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The Jewish calendar is filled with dates, both religious and secular, which attest to important occasions and events in Jewish history. Although the exile to the wider Middle East outside the Land of Israel, which began in Babylon more than 2,500 years ago, was the longest, it is not widely studied. And it is certainly the least celebrated in every area.
In 2014, the State of Israel passed a law to officially make November 30 a day to commemorate the departure and expulsion of Jews from Arab countries and Iran, a date now marked by Jewish communities around the world. However, there remain many issues relating to Jews from Arab countries that few other Jewish communities face.
In 2017, Sass Peress, a Canadian of Jewish-Iraqi descent, embarked on a journey of discovery to find his grandfather’s grave in Sadr City, Baghdad. With the help of local Muslims, he began to unearth his family’s graves, but he also realized the abject abandonment in Jewish cemeteries in Iraq, some of which had been destroyed.
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Others have seen that Jewish cemeteries across the Middle East and North Africa have been demolished, like in Tripoli for a hotel, or in terrible condition. Aside from Morocco, almost all of them were inaccessible to Jews.
In 2018, Sass initiated a process that led to a global moment of unity and remembrance, where an annual Kaddish (the mourners’ prayer) and an Azkara (a prayer of mourners) were recited together in synagogues around the world. commemorative) remembrance for Jews whose family members are buried in cemeteries no longer accessible in Arab countries.
During the first year 12 communities participated; last year, participation was extended to more than 50 communities on four continents.
This year, we ask synagogues and other Jewish institutions from all backgrounds to say these prayers on the Shabbat closest to the commemoration day of November 28, in remembrance and solidarity with the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa who cannot say them. in the presence of their deceased family members.
Organizations representing millions of Jews – in communities across the religious spectrum and around the world – have already signed up. Thousands of people have already downloaded the prayer, written by Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the UK’s S&P Sephardi Community, to be recited in synagogues, Zoom services or individually, due to restrictions on public prayer imposed following the pandemic of coronavirus.
In Judaism, we must understand and learn through rituals. Although reciting the Kaddish and Azkara prayers is largely a religious undertaking, it is so much more. It is about creating awareness of the history and plight of our people who still suffer from the ramifications of the exodus of Jews from Arab countries in the 20th century.
Entire communities of nearly 1 million Jews, who had lived in these areas for millennia, were emptied within a few decades, with very little of their presence or existence remaining. Thanks to organizations like Diarna, the Geo-Museum of Jewish Life in North Africa and the Middle East, many of us can see our former homes and communities, albeit virtually.
The few who manage to see them in person, such as the Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi, risk their life and physical safety. Gerbi returned to see his family’s synagogue in Tripoli 44 years after their escape, and almost paid for it with his life. While he was there to briefly clean out the prayer hall and say some prayers, angry crowds formed around him.
“They told me that if I don’t leave now, they will come and kill me because they don’t want Jews here,” said Gerbi, who was taken away by security guards.
This is the sad reality for many of us, although we hope that the Abraham Accords can usher in a new era of rapprochement between Jews and Arabs in the region. However, greater understanding, awareness and demonstrations of solidarity within the Jewish world are required before we are able to push these issues with our neighbors.
For many years, the history and exodus of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa was barely recognized or remembered by Jewish institutions, synagogues, schools and organizations in Israel and around the world. While most of the Jews in Israel and about 1 million Jews in the diaspora are from the Middle East and North Africa, a greater sense of awareness of the history, culture and tradition of these communities is needed.
Unlike the case of other Jewish tragedies, there is no common demonstration of religious solidarity for the exodus and expulsion of Jews from Arab countries.
It is vital, therefore, that this be a widely recognized initiative to say these prayers annually in synagogues and Jewish institutions in Israel and around the world. Even in communities where there are few Jews in the Middle East and North Africa, these prayers and a display of religious solidarity are vital to breaking down the barriers between our different communities.
To sign up and download the prayer, go to KaddishInitiative.com.PJC
David Dangoor, a businessman and philanthropist, is a board member of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq (WOJI) and honorary president of the Association of Jewish Academics from Iraq.
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