Author: Vivianne M. Schinasi-Silver

ISBN:  978-1-896754-50-5

Vivianne Schinasi-Silver has penned an enchanting memoir on the life of Egyptian Jews in pre-Nasser era, and in particular of her loving family, as well as about their painful Exodus.  

We can divide Schinasi-Silver Memoir in two sections.

The first part is a return to her roots depicting an idealized carefree life under the reign of King Farouk.

As a fellow compatriot from the same town of Heliopolis, a wave of nostalgia washed over me upon revisiting our native city under her penmanship. I can also recall our idyllic life in Heliopolis and our unforgettable summers in Alexandria.  

Schinasi-Silver is a memoirist who turned her memoirs on the people and events around her, interpreting them in a way that brings to bear her special insight, her accumulated knowledge and experience, her unique way at looking at the world. Through the eyes of her vividly drawn family we revisit an enchanted era wherein Jews and Arabs as well as so many Europeans, lived in peace and harmony.

The second part of her book deals with their exodus from their enchanting and beloved land.

When the winds of war started to blow, life for Jews in Egypt became unbearable. Nasser and company wanted Egypt for the Egyptians. They robbed all the Jewish assets and many a Jew was sequestrated in their camps. It was time to leave everything behind them and venture onto Canada. The 42 keys were the keys to all the valises containing whatever the Egyptians let them take with them.  The Second Exodus had started. 

Schinasi-Silver writes poignantly about her family caught up in difficult, almost unbearable, situations. But she is equally aware of the redemptive power of loving relationships and family ties. Through the memorable story of her family, she also helps spread the word of this “best kept secret”- the plight of the 900,000 Jewish refugees from the Second Exodus out of Arab lands.

Schinasi-Silver had the gumption of returning to Egypt for a visit marred by  “Irreconcilable contrasts… hotels like ivory towers of luxury marble stairs, crystal chandeliers, halls filled with sheiks from Saudi Arabia and their entourages – while outside was abject poverty, filth, disease, crowding, and noise.” Not to speak of the hatred for Jews that is prevalent nowadays among the Egyptians. 

For these reasons, I will never set foot again in such a hostile country.

In her epilogue Schinasi-Silver cites a beautiful poem by Victor Hugo:

Have courage for the great sorrows of life

And patience for the small ones;

And when you have laboriously accomplished

Your daily task,

Go to sleep in peace.

God is awake. 

The writing of this memoir proved to be cathartic for Schinasi-Silver as she mentions it in her last paragraph:

She truly believes…. “That in honouring the memory of the Egyptian Jews who have lived before me, the course of destiny underlying my own life has found its meaning.”

I am not sure if the last two chapters add to her narrative. They read like a travelogue rather than sharing her feelings. 

The photo images that she shares with her readers enhance her tale. In particular on p. 21 the picture of her paternal grandfather Albert Schinasi, with a “Tarbouche”( a red cylindrical hat), is typical of Egyptian garb at the time of King Farouk.

42 Keys to the Second Exodus is a sensitive and good read, especially for Egyptian Jews who still are nostalgic about their sojourn in Farouk’s kingdom of Egypt.

The above review was contributed by: Lily Azerad-Goldman, B.F.A, Artist: Click Here to view Lily’s Reviews and Here to view her art work.