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The Socio-Economic Patterns of Iraqi Jewry in the Twentieth Century

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The Socio-Economic Patterns of Iraqi Jewry in the Twentieth Century THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC PATTERNS OF IRAQI JEWRY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Moshe Gat The majority of the Jews of Iraq in the nineteenthand twentieth centurieslived in threemajor cities:Basra, Baghdad andMosul. In thefirst half of thenineteenth century a process ofmodernization began in the Jewishcommunity, paralleling thepolicy ofWesternization and modern ization in theOttoman Empire, as reflectedin theTanzimet. The Jewish a community was declared a millet, religious community enjoying internal autonomy in religion and education. Like other minorities within the empire,the Jewish community was granted equal rightsand securityof life and property. The recognition of the Jewish communityas a millet affected its reorganization. The hakham bashi, elected by the 80-member General Council, served as the head of the community, though actually, absolute control was in the hands of a narrow class ofmerchants, bankers, and rich landowners. Economically, the Jews engaged inforeign and domestic trade areas came and in banking, two which they to dominate. The mid-nineteenthcentury marked the beginning of development, progress,and prosperitywithin theJewish community, which was reflected both ingrowing economicaffluence and themodernization of education. The introductionof modern education, in which theJews preceded the a new era Muslim society around them, inaugurated offar-reaching change in thecommunity life. The Jewsof Iraq were not characterizedby any significantrifts, splits, or polarization. They succeeded inmaintaining their religious framework and their collective and communal uniqueness. JewishPolitical Studies Review 10:1-2 (Spring 1998) 19 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:20:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 20 Moshe Gat In a report on Iraqi Jewry prepared in 1910 by Harun Da'ud Shohet, translator in the British Consulate in Baghdad, Shohet wrote:1 The Jewish community at Baghdad is, after that of Salonica, the most numerous, important, and prosperous in Turkey....The are in Jews particularly interested trade. They have literally nor monopolized the local trade, and neither Muhammadans Christians can compete with them. Even the few leading Muham madan merchants owe their prosperity to the capable and indus trious Jews whom they have for years employed as clerks. The Jews are very ambitious, hard-working, capable, and economi are cal. They are also very cunning, timid, and tactful....They on are becoming richer day by day....The Jews the whole practical people; their ideal is to work hard and make money. The report was written several decades after the Jewish commu on a a nity had embarked process of modernization and awakening, process which was to come to an end exactly four decades later, with the dissolution of the Iraqi diaspora community in the 1950s. The a a report describes community which, after long period of physical and spiritual decline, had become one of the wealthiest and eco nomically powerful of the Jewish communities in the Arab world. It portrays a dynamic and active community, which enjoyed prosper a ity and extensive contacts with the outside world, community which played a dominant role in Iraqi trade and commercial life. was The economic awakening of the Jewish community accom panied by a spiritual awakening, which began in the 1830s. Until then, the children of the community had studied in private heders, where learning was quite limited and children of different ages all In ? studied together. 1840, Yeshivat Bet Zilcha the first yeshiva in ? was Iraq since the thirteenth century established by Yehezkel ben a Reuben Menashe, wealthy Jew. He appointed Hakham Abdallah Somech, a leading Baghdad rabbi, as head of the yeshiva. In 1908 was another yeshiva established by Meir Eliahu. These two institu were tions trained rabbis who to serve not only the Jewish commu nities in Iraq, but also in Iran, India and the Far East.2 The on report prepared by Harun Da'ud Shohet focused solely the in an Jewish community Baghdad. He noted that according to census adjusted conducted by the authorities two years previously (1908), the Jewish community numbered some 35,000 persons. An other a estimate cites figure of 50,000. Reports by the Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Anglo-Jewish Association cite a figure a census of 45,000. No record remains of conducted in Iraq in 1908. This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:20:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Socio-EconomicPatterns of Iraqi Jewry in theTwentieth Century 21 Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenti were eth, there various estimates of the number of Jews living in ? Baghdad. These estimates whether by such travelers as Benjamin or or or the Second Kastilman, by people who lived sojourned in Iraq ? were not always in agreement.3 However, we can assume that the Jewish community of Baghdad on the eve of World War I numbered between 40,000 and 50,000. These assessments refer, of course, to Baghdad alone. We have on no figures other areas in Iraq where Jews lived. The historian Haim Cohen estimates that on the eve of World War I there were some ? 80,000 Jews living in Iraq 50,000 in Baghdad and an addi tional 30,000 scattered in dozens of small communities. We find Jewish communities in southern Iraq in such cities as Basra, Hilla, Amara and Kalat Salih; in the center of the country, in Baghdad and ? the surrounding area; and in the north, in Mosul the largest ? northern city Arbil and Kirkuk. What was unique about the Jews in northern Iraq, as opposed to the south and center, was that many lived in towns and rural villages and engaged primarily in agricul ture.4 The Jewish population in Iraq was not static. Jews migrated from the north to the center and the south, and vice versa. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, after the opening of the Suez Canal and the shift of international trade from Haleb-Mosul to Basra, the Jewish population in the latter city began to grow. Jews also began to settle in Amara, founded in 1861, in Kalat Salih, founded in 1870, and in other communities in southern Iraq where Jews had not lived previ ously.5 Thus, to characterize the Jewish community in Iraq, it can be said that most of the Jews lived in three major cities: Mosul in the north, Baghdad in the center, and Basra in the south. Of these three cities, throughout the history of Iraqi Jewry, Baghdad had the largest censuses a Jewish population. Two conducted at 30-year interval confirm this. According to an official 1920 census, the Jewish population or numbered 87,488 out of a total population of 2,849,283, 3.1 percent ? in Amara of the population.6 In southern Iraq Basra, Diwaniya, ? and elsewhere there were close to 17,700 Jews, of whom 5,928 ? lived in Basra alone. In northern Iraq in Arbil, Kirkuk, Mosul and ? ? elsewhere there were 13,835 7,635 inMosul alone. The rest of ? the Jews lived in central Iraq themajority of them, close to 50,000, some almost 57 percent of Iraqi Jews, in Baghdad. Thus, 65,000 Jews ? ? were close to 74 percent of the Jews in Iraq at this time living ? was a in the three major cities Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. This This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:20:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 22 Moshe Gat phenomenon characteristic of Jewish communities throughout the Middle East. no Three decades later, significant changes had occurred in the distribution of the Jewish population. According to the 1947 census, a the Jewish community numbered 118,000 out of total population of 4.5 million, or 2.6 percent of the population. Most of the Jews still lived in the three major cities. The Jewish population in these cities numbered some 98,000, or 83 percent of the Jews in Iraq. The number of Jews in Baghdad had increased by over 50 percent to 77,542. In Basra the number of Jews had risen to 10,537, and inMosul to 10,345. Looking at the increase by region, in the north there had been an increase of about 50 percent in the Jewish population, from 13,835 to 19,755. In contrast, the number of Jews living in the south had an decreased, despite increase of 4,000 in the Jewish population of Basra. The number of Jews in southern Iraq in 1947 was 16,000 as opposed to 17,700 in 1920. The decline in the Jewish population in the was south recorded primarily in such places as Amara, Hilla, and Diwaniya. Of the 10,750 Jews living in the south in 1920, excluding Basra, only 5,473 remained in 1947, the result of negative migration.7 On the eve of the mass emigration to Israel, in mid-1950, the Jewish population numbered roughly 125,000. Two years later, only 6,000 remained, most of them in two major cities, Baghdad and in Basra, with small communities Amara and Diwaniya. Even these communities did not last long, and by the late 1960s or early 1970s most of the Jews had left Iraq. At the beginning of the 1990s, barely 200 Jews remained. All historians agree that the process of modernization within the in Jewish community began the first half of the nineteenth century.8 This process paralleled the policy ofWesternization and moderniza tion in the Ottoman Empire, reflected in the Tanzimet. In two ? decrees Hatt-i Serif Gulhane issued in 1839, and Hatt-i Serif ? in 1856 the Ottoman Humayun Sultan established the principles of securityof lifeand property and equal rights forall subjects of the of empire, regardless religion.
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