Preface to the English Edition

Summary

THIS volume is an updated translation of my Hebrew book By Ships of Fire to the West: Changes in Syrian Jewry during the Period of Ottoman Reform (1840–1880) (Jerusalem: Shazar, 2003). The impetus to undertake the original study came in part from the changed social and academic climate in Israel towards the Jews of Islamic lands. Whereas formerly the historical study of these communities suffered from lack of interest on the part of their members, and Israeli culture's emphasis on the ‘melting pot’ and the creation of a ‘new Jew’ discouraged preservation of their ways, recent years have seen both the emergence of communal pride on the part of the communities themselves and a shift away from the Eurocentric bias of academic research into Jewish history. In addition, the branching out of the discipline of history beyond the political sphere into social, economic, and cultural fields has provided scholars with a new spectrum of topics considered worthy of research, notable among them the past of those Jewish communities hitherto seen as ancillary to the central historical narrative of the Jewish people. Further impetus for the study of the historical symbiosis between the Jews of Islam and the surrounding society is provided by recognition that better knowledge of the Middle East will improve the state of Israel's ability to function in Muslim space. All of these factors both fuelled my original study and shaped the present volume.

Impressive advances have been made in the study of the Middle Eastern Jewish communities in recent years, with almost every important community receiving scholarly attention. However, this activity has only emphasized the absence of a comprehensive historical study of the Jewish communities of Syria, one devoted to their political, social, economic, and cultural history in recent generations. Generally, the Syrian Jewish communities have been treated by scholars in the overall context of Jewish communities in the Ottoman empire, and then in a marginal fashion. Even if current studies include some entirely, or almost entirely, devoted to Syrian Jewry, for the most part these studies are restricted to a narrow aspect of the life of these communities or rely on a limited number of sources. On the other hand, although Syria has a place of honour in Middle Eastern studies, most scholars of Syrian society pay little attention to its Jewish aspect.