Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma [Paperback]

Ruth Fredman Cernea (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2006

Before the Second World War, two golden 'promised lands' beckoned the thousands of Baghdadi Jews who lived in Southeast Asia: the British Empire, on which 'the sun never set,' and the promised land of their religious tradition, Jerusalem. Almost Englishmen studies the less well-known of these destinations. The book combines history and cultural studies to look into a significant yet relatively unknown period, analyzing to full effect the way Anglo culture transformed the immigrant Bagdhadi Jews. England's influence was pervasive and persuasive: like other minorities in the complex society that was British India, the Baghdadis gradually refashioned their ideology and aspirations on the British model. The Jewish experience in the lush land of Burma, with its lifestyles, its educational system, and its internal tensions, is emblematic of the experience of the extended Baghdadi community, whether in Bombay, Calcutta, Shanghai, Singapore, or other ports and towns throughout Southeast Asia. It also suggests the experience of the Anglo-Indian and similar 'European' populations that shared their streets as well as the classrooms of the missionary societies' schools. This contented life amidst golden pagodas ended abruptly with the Japanese invasion of Burma and a horrific trek to safety in India and could not be restored after the war. Employing first-person testimonies and recovered documents, this study illuminates this little known period in imperial and Jewish histories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author has done a service to Jewish studies by this engagingly written book, documenting a community that has largely disappeared. She has also done a service to the descendants of the people described, who are enabled through this book to recognize their ancestral roots. (Shofar )

Well-written with hardly a trace of politically-correct jargon or formulaic social-science talk . . . quite literary in its style. . . . [Cernea] seems to write . . . for general readers as well as the people it directly concerns. (Asian Journal Of Social Science )

Almost Englishmen offers a painstaking record of the rise, flourishing, and slow death of the prosperous community of Baghdadi Jews in Burma (today's Myanmar.) With the keen eye and sympathetic ear of the anthropologist, Cernea has gathered the memories and contemporary impressions of a lost world of merchants at once devoted to tradition and enchanted by the cosmopolitan modernity of British India. (H-Net )

This newly published volume is a delight: an easy read offering a fascinating account of the lives and times of the small but significant Jewish community—numbering some 2,100 at their peak—of Baghdadi origin in Burma (Myanmar) during and immediately after the Raj. It is illustrated with evocative photos and inventories of community members and their subsequent emigration details. (Simon, David Hadashot )

About the Author

Anthropologist Ruth Fredman Cernea has been researching the history of the Baghdadi Jewish communities of Southeast Asia since her first visit to Burma in 1987.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Lexington Books (November 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739116479
• ISBN-13: 978-0739116470
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,203,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brought back fond memories, August 19, 2007

By 

Ellis R. Shamash (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma (Paperback)

I am a Baghdadi Jew who lived in Rangoon, Burma as a young child and boy in the 1950's. I found this book very interesting and brought back fond memories of my childhood. This book is well researched and should be of value to anyone interested in Jewish history.

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging look at unexpected community, September 19, 2011

By 

Henry Yule (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma (Paperback)

Jews in Burma are perhaps not the best known ethnic community in the world, but this short, engaging, and very well-researched book tells you all you might want to know about one of the world's least known but extremely interesting communities, that once numbered in the thousands. Good read for those already fascinated by Burma, and a good contribution to the study of the Jewish diaspora.