My time under a legend

I studied under a legend at Vanderbilt, and I'll never forget it.

I had just switched into my Public Policy Studies major and my track was focusing on Middle East Policy.  I spent that first morning of classes frantically trying to find the room my class was in.  Again and again, I checked every room number in Buttrick Hall, but I couldn't find the one I needed.

I finally found it hidden in the corridor with the professors' offices - it was completely empty.  Thankfully the secretary for the Jewish Studies department was next door.  She kindly guided me to Professor Somehk's office door down the hall.

It turns out I was one of two students who enrolled in the course.  I reckoned that the confusing course title ("SpTp: LitJews MuslimLands") accounted for the low enrollment.

I walked into Professor Somehk's office and got one of the most exciting opportunities I've ever had as a student.  It turns out that he was a visiting professor from a Tel Aviv University.  He would be here one semester to help restructure the Jewish Studies department.  He would meet with me, alone, once a week for class.  Since the other enrollee was a graduate student, we would meet separately, he suggested.

So, the course commenced.  Every week, Professor Somehk assign me a book.  I would spend hours in the bottom of the Central Library finding and reading it.  I would walk back over to his quaint office and discuss the text.  At the end of our discussion (which had no time limit - we finished when we finished), he would tell me about another book and I would go in search of it, as well.

The best thing about this class is that I went into it wanting to know everything about the Jewish-Arab relationship.  Their origins were so similar - so why all of the violence and fighting?  Go figure that Professor Somehk grew up in a Jewish community in Iraq.  In 1941 his neighborhood was attacked by a pro-Nazi mob.  His family ended up fleeing, only to end up in Israel years later.  That one attack began the decline of the Jewish community in Iraq and coincided with a similar Jewish exodus from the rest of the Middle East.

While opening the Jews Among Arabs conference, Somehk said, "I feel that I am the last Arabic Jew..."

I'm proud to have served under Professor Somehk.  I know that when I reflect on my time here, my study under him will rank among my top fond memories.