'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎224v] (453/862)

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PEOPLE
Jews
The origin of the Jews of the Captivity and the later development
of the Jewish colony in Iraq has already been explained (pp. 232,247).
Orthodox rabbinical Judaism was developed in Mesopotamia rather
than Palestine in Parthian and Sassanid times, and the Mesopotamian
Talmud was its greatest literary product. The Iraqi Jews of to-day
are the heirs of this tradition and strictly maintain their ancient
customs and beliefs. Two great shrines, the tomb of Ezekiel at Kill
and the so-called tomb of Ezra at Azair, 1 are links with the times of
the Captivity. The strictest sect of Jews in Iraq was the Karaite, the
‘sons of the writing’, whose general strictness still marks Iraqi
Judaism.
Though the Jews are mostly urban in habitat they are also found
scattered through the countryside particularly in the larger villages
(p. 382). Their greatest colonies are at Baghdad and Basra; in remote
corners of Kurdistan there are hamlets of agricultural Jews who speak
Syriac and may be direct descendants of the Jewish converts of the
Parthian period (p. 233). Like the urban Christians, Jews play a
great part in the economic life of Iraq as traders and money-lenders.
The well-known English family of the Sassoons is a branch of
a wealthy house of Baghdadi Jews. The organization of the Jewish
colony has been modernized, and the picturesque Prince of the
Captivity replaced by an elected President, Chief Rabbi, and various
councils (p. 396). Arabic is their normal spoken language, though
the modern revival of Hebrew is gaining some ground.
Christians
The Christian communities of Iraq survive from the Byzantine age.
They have persistently clung to their traditional faith despite the
enticements of Islam, political repression, and occasional persecution.
Their division into churches reflects the schisms of the fifth and
sixth centuries a.d., particularly the monophysite doctrine of the
indivisibility of the nature of Christ and the opposed Nestorian belief
in the dual nature. But these ancient philosophic distinctions are
almost forgotten to-day, and the real differences between the churches
are in customs and liturgies, the churches being minute nations rather
than congregations. Though there is a large urban Christian com
munity at Baghdad and a smaller colony at Basra, the majority of the
1 Azair was beneath the lagoon, if not under open sea, in Ezra’s day; see
fig. 14, iii-iv. The building is a very much later construction (photo. 15).