Nehardea Magazine

Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
No.14, Autumn 2003

IN MEMORIAM

Salman Dabby (Ibn El-Rafidain)

On the 24th October 2002 Salman Dabby departed this world at the age of 86. His life was full of activity. He served for 15 years with the Iraqi Police. He graduated with distinction at the head of his class in an officer's training course in 1940. In 1951, he left with his family to Europe for a "vacation" and thence to Israel through Turkey.

At the end of the fifities, he was recruited to serve in the Israeli Broadcasting Authority by three people, who visited him at his house: Aryeh Lowaya, Yaacov Khazma and Ezra Danin, all of whom have since passed away. "You owe it to the State. We will never find anybody who could do the work the way you could", they said. He served in this sector for thirty years. With great talent he ran a weekly program called "Ibn El-Rafidain" (the son of Aram Naharayim). In his broadcasts in Arabic, he reached out to the hearts of his listeners, always ending his broadcasts with a political message. An Iraqi security officer testified that "no Iraqis, whether ministers, shanty dwellers, would want to miss his broadcasts. We have no one who could compete with him, or imitate his style and his art of discourse". He adapted a very unique style and stuck to it. He adopted an inoffensive style and refrained from insults. He usually followed his weekly political message with anecdotes of wisdom.

In 1977, Zaki El Jaber, the Iraqi Minister of Information, who was a professor of communications at Baghdad University, described Ibn El-Rafidain's broadcasts as "nails driven into one's head".

His skill was not superficial or coincidental. He lived and grew up in a Muslim neighborhood, and was a childhood friend of Abdul Karim Qasim, who later became Head of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of Iraq. Qasim was an orphan who found in Salman a friend and a comrade in whose house he was a frequent guest. Salman's famous anecdotes were collected and published in Arabic and are now being translated into Hebrew and published. Salman was a man of principles. He really cared about people. He was worried by the negative manifestations in Israeli Society and pained by the lack of any dialogue with the Arab countries. It is a pity that since the 1980's his skills and talents were not exploited. He brought up his children to honor their principles, to be humble and always encouraged them to reach for high academic achievements. He loved his family, who returned his love and dedication. His wife, Marcel never left him in his old age and looked after and took care of him until his last moment.

May God bless his soul.

Mordechai Ben-Porat

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IN MEMORIAM
Salman Dabby (Ibn El-Rafidain)
On the 24th October 2002 Salman Dabby departed this world at the age of 86. His life was full of activity. He served for 15 years with the Iraqi Police. He graduated with distinction at the head of his class in an officer's training course in 1940. In 1951, he left with his family to Europe for a "vacation" and thence to Israel through Turkey. At the end of the fifities, he was recruited to serve in the Israeli Broadcasting Authority by three people, who visited him at his house: Aryeh Lowaya, Yaacov Khazma and Ezra Danin, all of whom have since passed away. "You owe it to the State. We will never find anybody who could do the work the way you could", they said. He served in this sector for thirty years. With great talent he ran a weekly program called "Ibn El-Rafidain" (the son of Aram Naharayim). In his broadcasts in Arabic, he reached out to the hearts of his listeners, always ending his broadcasts with a political message. An Iraqi security officer testified that "no Iraqis, whether ministers, shanty dwellers, would want to miss his broadcasts. We have no one who could compete with him, or imitate his style and his art of discourse". He adapted a very unique style and stuck to it. He adopted an inoffensive style and refrained from insults. He usually followed his weekly political message with anecdotes of wisdom. In 1977, Zaki El Jaber, the Iraqi Minister of Information, who was a professor of communications at Baghdad University, described Ibn El-Rafidain's broadcasts as "nails driven into one's head". His skill was not superficial or coincidental. He lived and grew up in a Muslim neighborhood, and was a childhood friend of Abdul Karim Qasim, who later became Head of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of Iraq. Qasim was an orphan who found in Salman a friend and a comrade in whose house he was a frequent guest. Salman's famous anecdotes were collected and published in Arabic and are now being translated into Hebrew and published. Salman was a man of principles. He really cared about people. He was worried by the negative manifestations in Israeli Society and pained by the lack of any dialogue with the Arab countries. It is a pity that since the 1980's his skills and talents were not exploited. He brought up his children to honor their principles, to be humble and always encouraged them to reach for high academic achievements. He loved his family, who returned his love and dedication. His wife, Marcel never left him in his old age and looked after and took care of him until his last moment. May God bless his soul. Mordechai Ben-Porat
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