Jewish Organizations in Jacques and Etty’s Story
Aaron Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas
Jacques and Etty regularly attend events here, and both work out in the facility’s gym.
Congregation Beth-El (Akron, Ohio)
When they lived in Akron, Jacques and Etty attended this synagogue. Etty was especially active in the congregation.
Congregation Shearith Israel (Dallas, Texas)
Jacques and Etty currently attend this synagogue in Dallas. This is where Jacques became a bar mitzvah on May 22, 2010.
Hadassah Greater Southwest
Since they’ve lived in Dallas, Etty has been active in this women’s volunteer organization.
HIAS (New York)
Formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, this organization was of invaluable help to Jacques and Etty when they first arrived in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas
Jacques is donating all his proceeds from sales of Without Return to this philanthropic organization.
Stories of Interest
“The Egyptian Jewish Community’s Vibrant Past and Macabre Present” by Niveen Ghoneim, CairoScene, April 2, 2016
Once a vibrant community, the Jews of Egypt have dwindled in numbers, and their presence in the country is almost nonexistent now. In this piece for CairoScene, Niveen Ghoneim interviews Magda Haroun, the last custodian of Egypt’s Jewish heritage.
Compelling Stories: Jewish Lives Lived, a blog by Toby Anne Bird
From 2010 to 2016, Bird reviewed many memoirs by Jews from the Middle East on her blog, and in the process she created a valuable resource for anyone interested in the experience of Jewish immigration. The link takes you to her review of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World, by Lucette Lagnado.
“When Uncle Elie Came Back to Egypt,” by N. Sharaf Eldin, Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2010
Eldin, a Sunni Muslim, movingly describes his correspondence and subsequent meeting with Elie Amin Kheder, a Karaite Jew forced out of Egypt in 1967. Like Jacques’s, Elie’s passport was stamped with the words “without return.” Eldin writes, “We owe our Egyptian Jewish brothers an apology for what was inflicted upon them.”
“Remembering Home and Exile: Memoirs by Jews of Muslim Lands,” by Alanna E. Cooper, AJS Perspectives, spring 2007
Cooper reviews three books by Jewish immigrants from the Middle East: Journey from the Land of No by Roya Hakakian, Out of Egypt by Andre Aciman, and Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi.
“Remembering the ‘Second Exodus from Egypt’” by Amiram Barkat, Haaretz, July 11, 2006
In July of 2006, the World Congress of Jews from Egypt was held in Haifa, Israel, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Exodus. The event drew 320 people from fifteen countries. This article provides an overview of the history and the conference itself.
Starting Over Again: A Jewish Egyptian Story, film by Ruggero Gabbai, 2015
This trailer for the full-length documentary film Starting Over Again features interviews with many Jewish refugees from Egypt, including an engineer who has a PhD in physics and worked at the Pentagon, a well-known writer, and an internationally respected art historian.