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Dear Mr. Rahmani,
Allow me to introduce myself: I am a professor of modern Jewish History who teaches at the University of Washington, Seattle. I was trained at Stanford University (by Aron Rodrigue, among others), and completed my PhD in 1999. To date, my research has focused on the comparison of modern Yiddish and Ladino print culture as it developed in the Russian and Ottoman Empires in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The results of this work will appear as a book in 2003 under the title__Making Jews Modern: Yiddish and Ladino Press of the Russian and Ottoman Empires__ (Indiana University Press).
Now that this work is completed, I am turning my attention to a new research topic, and have decided to focus (again, comparatively) on the history of those Jewish communities founded in Africa by European Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, I am interested in the history of the Sephardic community of the Congo and the Ashkenazi (Lithuanian Jewish, to be more precise) community of South Africa. As you can imagine, then, it is with great fascination that I have read your wonderful book Shalom Bwana and the various contributions to Los Muestros on related topics.
Though my research is very much in its preliminary stage, I believe I have managed to read most published material on the Jewish community of the Congo, including De Rhodes á Elisabetheville and the works cited in this work and in your bibliography. Much work remains, of course, including the undertaking of oral histories (which I hope to conduct in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, where I understand Jewish families from the Congo settled).
I have taken the liberty of writing to you with a number of questions I would be most thankful if you could answer. First, do you know of individuals in the United States whom I might interview on this topic (interviews in Israel and Belgium may come later, but for obvious reasons it will be easier for me to begin with American subjects)? Secondly, you mention in the bibliography of your book that you intended to donate videos of your extensive oral histories to the Musée Juif de Belgiques, to the Foundation de la Mémoire Juive Contemporaine, and to Beth Hatefutsot, and I am wondering if this has, indeed, occurred. If so, I will write these institutions to find out if I may view these precious documents, or if I might purchase transcripts/copies. Finally, are you aware of any sources on this topic that have been published (or that are in progress) since your bibliography was completed?
I do hope you will forgive the presumption of writing you by email unannounced: but it is with such excitement that I have devoured your work that I simply could not restrain myself.
Many thanks in advance for your attention and for whatever advice you can offer.
Sincerely,
Sarah A. S.
Assistant Professor, History, JSIS
University of Washington, Seattle
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