Acknowledgements

This monograph would not have been possible without the help and support of many people over several years to whom I am indebted. First and foremost, my doctoral supervisors Prof. dr. Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Prof. dr. Daniel Schroeter, and Dr. Karène Sanchez for constantly encouraging me, and guiding me on the academic path during my PhD. To Heleen, who took a chance on an acquisitions editor who had been out of academia for almost a decade; to Karène for her wise counsel and sympathetic ear over many espressos; and in particular to Daniel for constantly pushing me to refine my ideas and strengthen my arguments, no single person has invested more time and energy in my intellectual development than you and for this I am eternally grateful. Thank you to my many other dedicated professors, teachers, friends and mentors who encouraged me or otherwise prepared me to undertake and finish this project, in particular, Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, Noam Stillman, Aline Schlaepfer, Jaclyn Granick, Jonathan Silk, Abigail Green, Judith Frishman: you have all been crucial in shaping my thought and keeping me running.

Thank you to the many institutions and individuals who have funded my research. Leiden University for providing me with the resources and employment to see this book from thesis to monograph. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) for financing my doctoral training through the “Arabic and its Alternatives: Religious Minorities in the Formative Years of the Modern Middle East (1920–1950)” project. Thank you to the many graduate and postdoctoral research funding to the Leiden University Funds; the European Association of Jewish Studies; the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa; and the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

This book would not have been possible without the many archives and individuals that opened their doors to me. In particular I wish to thank the Kadoorie family for granting me access to use the Kadoorie Family Archives in the Hong Kong Heritage Project and the Jewish community of Singapore for giving me access to the archives of the Jewish Welfare Board. My archival trips were further enhanced by many individuals who made my travels infinitely more enriching by taking the time to meet with me or help organize my stay. To Emile Cohen for speaking with me in London about his life in Baghdad. To Rabbi Asher Oser in Hong Kong for opening his home to me and connecting me to the Jewish community of Ohel Leah. To Rabbi Mordechai Abergel, Frank Benjamin, Jean Marshall and Jacob Robbins in Singapore who took the time to speak with me about the Baghdadi satellite communities of East Asia and India.

I owe thanks to my publisher Brill, their amazing team is always an absolute pleasure to work with and I couldn’t imagine publishing this monograph with any other publishing house. Thanks to Erika Mandarino for all of her help as editorial assistant, to Jeremie Majerowicz for his map drawing expertise and to Christina Sargent for her desk editing expertise. Kristen de Joseph for her keen eye and marvellous language editing expertise that this manuscript desperately needed.

Last but certainly not least, to my family for putting up with the emotional rollercoaster of writing a dissertation and then transforming it into a monograph. Dalia and Rebecca without whom this book would have been finished two years earlier. And finally, to my husband, Yaniv who made this project possible by constantly reorganizing his schedule to accommodate my archival trips, conferences, and many weekends at the office. Needless to say, this is hardly my work alone. I am humbled and awed by the significant investments in me made by my so many mentors, friends, and family, well beyond the above list. I do, however, take responsibility for any errors or faulty interpretations.