Posted on 10/23/2013 7:26:24 AM PDT by Former Fetus
If you happen to be in Washington, DC, between now and January, you can see a piece of Jewish history that was never supposed to see the light of day. The National Archives is now exhibiting restored holy books and communal documents that belonged to the Jewish community of Iraq.
In 1940, the Iraqi Jewish community numbered 137,000 people. Jews made up more than a quarter of the population of Baghdad. A 2,500-year-old community, Iraq had for centuries been a major center of Jewish learning. The Babylonian Talmud was written there.
The rabbinical academies in Karbala and Baghdad were considered among the greatest in the world.
>>SNIP<<
On June 1, 1941, as Jews celebrated the festival of Shavuos, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the pro-Nazi government carried out a massive pogrom. Estimates place the number of Jews murdered at anywhere between 180 and 900. Nine hundred Jewish homes were destroyed. Hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses were looted and burned.
>>SNIP<<
When he realized the dimensions of the archive, now largely underwater, Rhode moved heaven and earth to save it. Due to Rhode's action, and the support he received from Iraqi leader Ahmed Chalabi, vice president Dick Cheney and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the archive which included everything from school records to 500- year-old copies of the Bible was saved on Shavuos 2003 and sent to the US.
>>SNIP<<
But if nothing changes, on Shavuos 2014, the miracle will come to a tragic and scandalous end. In an act of cultural aggression, the US government has promised to return the Jewish communal archive stolen from the Iraqi Jewish community by the Iraqi government to the Iraqi government by June 2014.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
The Ann Coulter of the Middle East strikes again!
Palestinians must stay out of Israel until 137,000 Jews are safely back in Baghdad.
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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ping
“until 137,000 Jews are safely back in Baghdad” Back in Baghdad, sure. “Safely,” however, is unlikely. Maybe they’ll take 137,000 Palestinians, though.
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