The Flying Camel

Ashkenazi Jewish tradition has been more commonly featured in mainstream media involving Jewish representation than Sephardic customs. However Sephardic traditions are rich, and deep, and laden with meaning. Much like The Flying Camel, a collection of essays by Jewish women with North African and Middle Eastern heritage edited by Loolwa Khazzoom.

I went in with the mindset of a guest, eager to see what my hosts chose to share with me. In these pages I found essays by women of many different cultures and opinions, all eloquent and powerful. There were stories of intersectionality, of being marginalized, of wondering where one truly belongs. The writers ran the full gamut of religious observance. Some included anecdotes and experiences from ancestral home countries while others wrote entirely from a diaspora perspective.

Getting all these women into a room at the same time would be a delight. After reading their reflections I suspect many would disagree with each other on one topic or another, yet all would staunchly support the right of the other to be heard. They would be as varied and unique as the stars in the sky, a constellation of perspectives from which to learn.

The Sephardiot and Mizrahiot (these are the preferred terms from the introduction to the book) featured in these pages are courageous and brave as they speak about an identity that confuses so many because it does not fit into the nice box that mainstream media has constructed surrounding Jewish, Arab or feminine narratives. In fact, it is an identity that is often willfully ignored or suppressed. Readers should approach this book seeking to hear a new voice. To learn about systemic repression and misrepresentation among Jews, and about how to listen. I can think of no better teachers than the women who wrote these essays.

E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.