Asher Elkayam was born in French Morocco. He spent his childhood in Morocco where he studied Arabic, Hebrew and French. He was tutored by teachers and rabbis. Asher has been studying the Bible since the young age of seven. He always wondered if the biblical words had more than one meaning. He has been through three different continents before he reached the shores of the United States. In the United States, Elkayam has studied and obtained diplomas in secondary education and Audioprosthology (separately). He taught Hebrew and French and he has been an active member of a conservative Hebrew congregation for over 38 years. Elkayam believes wholeheartedly in a constructive dialogue and friendly coexistence and interaction between Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Elkayam’s childhood had been subjected to a variety of cultures and dangers as well. When he was 13 years he witnessed signs of violence and turmoil caused by the Istiqlal, the force behind the liberation of Morocco. 1956 was a pivotal year. That year a lot of events were witnessed which changed his life: The sudden departure from Morocco, the sailing to Europe and Israel; the bombardment of Haifa by the Egyptian warship, Ibrahim Al-Awal. He hardly settled in Israel with his family when, one morning in October 1956, he witnessed from his house window, facing the sea, frightening bombardments of the Haifa harbor, in Israel. First he thought it was a thunderstorm. Then he listened to the news and quickly realized there was a war going on.
In 1962, he studied Hebrew morphology in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Asher has been, among other things, a Hebrew teacher for over 20 years in the US and overseas. Most of his life has been touched by biblical studies including the Talmud and the Mishnah and practice of the traditional Jewish way of life. When he moved to Israel, he was exposed to Middle Eastern and Hebrew cultures. He has been most fascinated with Monotheism and how it originated and spread to become the heritage of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The striking similarities between Judeo-Christian religions and Islam became the object of a lifelong project. After he studied Arabic and Hebrew studies in Morocco and Israel, he traveled to France to study Political Science and international relations in Paris and Strasbourg (Institut d’Etudes Politiques).
His published book on how to store and retrieve information in or out of sequence through a method called mnemonics. Names, numbers, faces, objects and various subjects, including languages, become easy to remember through this method. His second is a vivid description of how an average Moroccan individual succeeded to survive and adapt to four different cultures. He also published The Bible, The Power of the Word and One Family, Four Cultures, Four Continents, about the beauty of his childhood and the beauty of the neighborhood in Morocco and in Israel. Having lived among Muslim and Arab neighbors most of his adult life he became interested in the Islamic way of life and began concentrating on the positive nature of Islam. Asher describes the neighborhood people who comprised story tellers, scholars, natural born comedians. He describes events which could not be duplicated today, such as a pilgrimage to a holy place and the witnessed sacrifice given (as it was done in biblical history). Asher speaks about the beauty of childhood and the events and atmosphere he enjoyed before the advents of the Internet and the computer era. He enjoyed nature and its beauty before the advent of pollution. He expresses sadness that some beautiful moments enjoyed before the advent of technology and fast life could never come back again. He cautions about the ugliness of politics.
In a suspense-like way he describes how his family arrived to the Haifa harbor when young Israeli musicians played in the band welcoming the tourists and immigrants. He describes the rare experience people hardly experience, and it is the climbing to the Mount Sinai where it is believed the Ten Commandments were given. He speaks fluently the Moroccan Arabic dialect. He is also fluent in the French and the Hebrew languages.
Asher, most of all, gives credit to his loving parents, who, courageously went through periods of hardship and doubt, but triumphed because of their faith and the power of tradition.
For more information, you may email at asherelkayam@aol.com