By Phyllis Chesler
Tarek Heggy's booming voice, Arab charm, and considerable reputation all preceded him. However, I was not prepared for the quiet soulfulness and seriousness with which he graced my home. Tall, trim, warm, effusive, energetic--but also refreshingly business-like, Tarek reminded me a bit, (but only superficially), of Lucette Lagnado's father, Leon, whom she memorialized in her wonderful book, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. Like Leon, Tarek is also a sophisticated citizen of the world and a very successful businessman; unlike Lagnado's cherished Leon, Tarek is a voracious and dedicated reader and the author of many books and countless articles.
Of course, Tarek is a Muslim, not a Jew. He was born in Port Said, Egypt and grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when that city was more cosmopolitan than it now is. Tarek told me that he wept the last time he visited his childhood city because "the women are now all wearing sheets, down to the ground and away from their bodies so that no shape shows," and there is "hate, only hate blaring from the loudspeakers of every mosque." Read more ...
Tarek Heggy's booming voice, Arab charm, and considerable reputation all preceded him. However, I was not prepared for the quiet soulfulness and seriousness with which he graced my home. Tall, trim, warm, effusive, energetic--but also refreshingly business-like, Tarek reminded me a bit, (but only superficially), of Lucette Lagnado's father, Leon, whom she memorialized in her wonderful book, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. Like Leon, Tarek is also a sophisticated citizen of the world and a very successful businessman; unlike Lagnado's cherished Leon, Tarek is a voracious and dedicated reader and the author of many books and countless articles.
Of course, Tarek is a Muslim, not a Jew. He was born in Port Said, Egypt and grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when that city was more cosmopolitan than it now is. Tarek told me that he wept the last time he visited his childhood city because "the women are now all wearing sheets, down to the ground and away from their bodies so that no shape shows," and there is "hate, only hate blaring from the loudspeakers of every mosque." Read more ...
Source: FrontPage Magazine
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