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



 

  From the Chaiman:

DEAR READERS

Visitors to the Center these days could well observe the building operations and the change in its external appearance.

Or-Yehuda's Municipality is supporting the building operations, involving the Mifal Happayis lottery, and on completion, the upper floor will be ready to take its final form, which will include four workshop-classrooms.

We are bound by agreements to eleven donors, who expect that in the following year we will finally set up exhibits in memory of their loved ones.

 

The donators of the exhibits are:

Saleh Shohet: The Jewish Leadership in Babylon.

Oded Halahmy: Music exhibit.  

Haninah, Alfred and James Shasha: Folk Medicine.  

George Elias: A workshop.  

Reuben and Naima Hawa: Communities in Iraq.  

Grace and Jacob Ballas: Iraqi Jewry in the Far East.  

Menashe Ben Hayim: The Zionism and Aliya.  

Georgette Meir: Wedding Suite.  

Eithan Akerib: Instruction room  

Rina & Yoel Sarraf: Classroom.  

Ezra & Salim Zilkha: Classroom and Studio.  

 

Now we are concentrating on:  

a.  The design for the exhibits to be displayed in the Museum, after we have completed our researches on them.  

b.  The erection of a three-level “tower” over a building area of 1,100 sq.m. This will contain a hall, which will exhibit the works of painters, sculptors, etc. (on an area of 160 square meters) including classrooms, cafeteria and offices for the staff,  researchers and curators.  The “tower” will be named after a generous donor whose name will be released in good time.

 

I must point out that the donations intended for the building and exhibit design have been deposited in the bank and will be used solely for this purpose.

There exists an absolute, strict separation between these donations and the current budget. The budget has suffered badly from cuts in government spending, which has compelled us to initiate cuts in our own budget.  

The Allies: USA and Britain undertook the humanitarian campaign of liberating the Iraqi people, the Gulf States and the Middle East, from the terror of the dictator Saddam Hussein and the danger he posed to the stability of the legion. 

During the war, the Babylonian Heritage Center became almost an epicenter of information tuned into about fifteen local and international television stations. A good many journalists and radio stations flocked to the Center to hear from a first-hand source about the Iraqi Jews in Israel and the Diaspora, their reaction to the war and the history of Babylonian Jewry. We did our very best to provide authentic and immediate information.

  

Regarding the last of Jews in Iraq who remained there, we had to face a few challenges: 

A. To save the Judaica items, hundreds of years old, that remained in Iraq.  

B. To improve the miserable conditions of the community members and respond to their aspirations. 

C. The Restoration of the Prophet’s tombs, Jewish cemeteries and tombs of the martyrs. 

We are now powerless to deal with these challenging issues, and are sparing no effort to recruit governments and Jewish organizations that could lead to success in these very same fields.

  

Execution of Wills:  

I owe a word of gratitude to those deceased who bequeathed to the Center part of their estate, and those living amongst us, who included the Center in their Wills.  I also wish to extend my thanks to their lawyers and accountants.  

Last year, we received a donation from the estate of the late Mrs. Sylvia Katan and another one from the estate of the late Farha and Hayim Nathaniel.

 

Commemorators applications:  

We have been receiving a flow of applications from people requesting to commemorate their loved ones. If they could all be realized, we may be able to complete the planned building projects, including the interior design of the planned halls; thus the Babylonian Jewish Community in Israel and worldwide will witness a magnificent monument of creativity, which can only enhance the prestigious name of the most ancient of the exiled communities of the Jewish people. - see also the rear cover.

  

Mordechai Ben-Porat

Chairman of the Center