Shlomo Moriel
In the first half of the twentieth century, until the great emigration to Israel, Iraq was still an agrarian country whose agriculture and economy were both failures.
The banks that were established were British and along side them the Jewish "banks" (sarrafs) operated. The first Arab bank, the Rafiden Bank, was established only during the period of the Second World War.
Import and Export was concentrated for the most part in the hands of British companies. In the Iraqi economy there was practically no need for accountants. With the exception of the British banks and a few corporations there was no need to publish balance sheets. The local commercial organizations which were for the most part controlled by the Jews, were private concerns or partnerships, usually among families which had no need for balance sheets. The major activity of the Jews was in wholesale or retail commerce, labor (there was practically no industry) and finances.
In the field of finance, the importance of the Jewish sarrafs was the outstanding feature as they supplied credit to most of the population (only the owners of very large businesses went to the banks). However most of the Jews who worked in finance were employed as clerks: in British firms; the oil companies; the ports authority; the railroads; government offices and anyplace where management was needed.
Above all in the banks most of the clerks were Jews, with the exception of the Refiden bank which employed only few Jews in senior positions. Also in the commercial office, the majority of the workers were Jews. What training did the Jews have that enabled them to fill such a major role in the management and financial world? In fact, their financial education was limited. At the beginning of the century most of the Jewish traders wrote letters in Arabic using Hebrew letters and in this manner kept their accounts as well. But the Jews were very adaptable and advanced much more rapidly than the general, inept population. The Jewish schools were teaching, in an orderly manner languages such as English and French and therefore graduates of Alliance and Shamash were welcomed by British companies as employees.
And yet the profession of Accounting ("blanjou") was required mainly by the very big wholesalers and was taught only by private teachers. The students came mostly from the families of the very large traders and they ran, in effect the family business. In cases of partnerships between businessmen who were not related, they preferred to give this function to a special clerk who they called the "Katib". And thus despite the fact that the financial training of the Jews was not great they were the dominant factor in all phases of commerce and finance since they were still much better than the general population as they had a tradition of dealing in business and since they exhibited the ability to learn and adapt to various needs. The first time that a school for commerce and business administration was opened for the Jews of Iraq was in 1946, and its opening as a night school within the framework of the Shamash school was strictly by chance. During this period I was friendly with the late Murad Michael, principal of the Shamash school. In one of our conversations I mentioned the problems of the young Jews who had not been accepted to the institutes of higher learning in Iraq, and that it was too bad that there time was being wasted. I suggested that some sort of program of learning be established for them to learn something. Murad Michael got very enthusiastic and said "let's teach them 'blanjou'". However, I felt that it would be preferable to open a night school that would teach economics including: correspondence; short hand; commercial law, commercial account and other subjects. Murad Michael accepted the idea.
We had little difficulty obtaining a government license as we were operating within the framework of the Shamash school. Despite this the educational committee of the congregation approved the framework only after I explained to a member of the community, Dr. Ezra Korin that the studies in the school would be conducted according to the standards of schools of Economics in England.
I taught in the school for two years which was meant to teach 35 students and which in the end had 70. The curriculum was structured in accordance with that of The Chamber of Commerce in London and the school of economics so that many of the graduates could continue to study in England or continue their studies on an external basis by means of the British Council. The school was a great success and it compelled the Iraqi government to institute the establishment of a similar institution to teach economics and commerce. And so I was asked by the government to establish the first economic institute in Iraq. Among its students may be found government officials from the finance ministry, the central bank and others. More than twenty Jews were accepted by the Institute to study in the hope that they would help to draw more students. At the same time the study of accoumting was an impossible task for the Moslem students. I recall that despite the considerable efforts that I invested while teaching at the Institute I was unable to overcome the psychological barrier of the Moslem students. When they heard an economic term or especially in the study of "Blanjou" they would say "this is a Jewish matter" and were not able to handle it. I was afraid that if many of them failed their examinations my situation would not be good. Therefore, in the end I was forced to alter all of their grades so that they could pass and complete the year of learning.
In the fifties, when the Olim from Iraq with an economic background arrived here, they found a more developed society and people who were better trained than they were and so, despite the fact that they had the foundation, they had to work very hard to integrate into the local financial community and to achieve their potential.
Many of those young students who studied at the "Shamash" night school as well as at the Institute, completed their studies after coming to Israel.
They have become the clerks in the banking and insurance industries, clerks at the tax department, in the office of the State Controller and other offices, among them are a number of accountants who continued to learn business administration.