Yosef Meir
This was perhaps the only neighborhood in Baghdad's old quarter that was entirely Jewish. I can hardly remember house, a shop or other place that was not Jewish. The neighborhood had no main street, like the Taht al-Takya or the Qambar Ali districts.
Let me begin with a tour from the end of Hanun Market at the intersection of lanes known as Abu al-Saad. I describe this crossroads first. The continuation of Hanun Market was al-Qishil street; to the left of the intersection was a narrow twisting lane leading to Ghazi street. Al-Tawrat began on the left of the intersection. At the right-hand entrance was a short, wide alley, numbered 137. On the right-hand corner stood Beit Zilkha religious school (1), while on the left-hand corner was the Sehayik family house (2), which served as the home of the HeHalutz movement in 1943-1944; entry into it was from al-Qishil street. Beyond Beit Zilkha school was the Great Synagogue (3), which according to tradition was built at the time of Yehoyachin, king of Judaea. Opposite Beit Zilkha was the Laura Kaddoorie Alliance Girls' School (4). Next to it stood the Jewish Institute for the Blind (5).
The end of this short lane met al-Tawrat lane, which also bore the number 137. Exactly on the junction stood the rear entry of the Alliance School for Boys (6). A left turn led to al-Shorja Market. Turning right, one found on the left side of the lane, close by the entry to the Alliance Boys' School Synagogue, the Talmud Torah School (7), and opposite it, on the right, the Menashe Salih Boys' Primary School (8). The continuation of the lane led to the Chicken Market.
About 20 meters from the Talmud Torah School there was a fork. Entering the fork, to one's right one came upon a large building (9), housing the al-Salam private Jewish school from 1934 to 1942. Just beyond it was Aqid Bahar lane, on which stood three Jewish schools: Masudah Silman Boys' School (10), Rahel Shahmoon Boys' School (11), and Noam and Tova Nuriel Girls' School (12).
Omitting Aqid Bahar, and continuing further and to the right, one entered a cul-de-sac. The first house on it was the home of the Parizat family (13). Beside this lane was Yehezkel Abu al-Anba's shop (14), where hardly a single pupil in the vicinity did not buy samun and anba. Some distance away, on the left, was Fattal's bookshop (15). Almost facing this shop was the entrance to a lane leading to the Salih Daniel nursery school and to Taht al-Takya. Next to Fattal's shop was the main entrance to the Alliance Boys' School (16). Incidentally, the lane where this entrance was carried the number 138. Opposite the Alliance School's main entrance, on the right-hand side of the lane, was a small alley ending in a cul-de-sac on which was the community pharmacy (17). Beside it stood the home of the Shumail al-Mjalid's (Shemueli) family (18). Shumail specialized in producing balanjo exercise books, and in his house he kept a primitive machine for printing lines. This alley curved at the end and narrowed, and merged with al-Shorja Market.
At the beginning of the curve stood the home of the Jewish officer Simon, who was a quartermaster lieutenant-colonel in the Iraqi Air Force (19). Annually, with the start of the school year, a bazaar was held on the section of the street between the shops of Yehezkel Abu al-Anba and Fattal, where used textbooks were bought, sold and exchanged.