Anyone familiar with the field of Syriac studies knows the contribution of George Kiraz as publisher, pioneer of Syriac digital humanities, scholar, teacher, and founder of Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Kiraz has given most of his adult life to the promotion of Syriac language, literature, history, and culture. This memoir immerses us in the story of his Syriac Orthodox family in Bethlehem.
The opening chapter sets up the story by recounting the family's departure in 1983 to a new life in the United States, narrated in a cinematic style that recounts every detail of their last drive through Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This theme of departure and migration is sadly common for those of the Syriac traditions, who, like their Armenian brothers and sisters, were savagely persecuted, often killed, and usually displaced from their traditional homes in the early twentieth century. The second chapter tells the story of Anton Kiraz, his father, whose family was originally from a village near Kharput in Turkey. Anton himself was born in Adana, then under French control, where his parents had found temporary refuge after the Sayfo, the Syriac genocide. The family soon moved to Beirut, then to Haifa, then to Jerusalem, an itinerary not unusual for Christian refugees of the era. Anton Kiraz became a successful businessman and built a house in the suburb of Talpiot just in time for the neighborhood to fall under Jewish control in the 1948 war. Bethlehem, which remained under Jordanian rule until 1967, became their last stop before emigration to the United States. Those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls will be fascinated by the extensive quotations from Anton Kiraz's account of his involvement with the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Samuel, who possessed the scrolls at an early stage and profited from their sale. Later chapters delve into George Kiraz's childhood in Bethlehem and the early awakenings of his scholarly interests. Kiraz's youth was spent almost entirely under Israeli occupation, and he describes the encounters with soldiers, checkpoints, and the other indignities that remain a feature of life in the region today.
An outstanding feature of the book is the extreme attention to detail. It is not only a memoir, but an ethnographic documentation of a vibrant community. It is packed with evocative photographs of people, places, and ephemera that are more than simply illustrative. The book is handsomely produced with an embossed cover and high-quality paper.
For scholars accustomed to studying the Syriac Christianity of the early Christian centuries, this glimpse into a modern Syriac culture is an important reminder that this is a living tradition, though still under threat throughout the Middle East. In 1967, Christians made up approximately half of the population of Bethlehem, but now are less than 20 percent. Many, like Kiraz's family, reluctantly chose the path of emigration for the sake of freedom. Few among them have paid back their debt to their community of origin in such a profound way.
