Booklet Traces History From Babylon to Present
The tragic decline of Iraq Jewry gues and religious courts oper- synagogues operate in Baghdad.
from the golden age of Babylonia ated based on Jewish law. Jews Iraqi Jews dare not contact the
to the recent hangings in Baghdad were represented in Parliament outside world for fear of being
is told in a new publication of the and many Jews held civil serv- seriously compromised. There is
American Jewish Congress, "The ice positions. Jews were manu- strict military censorship on all
Jews of Iraq."
facturers, financiers, craftsmen, mail from Iraq. Many Iraqi Jews
The 30-page booklet traces the doctors and lawyers, merchants jailed after the Six-Day War are
range of Jewish experience under and even farmers.
still under arrest. Jews were forc-
Arab rule from ancient times of
But by 1935, in newly-independ- ed to contribute large sums for
grandeur and rich achievement to ent Iraq, traditional religious hat- Arab refugees and other Arab
the tragedy and ultimate dissolu- red and the alleged "economic causes. They can no longer travel
tion of today. It was written by power" of the Jewish population within the country, let alone emi-
Phil Baum, director of the Con- aroused hostility. Jews were dis- grate. Those not in jail have been
gress' commission on internation- missed from jobs, Jewish schools under virtual house arrest. re-
al affairs, and Carol Weisbrod, a were put under government super- stricted to the immediate premises
former staff member, as "an ap- vision and the teaching of Hebrew, in which they dwell.
preciation and a eulogy for a Jew- except for purely religious instruc-
Rabbi Sasson Khadouri, head
ish community whose glory can tion, prohibited.
of the Iraqi Jewish community,
never be reconstituted and will
It spelted the beginning of yin- was forced to condemn "the
never be forgotten."
ent pogroms in 1941; of riots in treacherous Zionist aggression
The story begins with Nebu- 1946, with hundredsof Jews and the use of napalm against
hadnezzar's conquest of Jeru- wounded; and a steadily deterio- Arab countries in the recent
salem in 579 BCE, his subsequent rating situation as a Jewish state war." He was quoted over the
destruction of the Temple and took form in Palestine. There were radio as proclaiming that "I and
the exile of much of Jerusalem's many arrests for allegedly poison- members of my community are
population — the court, the war- ing drinking water; bribes were Arabs first and foremost and
riors and craftsmen—to Babylon paid to secure the prisoners' re- we abhor the shedding of Arab
in an attempt to break the rebel- lease. In 1951 it was estimated blood."
that by fines, blackmail, bribes
lions Jewish spirit.
This is the background against
and other forms of economic pres-
Instead, this produced a "pres - sure, Iraq had extorted 55 million which 14 persons — nine of them
tigious Jewish community which pounds ($15,950,000) from the Jew- Jews — were hanged publicly in
provided the people of Israel with ish community.
Baghdad for an alleged conspiracy
intellectual and spiritual resources
led by an illiterate Jewish shop- .
By this time, too, Iraq's Jews keeper
for generations," the authors note,
was charged with di-
secretly to flee the country reefing who
adding: "This remarkable era of
adding:
a complicated and elabor-
Jewish creativity remains a re- -mostly through Iran. . Emigration
espionage scheme—while under
condite page of world history . . . was legal for one year (in 1950)1 I close police scrutiny like all Jews
but of enormous impact upon the but 15,000 had already slipped out. i
War.
whole shape and contour of the In 1951 new legislation deprived since the Six-Day
most Jews of Iraqi citizenship,
Jewish experience."
•
bombs exploded in the Jewish
Though many Jews remained in quarter of Baghdad and some 65.-
Babylon even after the Jewish 000 remaining Jews began to lose
exiles were permitted to return to their jobs. A new wave of terror
Jerusalem and rebuild their Tem- and lawlessness swept Iraq. Armed
ple, the Jews were never assimi- malice joined with professional
lated and maintained close contact criminals to beat Jews in the
with the Holy Land. streets and rob them of what little
When Isla m extended its ruse they still owned.
over Persia and Palestine, North
Between 1948 and 1951 tens of
Africa and Spain, the Jews of what thousands had been flown from
was to become Iraq were treated Iraq to Israel in a mass evacua-
fairly well so long as they paid the tion known as "Ali-Baba." In
special tax on infidels (Jews and
1955 the total reached 126,000. In
Christians).
the ensuing years the govern-
During the 10th Century, Iraq
meat teetered back and forth
had the largest Jewish corn-
between restrictive and compara-
munity in the world. Jews were
lively liberal measures. Under
active in commerce and banking. the Nassim regime in 1959 the
With Baghdad a center of Eas- 4-5,000 remaining Jews were
tern culture, Jews helped trans-
promised full equality with other
late Greek texts into Arabic and
citizens. But the Baathists came
played an important role in dif-
power in 1963 and the situation
began to deteriorate again. In
fusing Greek culture throughout
the Eastern world.
March 1964 passports for Jews
The Mongols overran the land in were restricted to persons re-
Baghdad
quiring
medical treatment not
sacking
the 13th Century,
and devastating Iraq by destroy- obtainable in Iraq. It took four or
five
months
to obtain such a
ing her ancient irrigation system.
Although some Jews served the passport and many Jews died
Mongol Khans as physicians and waiting.
in other posts, they soon fell from In early 1969 some 2,500 Jews
favor and a frightful pogrom deci- were left in Iraq, the majority in
mated the Jewish community. Baghdad, jobless and barred from
Many died, some were converted, colleges and universities. Only five
others fled.
Following the Khan's downfall, 1st Permanent Synagogue
the Turkish-Persian struggle for
power raged from the 16th to the Dedicated at Technion
19th centuries. The Jews of Iraq
HAIFA—The Techinion-Israel In-
became an official part of the Otto stitute of Technology, Israel's old-
man Empire, their conditions no est university and only source of
worse than for other Jews under domestically-trained engineers, has
Turkish rule and probably much dedicated its first permanent cam-
more secure than for Jews of Wes- pus synagogue, Ohel Aharon (tent
tern Europe. In fact, many Euro- of Aaron).
pean Jews came to find new homes
The synagogue was made possi-
in the Ottoman Empire where the ble through a gift from Ludwig
Turks were glad to use their skills Jesselson of New York and is
and resources.
named in memory of his brother,
In 1824 the entire commercial Albert.
Jewish
life of Baghdad was in
Prof. Aharon Kashtan, of the
hands. During the long Persian- Technion faculty of architecture,
Turkish struggle, however, Bagh- designed the synagogue as a
dad was besieged by plague, flood "House of Prayer, Study and As-
and famine. The population was sembly." It is located half way be-
decimated and practically the tween student residence halls and
whole Jewish community driven the Technion campus center on
into exile.
Haifa's Mount Carmel.
Guest speakers at the dedication
After the first World War,
when Iraq came under British ceremony were Dr. Zerah War-
mandate, the Jews demonstrated haftig, Israel's minister of religious
their remarkable resilience by affairs; Pinhas Sapir, Israeli min-
becoming active in the profes- ister without portfolio; Chief Rabbi
sions and in commerce. In 1932, Isser Yehuda Unterman; Jesselson
when the independent state of and Alexander Goldberg, president
Iraq emerged, the Iraqi Jewish of the Technion.
community numbered more than
Michigan has a larger variety of
110,000, centered in Baghdad,
Mosul, Basra and Kirkuk. A gen- commercial tree species than any
eral council administered com- other state, and its forest product
munal activities, allocating funds industries contribute over $650,000,-
and, setting communal taxes. 000 annually to the Michigan econ-
Baghdad alone had 26 synago- omy.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 16, 1969-21
Michigan has 40 symphony or-
chestras, 12 professional string
quartets, 150 high school string
Venico
quartets and approximately 200
civic choruses.
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