|
|
Nov. 24, 2006
Iraq is rich in history
Sephardi Jewish life is highlighted in exhibits.
BASYA LAYE
In a time when the war in Iraq is featured on the front pages of
newspapers all over the world, it is certainly unusual to hear about
Jews in Iraq, past or present.
On Nov. 2 in New York City, the American Sephardi Federation (ASF)
presented the first program in an annual series to engage in an
examination and celebration of historic Jewish communities in the
Islamic world. The inaugural program, on Jewish life in Iraq, included
a full-day conference, which closed a weekend of film, music and
scholarly sessions held at the Centre for Jewish History in New
York City and Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue.
ASF is also presenting two long-running exhibitions at the Centre
for Jewish History – By the Rivers of Babylon: The Story of
the Jews of Iraq and Baghdad Revisited: Iraqi Jewish Art and Artifacts
from Private Collections. Both are on view until March 7 in the
Leon Levy Gallery.
The exhibit of art and artifacts consists of a display including
a small but varied selection of Torah scrolls and cases, ceremonial
objects, housewares, prayer books, a Book of Esther (Megillat
Esther) circa 1860, a late 19th-century Passover Haggadah in
Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic, clothing made from Kurdish textiles and
stunningly ornate ketubot (wedding certificates). Many of
the ceremonial objects are silver and rich hues of reds, browns
and purples predominate in the textiles and illuminated documents.
The heart of Jewish Iraq was Baghdad, which served as the cultural,
political and religious centre of Jewish life. Much of the By the
Rivers of Babylon exhibit is centred on Baghdadi Jews, but also
features the Jews of Kurdistan, which had a significant and longstanding
Jewish community. Photos of late 19th- and early 20th-century Jewish
communal and domestic life are displayed on large posters, with
lively descriptions and generous quotations from various sources.
One of the most illuminating items outlines the vital and distinct
musical tradition of Iraqi Jews. During the first half of the 20th
century, instrumental players in Iraq were virtually exclusively
Jewish and, in 1932, the first Iraqi delegates to the inaugural
Arabic music conference in Cairo were all Jews. In 1936, Iraq Radio
opened with all Jewish players, aside from a Muslim percussionist.
The poster explained, "as a consequence, no live music was
broadcast on the Jewish fast days of Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av."
But by 1950, like other segments of the Iraqi Jewish population,
most musicians had emigrated to the new state of Israel.
The reaction of the Iraqi government and citizens to the creation
of Israel is an important historical component, as it is responsible
for also creating the culture of anti-Semitism that exists today
in Iraq. Certainly, Jews endured a long history of persecution in
Iraq, but for long periods of time, they also enjoyed calm and the
opportunity to become successful musicians or merchants – educated
women and men who would make immeasurable contributions to global
culture.
In 1948, Zionism became a crime punishable by death and Jews were
once again widely discriminated against and persecuted. From a population
in 1940 of 300,000, there are fewer than 40 Jews left in Iraq. This
vibrant and eclectic community rapidly declined and millennia of
Iraqi Jewish history came to a close. The destruction of the temples
and the creation of the state of Israel serve as significant bookends
of Jewish history and for no one is this more clear than for the
Jews of Iraq.
The news out of today's war-torn Iraq takes on new meaning after
reading that Mosul was a centre for Kurdish Jews and that the Jews
of Basra flavored their food with unique spices. These days, Mosul
and Basra have very different connotations, as violent centres of
an unending Iraqi insurgency.
For more information, visit www.americansephardifederation.org.
Basya Laye is interim director at the Foundation for Ethnic
Understanding in New York City.
^TOP
|
|
