The opening of this exhibition took place on 18 June 1996 at the Babylonian Jewry Museum, through the generosity of THOMAS and VICTORIA (nee Sehayik) MURAD of San Francisco, California. The exhibit was designed by Lavih Serfati. The centerpiece of the display, as of the festival, is the succah, just as it was in the houses of Jews throughout Iraq. Its supports are of wood, its curtains are of white cotton worked in broderie anglaise; wooden benches line the succah, covered with white embroidered cloth and decorated with pillows. The chair of the Prophet Elijah, ornamented with rich fabric, was placed in the right-hand corner of the succah. On it were set a rose water bottle, an ethrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), and prayer books. The fruits of the season were hung from the ceiling: pomegranates and citrus fruit. Similarly, it was customary to suspend a Sabbath lamp (qirayi) and a qandil to light a candle for the soul of the "Ushpizin" (Divine Guests) of that day. The succah in Babylonian Jewry was set up in the open inner courtyard of the house; its height reached the level of the second storey, a fact that attests to its large dimensions. There were no significant differences among the succot at the houses of the Jews in Iraq, and in this sense the archetype of the succa may be discerned. Beside the reconstructed succah, on display are silver objects of Judaica that were used by the Jews of Babylonia on the festival, pictures, and a reconstruction of the "she'iriyi", which I will explain below. A special object worthy of note is the silver ethrog case, decorated with a Star of David symbol. The ethrog case was not common in Babylonia, and it is probably late. The Jews used to wrap the ethrog in flax threads, and place it, as mentioned on Elijah's chair. This object was donated by Ezra and Eveline Doron (a picture of the ethrog case was published in Nehardea-Hebrew no. 12). Next to the ethrog case is displayed a silver rose water bottle (qumqum), highly typical of those in use by the Jews of Babylonia. It was given by Thomas and Victoria Murad, the donors of the exhibition.
On the night of Hoshana Rabba the men used to stay up all night to study the book Qeriay Mo'ed, the order of reading that night. The women likewise would remain awake all night, to serve the men hot drinks and offer them blessing food. It is noteworthy that the special beverage of that night was mighli, made of sugar, ginger, and "hel" boiled in water. The pungency of the drink helped the men to keep awake. The women, then, used to sit on the second storey of the house, throughout the night, and busy themselves preparing "she'iriyi" (derived from the word for barley). Around a large platter holding a bowl of water and dough, they would roll the dough in their hands to the size of barley. This occupation kept sleep away and allowed them to chatter for many hours.
On the eve of the Shemini Aseret festival they would cook the "she'iriyi" with chicken soup, onions, raisins, tomatoes, and some also with fish. This dish, called "mtabaq" (layers), was served on Shemini Aseret outside the succah. An original picture of women preparing "she'iriyi" does not exist in the Museum picture archive, so we reconstructed this scene: Women dressed in the costume of the period (the 1930s), seated around a large platter ("siniyi"), rolling the dough in their hands to the size of barley.
Another picture we have reconstructed is that of Simhat Torah. We assembled all the Torah scroll cases in the Museum collection and placed them in the niche in the Ark inside the reconstructed synagogue.
There are several pictures in the Museum collection of families sitting in the succah. We chose to display an interesting picture which contains several important items. In the picture one may see a succah; on the right stands Elijah's chair, covered in an embroidered fabric, while on the left is a table covered with an embroidered table cloth. In the center of the picture sits Rabbi Shim'on David Mordechai, wearing traditional clothes, and reading. The picture is from 1941 (about a year before the Rabbi's death), and it was donated in memory of Abraham Hakham Shim'on.