JACOB'S CHILDREN IN THE LAND OF THE MAHDI: JEWS OF THE SUDAN

Syracuse, N. Y. ; Syracuse University Press, 1997. Hardcover. Original Cloth. 8vo. XIII, 262 pages. 24 cm. First edition. Malka chronicles the Sephardic Jewish community's history from its beginning in 1885 (when there were only eight families) to the late 1960s, when the Jews left the Sudan for more hospitable countries. Malka writes about his father's prominent role in the community and in the building of Khartoum's lavish synagogue and the community's growth, which peaked in the 1930s and 1940s. The author digresses a bit in his discussion of the Jews of Ethiopia, Aden, Yemen, and Eritrea and in his discourse on the growth of the B'nai B'rith in the Sudan, Egypt, France, and the U. S. The book's final chapters are autobiographical as Malka focuses first on his childhood, then on his travels, career, marriage, and family, offering descriptions of Sephardic life and culture. With 50 illustrations. "In his book Jacob's Children in the Land of the Mahdi: Jews of the Sudan (Syracuse University Press, 1997) Malka wrote the history of the Jewish community of the Sudan from its earliest days in the 19th century to its final times. Positioned at the center of both the Sudan Jewish community as the son of the Chief Rabbi and its past president, and of the British rulers as the CEO of their largest firm in the area, with numerous contacts among the Sudan's leading politicians and merchants, Malka was in a unique position to write this detailed history. A book about which Professor Henry Feingold wrote "... was told by a man whose family was at the very center [Malka] knows all there is to know about this community. " - Guide to the Papers of Eli S. Malka (1909-2003) ; American Sephardi Federation. Subjects: Jews - Sudan - History. Ethnic relations. Jews. Institutional stamps on outer edges, title page, and jacket; otherwise clean and fresh. Good + condition. (SEF-51-36).