Sephardic Muse: Mediterranean Challenges

By Dr. David Rabeeya

This anthology, the 44th publication by Dr. David Rabeeya, covers four genres: novella, poetry, historical thesis and articles.
The novella deals with the relations between men and women in the Arab society of the past, with its many restrictions and challenges, especially to the women. The poetry expresses heartfelt experiences and insights written by a man who has experienced three cultures with all their myriad complications and pain as well as joy. The historical thesis is a critical essay concerning the need for reform in Islam in order for a cooperative world community to emerge. The articles deal with eclectic topics discussing the volatile Middle East and the implications for the future of Israel and the world at large. At the end of the book the reader will have been introduced to provocative and informative as well as thought provoking information and ideas about the ever changing world that we live in today

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 13, 2008
• ISBN: 9781477179291

Dr. David Rabeeya

While Dr. David Rabeeya has dedicated his life to preserving the history and culture of Jews born in Arab lands, he has also written books for children and teenagers as well as detective stories, poetry, music and even comedy. This, his 50th publication, is from a Jew born in Baghdad Iraq who lived in Israel and now resides in America. His work reveals the soul of men and the universality of mankind.

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Copyright © 2008 by Dr. David Rabeeya.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Two Wives, Two Friends, One Man

Mesopotamian Wellspring

Islam Today

Sephardic Voice

Dedication:

Dedicated to all those unheard souls who struggle for meaning in

the world and peace in the heart.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Valerie Linden for her assistance in preparing the manuscript, Jane Shofer for her editorial work and Samir Khairnar for his technical assistance. Without these three people the book would not have come to fruition.

This anthology, the 44th publication by Dr. David Rabeeya, covers four genres: novella, poetry, historical thesis and articles.

The novella deals with the relations between men and women in the Arab society of the past, with its many restrictions and challenges, especially to the women. The poetry expresses heartfelt experiences and insights written by a man who has experienced three cultures with all their myriad complications and pain as well as joy. The historical thesis is a critical essay concerning the need for reform in Islam in order for a cooperative world community to emerge. The articles deal with eclectic topics discussing the volatile Middle East and the implications for the future of Israel and the world at large. At the end of the book the reader will have been introduced to provocative and informative as well as thought provoking information and ideas about the ever changing world that we live in today.

Two Wives, Two Friends, One Man

A Novel

Chapter 1

Mesopotamian Rimona

Men cannot and will not ever be monogamists. Rimona, aka Rumi, Rami or Rimi, has articulated these words with calmness, stating what is considered to be a solid fact in her mind. She was about 16, residing in downtown Baghdad 100 years after the conquest of the city by the Ottoman invaders. Her name means pomegranate—the sweet-bitter fruit with hundreds of seeds. Her parents have convinced themselves that she will be fruitful if they name her after this juicy red and white, totally round thing. She has convinced herself that she is indeed like the pomegranate with rough skin from the outside and a delicious aroma from the inside. Rami is a catchy name, short and full of associations with high places of worship at the time of the ancient Hebrews, Indeed, she was brownish with red attractive cheeks. Her eyes, she told everyone, were like beautiful almonds placed in her shining face, oozing with unfulfilled sexual desire.

She did not need anyone to tell her that she possessed a sharp mind and plenty of intelligence, but also a great deal of poverty. She possessed only two sets of clothes: the torn one for the entire week and the normal one when she accompanied her mother to the women’s section in the Jewish place of worship.

Thousands of times she was asked by her mother about the blood circulating in her inner body based on the moon’s calendar. Her mother had told her that she will be fruitful and multiply herself with many children in the future. She often watched her mother washing the bloody rags which were used to absorb the streak of blood from the vagina. Her mother was convinced that washing this fabric in the Tigris would forever increase her speed of pregnancy when a nice boy will appear by fate and luck. Her mother always told her stories about women who are earth and men who are the seeds planted. This combination is the work of Allah who was engineering the buildings of families and clans.

Rami listened to all of these Eastern stories which explain everything wither mother’s convictions and incredible determination. Rami found she was doing the same. Her brain was warning her against the reasons beyond these legends and her heart was often forcing her to follow them in search of the peaceful heart. She was saturated with these biblical stories about Rachel, Leah, Sara and Rebecca. Jacob has always intrigued her curiosity. How did he manage two wives? Did he have sex with them at the same time?

Her mother told her that men are really dogs with one exception: They do not have tails. Her mother did not stop to tell her that men are wild animals who will sell their mothers for the flesh in the upstairs and downstairs of women. They wish to just mount and release themselves in a second and move on. Rami was puzzled by these assertions. Did her mother think about her father this way? It does not make sense that all men are like the texts delivered by her mother with confidence and security. Women need to accept the accident of their gender and to be submissive to their man? Her mother depicted the animal instinct of men! Is there anything else? God is a man, Rami often thought; therefore, he must be siding with men. A myriad of thoughts and fears crossed the teenager’s mind.

The rabbis she heard always loved and hated women. Why? They have praised women for their educational skills and their motherly instincts but, at the same time, some of them describe women as snakes that cannot be trusted who always talk, talk, talk. Her mother is obedient. The word of her father is the final word. However, she noticed another strange thing. Her mother learned to utilize her feminine charm to bring her father to accept her requests and demands for purchasing objects for the house and expensive jewelry for her delicate hands. Is it possible that men can be controlled by women if women use their physical assets to gain and thrive despite the social shackles of the community?

Rami has often observed her mothers’ negotiations with her father. She knew how to allow her father to think he is the boss. Let men bark, her mother told her frequently. A barking dog does not bite. However, under all of these rules, cultural customs and traditions, one can always find women who can divert attention to themselves, transcending all taboos and all communal and social covenants. Where did her mother learn all of the physical and psychological tricks of the trade with regard to men and women in Ottoman Baghdad?

Rami is an excellent observer. She loves her mother and fears her father. She admires her father and she is also hesitant to aggravate him. Her mother told her that timing is everything if she wishes to receive any attention from her future husband. The tone is crucial. Never talk to any man with a harsh and threatening voice. Play the game right and you will both survive and thrive. Learn to satisfy him and he will be like the sheep in the meadows. He has the power. He can marry her and divorce her. Her mother has taught her how to keep her inner thoughts for herself and only present her external thoughts before her future groom. Peace will come this way to all parties.

Additionally, Allah, who is Elohim, sometimes likes women who love being women. Rima could not always explain the bizarre and natural arrangement. Men are born from women and when they mature, they marry women. Rima has convinced herself that Eve from Genesis is the source of life and men are like her children in many ways. It is quite complicated, women marrying their children. Rima was contemplating many of these real and imagined contradictions with smiles, dignity and confusion. The Halakam in their synagogue has always preached about the demands of the Ten Commandments to honor both fathers and mothers, but Rima has seen many disrespectful acts in the direction of women. Her mother interpreted the contradictions between God’s words and men’s actions this way: Men are weak creatures in the eyes of God; therefore, he likes to treat them as immature children.

One could hear the deafening silence of Rami/Rimi because her mother has always found ways to explain the unexplainable. Why bother? Rami has placed the large colorful handkerchief on her head to cover her hair. Her girlfriends have informed her that the first thing which attracts men to women is their long hair. Long hair is supposed to arouse men.

Rima has heard many things about how women attract men—their legs, their bosoms, their privates parts and their behinds. Who can guess what an animal called man will want? Rimi has insisted again in her private and intimate talks with her mother that she is afraid of men, especially the need to spread her limbs. She has heard stories about women fainting and losing consciousness. Her mother mentioned to her that the family of the groom has demanded to see the blood of virginity of the bride on the white sheet. Rimi was scared to death because she heard once about the ululation of joy when the virginity has come to an end. Why? What is the deal? She will go to hell and back and the families will sing with satisfaction and elation?

This world of the Arabs is totally absurd, she thought. God is a hundred percent male and men are in charge. She felt like a bee in a honey jar. This is a prison for her. She remembered now that she was not allowed to sit on her father’s lap after the age of eight. Her mother told her that is safer this way. Why? she wondered.

Here came the matchmaker Aziza. Rimi has washed herself in the river and she borrowed a decent dress from people with heart. She was ready for the inspection. Many young men in the neighborhood have focused their eyes on her. They looked deeply in her eyes on her way to the vegetable market. Her body is covered from head to toe, but men can easily detect her gentle and warm bosom. They can easily read the movement of her behind like the solders in a parade. Many used to whistle in her direction uttering words of love, affection and sexual innuendo. Her mother begged her to ignore these young at heart. They are animals of the prey, she said. They prey on the Sabbath and they chase the young and innocent on the roads.

Aziza with her front golden teeth has brought many men and women to the canopy of marriage for a price. Her eloquent Arabic was her major tool of convincing the sides to make a deal. Aziza spoke to her mother about the 17 year-old teenager, who is studying to become a cantor in the nearby synagogue. Aziza has told her parents that it is something to consider. He can read, write and pray, and he can afford a wife. His father is in the wood business. His mother is like a tailor. She knows how to sew, cut and place buttons. After all, Rimi heard Aziza saying that her family is poor and this is a chance to go up higher in the humble economic scale.

Aziza has told Rimi’s mother about the decency and righteousness of the youngster. He is honest, a devout believer and is good looking. She emphasized that he is brown, tall and handsome. However, this is Aziza’s trade. Rimi has never seen him. She has just heard about him. Her parents have spoken with his parents and they were bargaining very hard to strike the best deal for Rima. Her mother volunteered some details and Rima was both scared and excited. The family of the groom, she was told, promised to give the future bride a bed, some pillows, blankets and 10 dinars. They insisted Rimi needed to learn (if she did not know yet) how to cook and sew and clean the new room in the house which was designed for the bride and groom. Rimi has heard that the groom will bring with him his own sofa and chairs—a gift from his own relatives.

Rimi was thinking about her mysterious future husband. If he is so wonderful and so incredibly smart, why can’t she see him? After all, his parents came to see her like she was a lamb in the animal market of Baghdad. She has heard rumors about her wedding and marriage, but where is she in this whispering environment? She was proud of her capacity to read the Hebrew from the prayer book. She really did not understand the words, but in the women’s section of the synagogue, she cried and poured her heart before Allah-Elohim, the Jewish-Baghdadi God.

Rimi has been thinking deeply about this God just among herself. He can frighten her often. He is out there checking her deeds, her movements, her inner feelings. He can even punish her if she plans things in her mind without any real action. He can strike at any moment and redeem any second. She heard the Hakham and she has heard the Iman in a nearby mosque. Somehow, both spoke about this outsider God who is beyond comprehension. This God does not need to explain himself. He needs to be feared and revered and this is the end of the line. She could not understand how many Jews, Muslims and Christians in their respective neighborhoods continue to worship someone or something not seen and not present anywhere.

Rimi was curious if this God was like a strict uncle or angry father. She heard about Yohoshua-Jesus from her parents and she could not comprehend how God can become man. She loved the melodies of the Qur’anic chants. They are so sincere in their deliberation; not unlike her Judeo-Arabic melodies in the mouth of her rabbi. Her future husband is a cantor. What an interesting incident! However, it is possible that all of these rumors about the Almighty-God are only in the mind of the people. She was trembling even by this skeptical thought and she has no one to share with her this possibility. Obedience is the key! Maybe the best thing is to obey this invisible mystery!

For a moment, Rimi thought that the best thing to eat is the seeds of the pomegranate and not to think about its peels when it comes to Allah who has resided in the midst of poverty of Baghdad

Chapter 2

The dark alleys, which were lit by candles and oil wicks, have seen many Jewish Baghdadis moving silently in the direction of their humble Sla (a place of prayer). This procession has occurred every evening but on the Sabbath and High Holy Days. Pitched darkness has fallen upon the narrow streets forcing people to find their way to God by the familiarity of the high brick walls and their human instincts. Donkeys, camels and horses have left their waste on the same roads and the same routes of many of these worshipers. The Ottoman bureaucrats have expected the people to collect the trash themselves.

Inside the synagogue, the brown and yellow colors were the dominant ones. Here and there, the paint has disappeared altogether and the pieces from the plaster which covered the walls have already fallen on the ground. Nevertheless, Rima went with her mother to almost every service for all Sabbaths and all holidays. The Holy Ark was made of old wood with a bluish curtain which has witnessed years of history. Some low stools were placed around the central stage in which the well-to-do have sat. Most worshipers found old blankets and old rugs and placed their bodies on them. Everyone was able to afford a pair of sandals or wooden shoes and the cantor, who was also the rabbi and the sexton, has always begun his service with whispering and personal prayer.

Life was slow and harsh. No one took food for granted. The Ottomans demanded from their subjects that they supply their soldiers with food and drink. Jews were treated sometimes like others. The rabbi has composed special prayers to be sung for the health and the power of the Sultan. Many Arabs were aware that these Turks are only Muslims, but for Rami these complicated matters were beyond her comprehension because there were no papers and no books. The town crier used to proclaim all announcements from the price of the kosher meat to the opening of a Jewish school. Rami saw him gesturing with his hands to heaven to make a point. Since the synagogue was in the middle of the Jewish sector, one was able to smell the cooked food of the close-by houses. The smoke from under the huge black pots often penetrated the walls of the place of worship. Dry branches and old wood has always burned under the meat, the chicken and the vegetable soup. The brown eggs, the potatoes and the eggplants have spread their aroma through the blocks of the old synagogue and Rami, like others during the secular days of the week (she rarely went then, but her father was always there) has felt the senses of their Iraqi food.

The bells of the churches have frequently rung loudly and because of the proximity of her house to the nearby Assyrian church she hears them. She has never spoken to a Muslim or a Christian, but her father has contacts with some of them. Yet, every evening comes and every religion returns to their sector. The walls of the religious sectors touch each other. There were also some Americans who lived in the peripheries of the three sectors. Rami never understood why many of them were scared to death of the Ottoman soldiers with their funny hats and long, sharp swords. When Rami saw these giant physical guards, she automatically placed the veil around her face and she hurried with large steps to arrive at her home.

Iraq was not really Iraq in her mind or the mind of her parents. Iraq was not there in the Seventeenth Century. All national Arab territories of the future were only districts and regions in the vast Ottoman Empire. Almost no one in Iraq heard about the occupation of lands in Europe by these Turks. Rima hears her parents conversing in broken Turkish about the future. She usually missed most of the messages in their talk. She spoke the Judeo-Arabic dialect of Baghdad and she found it difficult to speak even