BASED ON THE LEFT REFERANCE PHOTO.
ABOVE LEFT IS A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN THE YEAR 1919, THE FAMILY OF ELIAHOU ROUBEN.
BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT :- EZRA, MEIR, HAYAWEE AND NAIM SAWDAYEE.
MIDDLE ROW:- AZIZA SAWDAYEE, ELIAHU ROUBEN AND HIS SECOND WIFE AMAM.
SITTING :- NADJI SAWDAYEE, NAZIMA LEVY AND EDWARD SAWDAYEE.
MY COUSIN MAX SAWDAYEE, BEFORE ESCAPING FROM BAGHDAD IN JUNE 1970 TOGETHER WITH HIS FAMILY, VISITED THE HOUSE OF ELIAHOU ROUBEN.
THIS IS A PARAGRAPH FROM HIS BOOK, " ALL WAITING TO BE HANGED " , REGARDING HIS IMPRESSIONS :-
MY SOUL-SEARCHING STROLL DIRECTS ME TO MY OLD HOUSE IN THE NARROW, TORTUOUS TORAT STREET ( TORAH ) STREET, WHERE I PASSED MY FIRST FOURTEEN YEARS, THE HAPPIEST OF MY LIFE. IT MAKES ME SMILE WHEN I REMEMBER HOW NOT FEWER THAN SIX FAMILIES LIVED THERE, ALL FORMING ONE BIG TRIBE. THIRTY TO THIRTY-FIVE SOULS PEOPLED THIS LARGE HOUSE IN THOSE TIMES, THEIR AGES RANGING FROM NINETY-FIVE YEARS DOWN TO A FEW DAYS OR WEEKS - I MEAN FROM OLD, SWEET GREAT GRAND MOTHER TO NEWLY BORN, ALWAYS COMING, BABIES ! WHY, WE THE CHILDREN MADE A FULL SCHOOL CLASS OF OUR OWN IN THAT BLESSED HOUSE OF OURS ! IT IS STRANGE HOW THE BUILDING IS NOW UTTERLY DESOLATE, DEMOLISHED IN PART, AND ABSOLUTELY UNINHABITED. I LOOK AT IT AND SMILE WITH REGRET WHEN A FLASH CALLS BACK TO MY MIND HOW WE USED TO PLAY ALL SORTS OF GAMES IN THE LARGE COURT OF THE HOUSE: FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, TENNIS, HIDE-AND-SEEK, RENDEZ-VOUS, AND SEVERAL OTHERS.
" THE HISTTORY OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF IRAQ DATES BACK TO THE FIRST BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY, THAT IS , TO THE YEAR 597 B.C., WHEN THE JEWS WERE DEPORTED TO BABYLON BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR FROM THEIR CONQUERED HOMELAND, WHICH IN THE CENTURIES BECAME KNOWN AS PALESTINE. "
BETWEEN THE YEAR 1950-1952, 105 THOUSAND JEWS LEFT IRAQ WITH A KNAPSACK, LEAVING BEHIND ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS, JUST TO SAVE THEMSELVES FROM THE PERSECUTION OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT OF THE TIME. TEN THOUSAND MORE LEFT IN THE YEAR 1970.
NOW " 2003" THERE ARE LESS THAN FORTY JEWS LEFT IN ALL IRAQ.