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The Jewish people have been living in the Middle East for over three thousand years. As Jews, we take pride in being the Middle East’s oldest, existing minority group.
Wherever we lived, from Morocco to Iran, we made enormous contributions. Sasson Heskel, a Baghdadi Jew, was Iraq’s Finance Minister in the 1930s. Mourad Bey helped draft the Egyptian constitution in the 1920s. And Layla Murad, the great diva of Arabic music and film, was also an Egyptian Jew – the Middle East’s Barbara Streisand. We cherish the sweeter memories from periods of co-existence.
But, for all our success, we encountered racism and oppression that ultimately drove us out. Jewish community centers were bombed, family members thrown in jail on trumped-up charges, and innocent people lynched before cheering crowds. Arab governments froze bank accounts and allowed Jews to leave with just one suitcase.
Though the circumstances of the exodus differed from country-to-country, though some left because of intimidation while others through explicit expulsion, the pain and anguish of being uprooted from the only homeland these Jews ever knew was the same.
The scars of the past can heal. But justice can only be achieved when peoples and governments in the Middle East recognize the plight of the forgotten million refugees. This year, we pray for the day when justice will be achieved for the Jews of the Middle East, and all peoples of the region will live together in peace and harmony.
The collage picture above is courtesy of the
Last Jews of Libya
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