IN MEMORY OF ALL THE JEWS WHO
LIVED IN ARABIC/PERSIAN SPEAKING LANDS, IN HISTORIC TIMES AND THOSE WHO
CONTINUE TO LIVE IN IRAN AS MOST ARAB COUNTRIES HAVE MADE REFUGEES OF JEWS WHO
LIVED AMONG THEM BEFORE THE TIME OF PROPHET MOHAMMED
As Hanukkah approaches, it pains
me to think of Jewish people who continue to live in the Middle East outside
Israel.
Proportionately there were more Jews
in Baghdad at the beginning of 20th century than there were in
Warsaw or Berlin.
The 12th century Jewish
traveler, Benjamin of Tudela had this to say:
In Bagdad there are about 40,000 Jews[127], and
they dwell in
security,
prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongst
them are
great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study of
the law. In
this city there are ten Academies. At the head of the
great
Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli. He is the
head of the
Academy Gaon Jacob. He is a Levite, and traces his
pedigree
back to Moses our teacher. The head of the second Academy is
R. Hanania
his brother, warden of the Levites; R. Daniel is the head
of the third
Academy; R. Elazar the scholar is the head of the fourth
Academy; and
R. Elazar, the son of Zemach, is the head of the order,
and his
pedigree reaches to Samuel the prophet, the Korahite. He and
his brethren
know how to chant the melodies as did the singers at the
time when
the Temple was standing. He is head of the fifth Academy. R.
Hisdai, the
glory of the scholars, is head of the sixth Academy. R.
Haggai is
head of the seventh Academy. R. Ezra is the head of the
eighth
Academy. R. Abraham, who is called Abu Tahir, is the head of
the ninth
Academy. R. Zakkai, the son of Bostanai the Nasi, is the
head of the
Sium[128]
Currently it is thought that there are 8 Jewish souls in
Baghdad most of them elderly. I have seen photographs of the eldest of these,
90 year old Sasson Saleh. Israel integrated about 500 Iraqis who claimed to
have Jewish grandparents but were unable to integrate 500 from Kurdistan who
claimed Jewish but couldn’t integrate well into Israeli Jewish society because
of their Muslim practices and migrated to Holland.
Sasson Saleh, 90 years old is one of the last Jews of Baghdad
The Iraqi Jewish communities in Bombay (where my brother
was born) and Calcutta and Rangoon all have but disappeared, migration to UK
Australia and USA and Canada, and not because of Anti Antisemitism in India. After
the formation of Malaysia, which is a Muslilm country, the Jews of that country
who were mainly Iraqis, left Penang and other cities, mainly for Australia?
Singapore and Hong Kong continue to have centuries old Iraqi Jewish
communities, now bolstered by the expatriates from the west.
Apart from a very small number of Jews in Egypt and some
more in Morocco, the ancient communities of Jews who were in the Arabian
peninsula and the Trucial States have all but disappeared.
I think it was my father, olav ha shalom, who told me.
The idea of monotheism was easier for Mohammed to preach in Medina since there
were large number of Jewish tribes living in that area. Benjamin of Tudela
mentions of Jews in Arabia. Currently there are no Jews of Saudi Arabia. Hardly
any left in Yemen.
In Benjamin of Tudela’s description, Iran had a
flourishing jewish community in the 12th century with many learned
institutions and synagogues where they were allowed to practice their religion
and live in peace with the Muslims. It is good to remember that in most of
these countries Jews lived there long before the advent of Islam. He mentions
of the Island of Kish in the Persian Gulf..
" From thence I
returned to the country of Khuzistan, which
lies on the Tigris; this runs down and falls into the Indian Sea
[ Persian Gulf ] in the vicinity of an island called Kish. The ex
tent of this island is six miles, and its inhabitants do not carry on
any agriculture, principally because they have no rivers, nor
more than one spring in the whole island, and are consequently
obliged to drink rain water. It is, however, a considerable
market, being the point to which the Indian merchants and those
of the islands bring their commodities; while the traders of
Mesopotamia, Yemen, and Persia import all sort of silk and
purple cloths, flax, cotton, hemp, mdsh, wheat, barley, millet, rye,
and all sorts of comestibles and pulses, which articles form objects
of barter. Those from India import great quantities of spices,
and the inhabitants of the island live by what they gain in their
capacity of brokers to both parties. The island contains about
five hundred Jews." 1
lies on the Tigris; this runs down and falls into the Indian Sea
[ Persian Gulf ] in the vicinity of an island called Kish. The ex
tent of this island is six miles, and its inhabitants do not carry on
any agriculture, principally because they have no rivers, nor
more than one spring in the whole island, and are consequently
obliged to drink rain water. It is, however, a considerable
market, being the point to which the Indian merchants and those
of the islands bring their commodities; while the traders of
Mesopotamia, Yemen, and Persia import all sort of silk and
purple cloths, flax, cotton, hemp, mdsh, wheat, barley, millet, rye,
and all sorts of comestibles and pulses, which articles form objects
of barter. Those from India import great quantities of spices,
and the inhabitants of the island live by what they gain in their
capacity of brokers to both parties. The island contains about
five hundred Jews." 1
from the British Library, has info
on Jews of Muscat
Muscat and Oman , is one of my favourite
countries in that region.
When travelling around Oman, it is impossible
for me to believe that Jews did not live there.
But evidence is hard to come by. I
also thought of the great Chinese navigator, Admiral Zheng He who came to the
shores of Oman, along the Dhofar coast as well as passing through the Straits
of Hormuz. There is no doubt in my mind that Hormuz at that time had Jews
The British Library recently released
the books and papers of the military and civil men posted in the services of
His majesty in these trucial regions. This was the first time I had seen a
reference to Jews of Muscat. Omanis are physiognomically much different than
their neighbours the Emiratis or Qatari. The documents describe most of the
residents of Muscats to be Baluchis, with sizeable population of Negroid stock,
with large number of Hindus. This mixture can be seen until this day in Muscat.
The interesting Jewish communities in
Kuwait and Bahrain deserve a mention. Those of Kuwait is no more but until
recently the Bahraini ambassador to USA was a Bahraini Jewish woman! Benjamin
of Tudela mentions of Jews (ak-Kuwaiti) in Kuwait as well as in Bahrain.
In fact there was a talk of a Jewish
state in an oasis in Bahrain!!!
Books from the British Library with information on Jews of Kuwait,
and Bahrain
From BBC Magazine
In 1859 Griffith Jenkins, a senior British naval officer in the
Gulf, wrote to a subordinate named Hiskal.
Hiskal - or
Yehezkel - ben Yosef was a minor official representing British interests in
Muscat. And, like his predecessor in the post in the 1840s (a man named
Reuben), he was Jewish.
Jews had been
living in Muscat since at least 1625. In 1673, according to one traveller, a
synagogue was being built, implying permanence. British officer James Wellsted
also noted the existence of a Jewish community on a visit in the 1830s.
Jenkins's
letter talks obliquely about the Imam (a Muslim ruler who held sway in Oman's
interior) and the arrival of a man from Persia. He ends by asking Hiskal to
explain the matter in private - and then, remarkably, had his letter translated
into Hebrew.
In a few days time, we
would light the candles in celebration of Hanukkah. On that day and days
afterwards, I will remember the ancient Jewish communities of Arabia and Iran.
Over one million Jews from Arabia, Maghreb,
Iran were made refugees after 1947 (when the anti-Semitic riots began in the
earnest in the Arab countries, US Navy and its officers had to protect the Jews
of Bahrain!) Hardly any Jews are left in Turkey, where there was a flourishing
community under benevolent Sultans.( it is good to read the history of
Thessaloniki which actively gave refuge to the exiled Spanish Jews, with consent
from the Sultan in Istanbul)
Jewish Shabbat Lights and two Hanukkia from Cochin at the UmonHon Indian Reservation, along with a HoCank Indian doll
It is said that the countries that expel its
Jews take centuries to regain their former glory; Spain and Poland are given as
examples. Reading Bernard Lewis’ History of Islamic Countries, one gets the
impression that the loss of Jews would haunt Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon,
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya for centuries to come.
R is a five year old UmonHon Indian Girl, sister to L, who is also five years old and Jewish. R very proudly made a Star of David and decorated her Christmas Tree and said: This star is for my sister L! L refers to the star as, Our Star
