Curriculum Vitae
Samir Moshe Naqqash began his studies in the academic year of 1972/1973 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Within the framework of his B.A. studies (1972-1973/1974-1975), he studied Arabic and Arabic literature and Iranian studies.
Within the framework of his M.A. studies (1975-1978), he continued studying Arabic and Arabic literature and folklore, as a preparation for his Doctorate.
During his B.A. studies, he wrote his research articles on the literature of the contemporary Sudanese author, Al Tayib Salih (1926-), and secondly on the beliefs of the Syrian poet, Abu-Lal Al Muari (1332-1406) and his relationship towards Judaism and the Jews. Within this same framework of the seminar on Iranian studies, he wrote two researches works as follows:
- The relationship of the author Sadik Hidayat (1903-1951) towards
the Jews, as expressed in his literary works.
- The comparison between the different kinds of folklore songs of Iranian Jews and Iraqi Jews.
In the field of folklore, he wrote two research works, as follows:
- The Memunah Festival - a spring festival, celebrated by the
North African Jews; customs, tradition and authentic history.
- The confrontation folktales of the Baghdadi Jews.
His Master's thesis dealt with the topic of the stories and poetry of the Jewish authors and poets, who were pioneers in modern day Iraq (about 500 pages).
He graduated with distinctions for both his B.A. and his M.A. degrees. On completion of his M.A. degree, he registered for his Doctorate in the field of folklore. His topic was "Demons and Spirits and other metaphysical powers in the belief of the Baghdadi Jews, and their daily customs". He complete three years of fieldwork, information gathering and writing. Owing to the absence of an Israeli specialist in the field, the Supervisory Research Committee, which supervised Doctoral works, requested him to translate his work into English, in order to send it abroad and to receive the opinion of a specialist. He complied with the request, but as the whole idea was unrealistic, the research was deferred up to this day. In the last few years, he was requested by the Hebrew University to complete his research but, it seems that no one has yet received a Doctorate in this field, in Israel.
He holds the opinion that the literacy work has first priority and with this work he will contribute to the safeguarding of the Jewish dialect in Baghdad which is being forgotten. Furthermore, he has elevated the Jewish image in Iraq and of other Sephardic Jews for the first time in a way that turns this image into a literal image, in the full sense of the word.
If he will be given the opportunity, he would do a research on the folks stories of the Jews of Iraq and would perpetuate texts that are being forgotten.
offers to cooperate in the translation of his works
into other languages
To contact Samir
Naqqash
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