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This Hebrew essay was first published in Jaffa in 1919 and a year later became the inaugural essay of the new journal Mizrah u-Ma‘arav (East and West), cofounded by Elmaleh. The journal was published regularly for a few years but then was discontinued for lack of funds. The same essay was republished when the journal reappeared in 1928. In this essay Elmaleh laid out the new journal’s mission and vision . Our translating efforts notwithstanding, we are regretfully unable to transmit fully into English the essay’s sublime Hebrew. our mission We had a noble dream! To gather, investigate, and publish everything pertaining to Sephardic, Eastern ,1 and North African Jewish life from the most ancient times to the present.2 This was our ambition ever since we were able to use the scribe’s pen. This idea—to commit to paper the history of Eastern Jewry with all of its branches, customs, virtues, beliefs, literature, activities, etc.—has been burning in our minds for several years, and finally the day has come when we can realize this aspiration. A comprehensive Jewish history is made up of the history of each group and 1 | East and West Excerpt from Avraham Elmaleh, “Te‘udatenu” (Our mission), Mizrah u-Ma‘arav, Sivan 1928, 1–7. 1. [It is important to note that the word “West” in the selection title does not refer to the Euro-American West. It is a translation of the word maghrib (Arabic for “west”) and refers to North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco). In this context, therefore, Elmaleh is referring to the entirety of Middle Eastern Jewry in the Arab world, both in the Mashriq (Arabic for East), and in the Maghrib. Furthermore, Elmaleh specifically uses the Hebrew word “Mizrahit,” which we translate here as “Eastern.” It is very clear that he views the three Jewish collectives—Sephardic, Eastern, and North African—as tightly connected to one another.] 2. [For Elmaleh, based in Palestine in 1918–19, Jews in the West for the most part denote Jews in the Arab world’s western part—the Maghreb—rather than meaning Western or European Jews, as the term is commonly employed today. Elmaleh certainly understands and appreciates the historical diversity within Asian and African Jewries.] East and West | 3 collective scattered around the globe. In Africa and the East there are treasure troves and burrows that lovers of history, archaeology, and folklore can explore to their hearts’ content. The edifices and tombstones, the archives found in each community, the genealogies of ancient families—they are all precious sources for researching Eastern Jewry. Knowledge of the history of every people—and the stories of their eminent figures and sages—is imperative and honorable for the purpose of telling the present generation the chronicles of their forebears who excelled in wisdom, might, and deed. The aim of such historical knowledge is not just to demonstrate the struggles of those who preceded us so that we may observe all the details, victories and defeats, crimes and acquittals, sagacity and folly, sacrifices and selfishness, falsehoods and truths, virtues and disgraces, cowardice and courage; the aim of such historical knowledge is also to bring us into contact with our ancestors when they were frightened and confident, doubtful and brave, great and petty, admirable and repugnant, hoping to find light when angrily throwing themselves into the mist, despairing at a time when they should have been hopeful . Briefly put, then, history is the mute language of our life unfurling before our eyes the remains of our distant past and presenting us with the faces of our ancestors as they truly were. However, whether history is paradise or perdition, one must immerse oneself in history—and in history alone!—in order to locate guides and good examples, a support and moral hope. And as each nation cherishes its knowledge of the history of its eminent ones and sages, so the history of our own nation and sages should be treasured. For knowledge of our history will not be attained until all past times are revealed in front of us as an open book where all the names of the sages and men of valor— who were precious to Israel, its pride and glory for all the nations to see—can be read by themselves. Jewry still has not shed a bright light on its eminent people, particularly those who, by virtue of their skills and qualities, bequeathed honor to it, served it with their wisdom and...

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