Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew

Shlaim, A. (2023). Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew. Oneworld Publications.

What does it mean to be an Arab-Jew? How does one navigate the complex identities and histories of the Middle East? Prof. Avi Shlaim's memoir, "Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew," provides a deeply personal and insightful exploration of these questions. The book is a journey through Shlaim's life, spanning his experiences in Iraq, Israel, and England. It is a poignant and witty narrative that delves into the rich and lost world of the Iraqi-Jewish community, a civilisation as old as Babylon, that was swept away by the unforgiving winds of nationalism in the first half of the 20th century. The bloody struggle between Arab nationalists and the Zionist movement was a catastrophe for Palestinians and Arab-Jews who were suddenly “caught stateless, jobless and in many cases homeless.”

Shlaim's story is not just a personal account but also a reflection on the broader historical and sociopolitical context. His family's experience is a microcosm of the Jewish exodus from Iraq following the establishment of Israel in 1948 that is different from Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which casts the Zionist movement as the saviour of Iraqi Jewry. The author's reflections on his privileged upbringing in Baghdad, the melancholic farewell to his homeland, and his struggles in adapting to a second new life in Israel and England offer a unique perspective on the experience of seeking asylum. The book also provides first-hand testimonies on the complex history and relationships between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and how everything changed after the Farhud. Shlaim's memoir is a testament to the intricate tapestry of identities, cultures, and histories in the region, and the enduring human spirit amidst the trials of displacement and the struggle to find one's place in the world.

An overarching theme of the book is loss. One of the strongest quotes from the book is from Itzhak Bar-Moshe's book "Exodus from Iraq” which Shlaim cites to mark the tragic end of Babylonian Jewry:

"Relations that were shaped over hundreds of years were erased in a few hours. A whole community detaches itself from the past and quickly moves to the future that stands at the gate. A history of more than two thousand years is liquidated in less than two thousand hours… Here everything is crumbling… The past is shaking and collapsing… There is no poet in the world who can express our experience." (p. 162).

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