulsion. Decades later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the personal reminiscences of eight Egyptian Jewish women, presently residents of New York who had left Egypt, were meticulously collected by Nayra Atiya.
While Atiya’s sample of eight narrators represents only a tiny percentage of the Jews who left Egypt, their accounts tell us much about the middle- and upper-class Jews who migrated to the Americas and Europe, giving us a vivid sense of their lives in Egypt before their departure and the dynamic role they played in Egyptian society. They were the children or grandchildren of generations of Jews who migrated to Egypt from around or near the Mediterranean to escape economic hardship and persecution or, in one case, a family conflict.
With one exception, Atiya’s interlocutors resided in relatively upscale neighborhoods in Egypt near other Jewish families. They lived in elegant apartments, with servants, fine foods, memberships in elite clubs, and summers spent near Alexandria or in Europe. In Zikrayat, Atiya movingly captures the essence of these women’s characters and experiences, the fabric of their day-to-day lives, and the complex, many-layered mood of those times in Egypt. In doing so she brings to life the ties that bind all Egyptians, offering a glimpse into a now vanished world―and the heartbreak of exile and migration.
About the Author
Nayra Atiya is an American oral historian, writer, and translator born in Egypt. She is the author of Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (1984,) winner of the UNICEF Prize, and Shahaama: Five Egyptian Men Tell Their Stories (2016).
- GenresBiography
131 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
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About the author
Nayra Atiya
8 books11 followersNayra Atiya is an American oral historian, writer, and translator born in Egypt. She is the author of Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (1984,) winner of the UNICEF Prize, and Shahaama: Five Egyptian Men Tell Their Stories (2016)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 17, 2025
Forever going to yearn and long for the Egypt they were describing. An Egypt of beauty and acceptance. It depresses me to see where we were and h0w we are now. I still have so much hope though.
December 9, 2024
read this months ago (almost a year, i think). at the time, i couldn’t put my thoughts immediately into words, but now scrolling through the books i’ve read this year i realized that this deserves a thoughtful review.
i love the concept of this book; in an era where there is so much anger and tension, it’s nice, in theory, to be able to have a sentimental and honest conversation about the reality that was the Jewish community’s presence in Egypt prior to the establishment of Israel. there is nothing inherently morally wrong with these women having lived in, and loved, Egypt. Egypt is a country deserving of such sentiment and love that persists decades. and i respect the author for attempting to capture that, as something separate from the current geo-political situation.
and yet, the geo-political situation still exists and it looms over this book. from my understanding/memory, most (if not all) of these women were never actually of Egyptian origin. they were immigrants or the daughters of immigrants or the granddaughters of immigrants, usually living lives of luxury in the country up until tensions rose. and these same women then became zionists and went on to either live in Israel for a while before moving to New York or having gone immediately to the US. there is something that leaves an awful taste in my mouth about these women supporting a fascist ethno-state that then tried to take Egyptian land, killed Egyptian soldiers, and stole the land of our neighbours, and then turning around and reminiscing about their times in Egypt. they love Egypt as tourists love Egypt. with no loyalty, with no actual empathy towards Egyptians and our fellow Arabs as people deserving of dignity and autonomy. they were the victims of hatred in Egypt due to the conflict then turned around and supported the oppressor.
and it is fine for these Zionists to love Egypt. and there is room for nuanced discussion here: maybe about how being driven out of the country they loved may have been one of the leading causes of their running to the arms of the oppressor and helping establish and colonial state, or maybe about how odd and heartbreaking it must have been to love a people and a land that now feel such vitriol towards them as Jewish women, since extreme conflict sometimes convinces people to adopt the entirety of the most extreme ideological opposition to the other side. it must’ve been isolating, and that deserves to be talked about, too. and while these things were BRIEFLY touched on in SOME of the stories, i wouldn’t say it was sufficient and the absence of gravity being given to the situation was felt.
this book does not give this nuance enough space or thought. all i did was read a book about how these poor colonizers feel so sad feeling grief over missing a country that their actual loyalties led them to supporting the colonization of (whether loyalty toward Israel or the US). i feel no empathy for them, and the book did not allow me to; it didn’t even delve enough into the hardships they faced as Jewish women when the conflict increased.
and this book actually did not have to delve into any of those things—it is not the intention to, i understand. this book was a space for these women to tell their stories, whether they were wrong or said correct or incorrect claims was not up to the author to tell them what to say and what not to. this book is less a series of interviews and more a series of diary entries, but, in my view, it suffers a result.
ultimately, this book is a fluff peace, and it’s sweet—if you can create enough cognitive dissonance to ignore what the women who moved to Israel would then consequently go on to support and partake in and believe. but it is not much more that that. these women clearly speak about Egypt with a lot of love, and i wish that one day Egypt will have the capacity for that much acceptance and safety again.
i love the focus on something positive, but perhaps sometimes blindly focusing on positivity does the oppressed more injustice that the endeavor deserves.
i love the concept of this book; in an era where there is so much anger and tension, it’s nice, in theory, to be able to have a sentimental and honest conversation about the reality that was the Jewish community’s presence in Egypt prior to the establishment of Israel. there is nothing inherently morally wrong with these women having lived in, and loved, Egypt. Egypt is a country deserving of such sentiment and love that persists decades. and i respect the author for attempting to capture that, as something separate from the current geo-political situation.
and yet, the geo-political situation still exists and it looms over this book. from my understanding/memory, most (if not all) of these women were never actually of Egyptian origin. they were immigrants or the daughters of immigrants or the granddaughters of immigrants, usually living lives of luxury in the country up until tensions rose. and these same women then became zionists and went on to either live in Israel for a while before moving to New York or having gone immediately to the US. there is something that leaves an awful taste in my mouth about these women supporting a fascist ethno-state that then tried to take Egyptian land, killed Egyptian soldiers, and stole the land of our neighbours, and then turning around and reminiscing about their times in Egypt. they love Egypt as tourists love Egypt. with no loyalty, with no actual empathy towards Egyptians and our fellow Arabs as people deserving of dignity and autonomy. they were the victims of hatred in Egypt due to the conflict then turned around and supported the oppressor.
and it is fine for these Zionists to love Egypt. and there is room for nuanced discussion here: maybe about how being driven out of the country they loved may have been one of the leading causes of their running to the arms of the oppressor and helping establish and colonial state, or maybe about how odd and heartbreaking it must have been to love a people and a land that now feel such vitriol towards them as Jewish women, since extreme conflict sometimes convinces people to adopt the entirety of the most extreme ideological opposition to the other side. it must’ve been isolating, and that deserves to be talked about, too. and while these things were BRIEFLY touched on in SOME of the stories, i wouldn’t say it was sufficient and the absence of gravity being given to the situation was felt.
this book does not give this nuance enough space or thought. all i did was read a book about how these poor colonizers feel so sad feeling grief over missing a country that their actual loyalties led them to supporting the colonization of (whether loyalty toward Israel or the US). i feel no empathy for them, and the book did not allow me to; it didn’t even delve enough into the hardships they faced as Jewish women when the conflict increased.
and this book actually did not have to delve into any of those things—it is not the intention to, i understand. this book was a space for these women to tell their stories, whether they were wrong or said correct or incorrect claims was not up to the author to tell them what to say and what not to. this book is less a series of interviews and more a series of diary entries, but, in my view, it suffers a result.
ultimately, this book is a fluff peace, and it’s sweet—if you can create enough cognitive dissonance to ignore what the women who moved to Israel would then consequently go on to support and partake in and believe. but it is not much more that that. these women clearly speak about Egypt with a lot of love, and i wish that one day Egypt will have the capacity for that much acceptance and safety again.
i love the focus on something positive, but perhaps sometimes blindly focusing on positivity does the oppressed more injustice that the endeavor deserves.
April 22, 2020
The author met and recorded the stories of eight Jewish women who were forced to leave Egypt and now, in their 80s, live in New York. Each life is slightly different but similar because of the beautiful memories of life in Egypt. Although I lived in Cairo for only 2 years, I felt nostalgic for the smells and tastes and life of the country. The author's brief introductions which explain how she met each person are charming. Anyone curious about life in Cairo for the successful people who prospered there will enjoy this oral history.
May 25, 2020
A wonderful journey through the lives of Jewish women at a magical time and space in Egypt that most of did not pay attention to in our history lessons. Thank you Nayra!!
September 10, 2020
I read this book for a class about Arab Jews, and it was terrific and an easy read.
December 6, 2020
Finished feeling that Egypt had the most to lose when the Jewish communities departed.
June 29, 2021
A beautiful and nostalgic read. Finished in cairo
December 23, 2021
Amazing collection of interviews with Egyptians who had to leave Egypt for various reasons and in different times, the common between them, they are Jewish women, amazing ones.
July 11, 2022
An unforced recounting of memories of an Egypt and a community which no longer exist.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews