Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
No.16, Spring  2008


 

Victor Reuveni and Avner Meiri (Canada):

FRANK INI SCHOOL REUNION IN MONTREAL

 

Frank Ini School, Baghdad

In July 2006 a reunion of the Frank Ini School in Baghdad was held in Montreal. The large number of participants (about 350) surprised the organizers. Graduates came from all over the world: The United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. The number of people who came from Israel was disappointingly small: less than ten.

This was certainly one of the most exciting reunions ever held. Some of those who came met schoolmates for the first time after forty years. Small wonder, then, that tears were seen in many people’s eyes.

The reunion lasted for three days. The first meeting, a kind of opening ceremony, took place on Sabbath eve at the Hilton in the center of town. On the next day, in the waning hours of the Sabbath, we all met again at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, where Iraqi Jews residing in Montreal have been praying for many years.

The program consisted of music, western and oriental dancing, and of course plenty of Iraqi dishes, especially the famous “tebit”, the wonderful Iraqi cholent, prepared by Ibtisam Shasha-Gabbai and her sister Salma. No fewer than thirty-four chickens were placed on the tables. Many of those present enthusiastically exclaimed, perhaps under the influence of the successful reunion, that they had never eaten such good “tebit”.

The master-of-ceremonies for the reunion was Mr. Raymond Fattal. The opening speaker was Mr. David Gabbai, President of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue. Linda Menuhin read a poem she had written expressly for the reunion, in colloquial Arabic. The audience went wild with laughter and gave her an enthusiastic ovation. The women at the reunion were in a particularly good mood, and led the activities, not just for the cooking, but the dancing and other activities as well.

The evening’s surprise event was an interesting lecture given by Mr. Edwin Shuker, who told of his bold visit to Baghdad. He took pictures in all the neighborhoods where Jews used to live and of course also visited the only Synagogue left in the city, the Meir Tweig Synagogue.

Later on this very special and enjoyable evening we saw slides of photographs taken during the1950s and 1960s at the Frank Ini School.

On the last day of the reunion, Sunday, many alumni traveled to the Tremblant Mountains, about an hour-and-a-half from Montreal, a beautiful vacation spot. The spring weather and the beautiful countryside, with the nearby lake and village, made the outing very pleasurable.

Small wonder, then, that when the time came to say farewell on the next day, many of us were sad. The only thing which stopped the tears was the hope that in a few years’ time another such reunion would take place.