Religious Iraq: Not Everyone is a Mohammedan

Ad Orientem had an exploration yesterday of the state of Christianity, and the Eastern Catholic churches in particular, in Iraq. Worth a visit.

There is a Jewish community in Baghdad also, and has been at least since 597 B.C. But apparently not for much longer. This article tells some of the story. A sample:

The rallying cry of centuries of Jews is a fading echo this Passover in Baghdad, among a disappearing, dispirited remnant of an ancient and important Jewish community.

"Somebody used to know how to make seder' the traditional Passover dinner "but not me,' a sad young woman, at 37 one of the youngest Iraqi Jews in Baghdad, said Thursday, first day of the seven-day holiday commemorating the Jews' flight to freedom from Egypt.

. . . . . .

"I'm alone. I'm afraid. I can't say I'm Jewish,' she said, and yet she also can't envision living in Israel. When she took fright at a journalist's Iraqi driver, imagining him a government security man, she suddenly began to weep.

"I want my prayers back!' she said.

The rest of the article is here.