Dr Zvi Yehuda, Research Institute Director

From its establishment at the end of 1977 until today the Institute has operated in the following areas:
1. Research on the history and culture of Babylonian Jewry. The Institute has encouraged scholars in Israel and abroad to undertake studies on subjects drawn from the history and culture of Babylonian Jewry and has assisted them in accomplishing these studies.
2. Publication of research on Babylonian Jewry. So far, 18 monographs and collections of studies have been published, and records and video and audio cassettes have been issued.
3. Publication of the scholarly Journal Babylonian Jewry in Hebrew and English.
4. The creation of a research infrastructure, including a library with about 10,000 book titles, articles, and press cuttings on the Jews of Iraq.
5. The creation of a documentation archive, including original and photocopied documents from archives in Israel and abroad. The aim is to concentrate at the Institute all existing documentary material on Babylonian Jewry (original or photocopied). The original documentation transferred to the Institute includes the archive of the Babylonian Community Committee in Jerusalem and the archive of the Iraqi Immigrants Society named for Mr David Petel.
6. The creation of an ethnographic collection, containing jewelery, amulets, textiles, Judaica, and a range of objects from the material culture of Babylonian Jewry.
7. Assembly of a picture collection unique in the world, with about 10000 pictures on Iraqi Jewry in particular and Iraq in general.
8. The creation of an archive for oral documentation, containing about 1000 recordings of elders of the Iraqi communities on all areas of life: community, education, economy, Zionist activity, demography, immigration to Israel, Europe, America and Australia, and the like.
9. Creation of a music documentation archive, with recordings of secular songs and sacred poems of Babylonian Jewry, and Bible readings in the cantillation of the Jews of Babylon.
10. Creation of video documentation archive, with recording of films from Iraq, Israel and the Diaspora.
These collections, which record the heritage of Babylonian Jewry before the disappearance of the generation possessing these cultural and historical assets, will constitute a sound basis for the conduct of research on this ancient community for future generations. The Institute is also in computerizing these collections.
11. Holding conferences and study days with the participation of lecturers from various areas in the life of the Jews of Babylon, and in the presence of an audience that frequently fills the auditorium of the Center.
12. Conducting specific research for exhibitions at the Babylonian Jewry Museum, which operates in the framework of the Center, and holding refresher courses for teachers.
13. Maintenance of ties with research institutes and universities in Israel and abroad.

The Institute's activity is steadily expanding with the enlargement of the missions it assumes. Partners in this work, apart from Mr Mordechai Ben-Porat, Chairman of the Management Committee, and Mr Yigal Loushi, the Managing Director, who provide spiritual and material encouragement, are the members of the Academic Council, in particular the Chairman, Prof. Shmuel Moreh, and the Academic Director, Prof Yitzhak Avishur. The day-to-day work is done by a handful of workers, who perform the manifold tasks of locating the material, and arranging, preserving, and cataloguing it: the curator, Mrs Idit Pinhas and her assistant Ms Orli Baher; the librarian Mr Yaakov Zamir; and research assistant Ms Rachel Silko.