Rambam joins Black, 75 years after Farhud

In 1941, as rampaging Nazis murdered Jews in Eastern Europe, 2,000 thousand miles away a reign of terror was unleashed on the Jewish community of Baghdad.

This Shavuos marks the 75th anniversary of the pogrom in Iraq called the Farhud, an Arabic term which means “violent dispossession.”

On June 1–2, 1941, as the Jewish community observed the holiday of Shavuos, a fury was cast upon them by their Arab neighbors. Jews were stripped of their belongings and were beaten in the streets, their homes destroyed and their shops were ransacked. Two-hundred members of the Jewish community were murdered; hundreds more were injured. Jewish communities in other Arab land were similiarly attacked.

The Sephardic community which had lived in relative peace with their Arab neighbors for 2,700 years found itself the victim of hatred and anti-Semitism.

With the founding of Israel in 1948, approximately 850,000 Sephardic Jews faced expulsion from the Arab lands. They were forced to leave virtually penniless, leaving behind homes, businesses and possessions. 27 centuries of continuous Iraqi Jewish life was abruptly terminated.

Author Edwin Black, internationally acclaimed for his work exposing corporate and governmental anti-Semitism (best known for his book, IBM and the Holocaust), organized Farhud Day to call attention to the relatively unknown plight of Sephardic Jews who were forced to flee their country of birth. The event was held at the Safra synagogue in Manhattan, and was co-sponsored by several national and international Jewish organizations.

Black invited students from Rambam Mesivta and referred to them during the event as foremost Jewish-cause activists among high schoolers and people their age.

“They are an amazing group of students who are both knowledgeable and dedicated to the cause of fighting anti-Semitism,” he said. “They are articulate pro-Israel advocates.”