Ariel Sabar
The introduction and first exchanges from Amy Waldman's interview with Ariel Sabar, author of My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq: Ariel Sabar's father, Yona, was from an Aramaic-speaking Jewish community in remote Kurdistan. Yona immigrated to California and had a son who felt alienated from Yona's antiquated ways. In My Father's Paradise (Reviews, June 23), Sabar journeys to Kurdistan to bridge the barrier.
Read the complete Q & A.
What is the most surprising thing you learned?
How central Iraq was to the history of the Jewish Diaspora. This was Babylon, where most Jews were exiled when they were booted out of ancient Israel. This is where synagogue Judaism got its start and where the Babylonian Talmud was written. Iraq allowed Judaism to succeed and flourish in exile. In Kurdistan, it mattered more what your contributions were to the community than whether or not you were Muslim, Jewish or Christian. The terrain itself, the towering mountains that bred this community, kept out the ideologies and intolerance that have led to so much bloodshed in recent history.
What was your father's reaction when you told him you wanted to write about him, and did your relationship change as a result?
Initially, I think he humored me. He was supportive, but thought I was a little crazy when I told him I wanted us to go to Iraq together. We talk more now and a lot of the old tensions that were there when I was younger have faded. I now see and appreciate the cultural inheritance he's passed on to me.
See another interview with the author at the publisher's website.
The Page 99 Test: My Father's Paradise.
--Marshal Zeringue
