One-stop blog on Jews from Arab and Muslim Countries and the Middle East's forgotten Jewish refugees, updated daily
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Synagogue at Ezekiel's tomb dismantled
Recent photos taken at Ezekiel's tomb at Kifl, south of Baghdad, reveal further changes designed to alter its Jewish character. In the last five years, major works have been undertaken by the Wakf to transform the site into a huge Shi'ite mosque. Now the synagogue adjoining the burial chamber is being redeveloped. (With thanks: Kobi)
This old photo of the synagogue adjoining the burial chamber shows the raised reading platform (Teba) and the gallery, now dismantled. The Teba was unusually located on the eastern side of the synagogue and not in the centre of the hall or next to the ark, as was customary in synagogues in Iraq.
The photos below show that the balustrade around the Teba, or reading platform, has been removed.
The columns holding up the women's gallery have also been taken down, as well as the guard rail around the gallery.
The iron stud doors in the northern wall leading to the burial chamber have also been removed.
Israeli journalist Tsur Shezaf visited Ezekiel's tomb in 2010, when it was still intact. At 5:15 you can see shots of the synagogue. The ark and prayer books have long ago vanished from the synagogue.
According to 'Tombs of saints and synagogues in Babylonia' by Zvi Yehuda, the synagogue beside Ezekiel's tomb was the only synagogue serving the local community of Kifl, which numbered about 300 people. Daily services were held and during the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur a hazan (cantor) from Baghdad was hired to lead the serivces.
During the 1930s, Rabbi Ishaq Salih Mukammal attended from Baghdad. He was given a place at the teba alongside the community notables. At the time of the pilgrimage during Shavu'oth, the synagogue was filled with celebrating worshippers. The pilgrims passed through the synagogue on their way to visit the 'inner yard' to prostrate themselves on the prophet's tomb. Pilgrims lit candles to commemorate the souls of the departed in the synagogue.
In just 50 years, almost a million Jews, whose communities stretch back up to 3,000 years, have been 'ethnically cleansed' from 10 Arab countries. These refugees outnumber the Palestinian refugees two to one, but their narrative has all but been ignored. Unlike Palestinian refugees, they fled not war, but systematic persecution. Seen in this light, Israel, where some 50 percent of the Jewish population descend from these refugees and are now full citizens, is the legitimate expression of the self-determination of an oppressed indigenous, Middle Eastern people. This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of the near-extinct Jewish communities, which can never return to what and where they once were - even if they wanted to. It will attempt to pass on the stories of the Jewish refugees and their current struggle for recognition and restitution. Awareness of the injustice done to these Jews can only advance the cause of peace and reconciliation. (Iran: once an ally of Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran is now an implacable enemy and numbers of Iranian Jews have fallen drastically from 80,000 to 20,000 since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Their plight - and that of all other communities threatened by Islamism - does therefore fall within the scope of this blog.)
1 comment:
The last four jews of Iraq..go up to Israel...and live
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