The Image of Immigrants from Islamic Countries in the Stories of Eliezer Smoli

Abstract

The article analyzes short stories by Eliezer Smoli (1901-1985), a recipient of the Israel Prize for children’s literature. The works discussed here, dating from the early years of the state to the 1980s, feature immigrants from Islamic countries as their main protagonists. After my initial review of the ways in which Mizrahim are depicted in historical and literary studies, I delineate my own methodology for exploring their characterization both as individuals and as a group. Smoli’s portrayal of immigrants from Islamic countries is complex and largely free of the negative stereotypes that prevailed during the early decades of the state. In his stories, Mizrahim are featured as Zionist pioneers with a culture of their own. Smoli portrays their family life and the Jewish cultural capital they brought to Israel in a positive light, conveying their perspective to his young readership while exposing the failure of the establishment to assimilate them. The article contributes to the scholarship of image and representation in general, and in particular, and to study of the depiction of immigrants from Islamic countries in Israeli children’s literature.