Nissim Rejwan (1924–2017)

Nissim Rejwan was born to a Jewish family in Baghdad, Iraq, the seventh child of Baruch and Lulu Rejwan. From the age of three, Rejwan learned to take his father, a carpenter who had lost his eyesight before he was born, to the synagogue, the barber and elsewhere, and his father taught him Hebrew and arithmetic. The family struggled to make a living and Rejwan had to leave school at 15 to get a job. He worked as a bank clerk during the day and attended classes at night. He developed a passion for English and French literature. On completing his secondary education in 1946, he began his literary career as the movie and book reviewer for the English-language Iraq Times. He came to know many of the country’s prominent intellectuals, with whom he formed close relationships. In 1951, he went to Israel under forced Jewish immigration. He attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying Islamic civilization, medieval history, and international relations. He became a staff writer and book reviewer for the Jerusalem Post, and editor-in-chief of the Arabic daily Al-Yaum. In 1966, he joined Tel Aviv University as a Senior Research Fellow. From 1995 to 2014, he was a Research Fellow at the Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University. Rejwan won renown for his political analysis and his historical and cultural contributions to Iraqi Jewry. Over a distinguished 60-year career as an historian and journalist, he published 14 books, including Israel in Search of Identity (1999); Arabs Face the Modern World (1998); The Jews of Iraq: 3000 Years of History and Culture (2010); and his memoirs, The Last Jews in Baghdad: Remembering a Lost Homeland (2010) and To Live in Two Worlds: The Pains of Displacement (2015). In 1998, he won the National Jewish Book Award for Israel Studies for his book Israel’s Place in the Middle East. In 1956, Rejwan met and married Rachel Nathan, with whom he had three sons.