Customer Reviews

Jacob's Children in the Land of the Mahdi: Jews of the Sudan

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In his richly illustrated book, Eli Malka tells of the handful of intrepid Jews caught in the 13 year battle between British colonial forces and an XVIII century fundamentalist desert warlord known as the Mahdi.. Acclaimed as of great importance by several prominent Jewish historians, the book tells of their travails and growth from that small group of Jews to a large and prosperous Jewish community. It tells of their dedicated and selfless rabbi, the building of their synagogue and Jewish recreation club, of the only B'nai B'rith Lodge in the african interior, of their difficulties during the Arab-Israeli wars and finally follows them through their dispersion into the diaspora. The reader gets an excellent picture of what it was like to live as a Jew in an isolated Moslem country.

Of interest to genealogists is the detailed histories of most of the Jewish families in the Sudan as well as an appendix listing all Jewish marriages that had occurred during the community's existence in the Sudan. The appendix alone makes this a must have for genealogy and Jewish history libraries.

Eli S. Malka is a respectful Sudanese jew, whereever he is, who left behind good reputation and an honest authentic book. He symbolizes peaceful linving-together and co-existence in between the Sudanese elites and economical mob within an ethnically diversitified network. I did't personally met him, but in fact, many elderly consider him as an 'honest brother' and a man of social integrity. He belongs to many Sudanese families who have jewish rootes. Incidentally, my wife's name is (Malka)!

Although I have only gone over an Arabic transcript of some of the book's chapters (on a Sudanese local paper) I love to get hold of the English version of the book .. It is worthhaving and worthreading!