Dutch Jewish Woman Wins Arab Poetry Contest
A Dutch Jew living in The Hague won a reasonably prestigious Arab poetry contest:
Tuvit Shlomi, 28, who works at the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel and attends an Orthodox synagogue in The Hague, won the prestigious El Hizjra Prize, a poetry award designed to promote the culture of Arab immigrants to Holland, particularly those from Morocco.
In a bid to ensure her work would be judged on the merits of its content rather than authorship, Shlomi submitted her poems using the pseudonym Wallada bint al-Mustaqfi, who was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and feminist.
“With an Israeli name, I could imagine they would see the entry and say ‘nope, ” Shlomi told JTA in a telephone interview.
She told organizers about her real name beforehand.
The Jerusalem Post report adds that Shlomi has a special relationship with “Mediterranean culture.” Her father – a holocaust surviver – was born in Israel, but later moved to the Netherlands where his wife gave birth to Tuvit. “I feel close to other Mediterranean cultures because they remind me of my own,” she said.
‘”My Dream is Dead” was born from Shlomi’s internal debates about the dream and reality of Israel, where she has many relatives,’ the Jpost report says.
“It is about searching for a home, a purpose, for the real Israel,” she said. “But those are things I see in it, and I want to leave it open for other people.”
Abderazak Sbaiti, director of the El Hizjra Center for Arabic Art and Culture, told a Dutch daily he was pleased for Shlomi.
Shlomi’s participation “proves how multicultural the Netherlands are,” Sbaiti said.
He added that the organization does not discriminate based on ethnicity. “We accept all cultures.”
As far as I am concerned, Shlomi’s victory should be celebrated by all involved. She succeeded in doing what many politicians have failed to do: uniting different peoples, from different religions, through art, not politics. Perhaps this will also create more understanding and respect for each other; that would rather obviously be a wonderful development.
“Her father – a holocaust surviver – was born in Israel, but later moved to the Netherlands where his wife gave birth to Tuvit”
Something wrong with this information. I have never heard of a Holocaust survivor born in Israel. Technically it’s possible but not very likely. Perhaps the father was the child of Holocaust survivors.
@Noga
This is the correct information:
Her mother is a Holocaust survivor. Her father is a native born Israeli.
No conflict in being a holocaust survivor AND an Israeli. Many holocaust survivors emigrated to Israel after WWII.