FREE EVENT

Qesher Book Club:

The Stateless Central Asian Merchant


Tuesday, March 17

Please note that the times (in the US and Canada) are different from our usual schedule!

USA 1:00 pm PT / 4:00 pm ET

UK 8:00 pm / France 9:00 pm / Israel 10:00 pm

The talk will last approximately 60 minutes

About the Talk

Haim Abraham, born in 1897 in Turkmenistan, wrote out his memoir into a spiral-bound notebook covering a period of ninety years. After he passed away in 1999, the journal was discovered in his home, written in an ancient language: Judeo-Farsi.
Years later, the journals were translated, unearthing a time capsule nearly lost. The former years of Abraham's life had a recurrent theme of Russian Tsarist, Bolshevik, and Soviet violence, which heavily affected his family's viability. Abraham's family were not nationals anywhere. They were forced to move from country to country in search of religious freedom and the economic opportunities that often went hand in hand as merchant class Jews. What Abraham did have, which was central to his endurance, was a community of relatives and friends in every city he traveled. The mutual responsibility inherent within the Jewish community was essential to establishing worldwide business ties and mobility.
Abraham came from an enclave called the Jewish Triangle, which stretched across large parts of Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia. Due to continued persecution and spotty educational access, much of their history is not written down and barely part of the Jewish historical lexicon. Presented is an invaluable memoir into a fascinating time period.

You can order the book here. 

About the Author

Dahlia Abraham-Klein is a writer on Central Asian Jewish history and Jewish values. Her articles have appeared in Tablet, Chabad.org, Jewish Journal, and The Times of Israel. She is a teacher at Partners in Torah, offering a personalized learning experience on the system of life through Jewish wisdom. Her books include Caravan of Hope: A Bukharan Woman's Journey to Freedom and Silk Road Vegetarian.

RECORDING INFORMATION

This talk will be recorded and shared with registrants the day after. 

It will be available without a time limit