Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
No.13, Summer 2001



 

  From the Chaiman:

PERSONAL EXAMPLE
I recently participated in a ceremony to mark an impressive event - the inauguration of the Synagogue in Haroeh Street, Ramat Gan,in the name of the late Kadourie Muallem, father of Mr. Victor Janguiz of London.

Mr. David Petel, a former Member of the Knesset, launched the building of the Synagogue. He was allocated a plan for this purpose, by the municipality of Ramat Gan, during the term of Uri Amit's service as Mayor.


Building the upper floorof the
Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center

Mr. Petel put great efforts into the building of the Synagogue; the Municipality of Ramat-Gan headed by Mr. Zvi Barr, provided financial support, although this subsequently proved to be inadequate.

This was when Mr. Janguiz decided to volunteer to complete the building himself. He contributed about $700,000 for this purpose. It is a well-built structure: the walls and floors are covered with marble.

It should be mentioned that some of the Babylonian Jews from Iraq and the Far East have excelled themselves in establishing educational and medical centers, which are considered very fine within Middle-East community circles.

However, not all the Jews who left Iraq at the end of the forties and beginning of the fifties, and settled in Israel and the western countries, continued their ancestor's tradition in establishing medical and cultural centers, nor have they offered much assistance, notwithstanding the fact that some of them are quite well off financially.

Nevertheless, I must say that some did follow this blessed tradition, people like David Sala, the Khalastchy Family, Jack Dallal, Jacob Balas, George Elias, Shalom Nathan and George Shasha. Now the name of Mr. Janguiz can be added to the list. I mentioned the pioneers who have donated considerable sums, such as Mr. Shasha, who contributed 26 million dollars to the Rabin Hospital. None of these distinguished donors expected to receive any reward from the Israeli authorities. They did it in order to benefit Israel and the Babylonian Jews who now number over a quarter of a million souls and comprise the fourth largest Jewish community in Israel.

The question now being asked is, why are there so few of them?

I once put this to the late David Sala. His reply was interesting: the Iraqi Jews were hoping to avoid hardship and oppression from Muslim hands, and held on to their wealth which could have come in useful later on to bribe policemen, judges and men of power in Iraq, for them to survive.
Fortunately and to our satisfaction, this state of affairs ceases to exist.
As a man who has worked all his adult life for the benefit of the public, often at great danger to himself, I fail to understand what wealth ought to achieve. I cannot stand in for a person who has succeeded in accumulating wealth by his own ability and with the blessings of the Almighty. However, I believe, and perhaps naively so, that the best legacy a person can leave behind, are his good name, his good deeds and the finest education for his children. All else is futile. I know of some cases where wealthy people have passed away and left enormous fortunes to their children, which proved to be a curse and the source of bitter disputes.

Victor Janguiz decided that his name and the memory of his parents are most precious to him. We salute him. May his generosity and philanthropy increase.

Mordechay ben Porat