The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Assyrian captivity in the 8th century BCE and Babylonian captivity (). Iraqi Jews (), also known as Bavlim (, , ), constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities.
The Jewish community in Mesopotamia, known in Jewish sources as "Babylonia", traces its origins to the early sixth century BCE, when a large number of Judeans from the defeated Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon in several waves by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Jewish community of Babylonia rose to prominence as the center of Jewish scholarship following the decline of the Jewish population in the Land of Israel in the 3rd century CE. Estimates often place the Babylonian Jewish population of the third to seventh centuries at around one million, making it the largest Jewish diaspora community of that period. The area became home to many important Talmudic yeshivas such as the Nehardea, Pumbedita and Sura Academies, and the Babylonian Talmud was compiled there. The Mongol invasion and Islamic discrimination under the caliphates in the Middle Ages eventually led to the decline of the region's Jewish community. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Jews of Ottoman Iraq fared better. The community established modern schools in the second half of the 19th century. Driven by persecution, which saw many of the leading Jewish families of Baghdad flee for India, and expanding trade with British colonies, the Jews of Iraq established a trading diaspora in Asia known as the Baghdadi Jews.
The Iraqi Jewish community formed a homogeneous group, maintaining communal Jewish identity, culture and traditions. The Jews in Iraq distinguished themselves by the way they spoke in Baghdadi Judeo-Arabic, also known as Judeo-Iraqi Arabic; the way they dressed; observation of Jewish rituals, for example, the Sabbath and holidays; and kashrut. In the 20th century, Iraqi Jews played an important role in the early days of Iraq's independence. According to Avi Shlaim and to Marina Benjamin, they were deeply integrated into the wider Iraqi society, culturally and linguistically.'What lends our story some broader interest is the fact that we belonged to a branch of the global Jewish community that is now almost extinct. We were Arab-Jews. We lived in Baghdad and we were well-integrated into Iraqi society. We spoke Arabic at home, our social customs were Arab, our lifestyle was Arab, our cuisine was exquisitely Middle Eastern and my parents' music was an attractive blend of Arabic and Jewish'. Avi Shlaim, Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, Oneworld Publications 2023 'Chapter One:Arab Jews.' At the beginning of the 20th century Jews formed a notable presence in the country's main cities, including up to 40% in Baghdad and 25% in Basra. In 1941, the Farhud ("violent dispossession"), a major pogrom, occurred in Baghdad, in which 200 Jews or more were murdered. Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, persecution against Jews culminated in increased government oppression and cultural discrimination. The government, while maintaining a public policy of discrimination against Jews, simultaneously forbade Jews from emigrating to Israel out of concern for strengthening the nascent Israeli state. In 1950, the government reversed course and permitted Jews to emigrate in exchange for renouncing their citizenship. From 1950 to 1952, nearly the entire Iraqi Jewish population emptied out from Iraq to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Historians estimate that 120,000–130,000 Iraqi Jews (around 75% of the entire community) reached Israel.
Under the Ba'ath Party, Jews were detained, imprisoned, tortured, and even executed on charges of spying for Israel. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, Jews were forbidden to leave Iraq and many escaped
The remainder of the Jewish population continued to dwindle in the ensuing decades; as of 2014, the total number of Jews living in Iraq numbered around 500, mostly in Baghdad and Kurdistan region. The religious and cultural traditions of Iraqi Jews are kept alive today in strong communities established by Iraqi Jews in Israel, especially in Or Yehuda, Givatayim and Kiryat Gat. According to government data as of 2014, there were 227,900 Jews of Iraqi descent in Israel, with other estimates as high as 600,000 Israelis having some Iraqi ancestry. Smaller communities upholding Iraqi Jewish traditions in the Jewish diaspora exist in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Canada, and the United States.
"Babylonia"
What Jewish sources called "Babylon" and "Babylonia" may refer to the ancient city of Babylon and the Neo-Babylonian Empire; or, very often, it means the specific area of Mesopotamia (the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers) where a number of Jewish religious academies functioned during the Geonic period (6th–11th century CE).
In the Bible, Babylon and the country of Babylonia are not always clearly distinguished; in most cases, the same word is used in reference to both places. In some passages, the land of Babylonia is called Shinar, while in the post-exilic literature, it is called Chaldea. In the Book of Genesis, Babylonia is described as the land in which Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh are located – cities that are declared to have formed the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. In the historical books, Babylonia is frequently referred to (there are no fewer than thirty-one allusions in the Books of Kings), though the lack of a clear distinction between the city and the country is sometimes puzzling.
Biblical history
The Ten Israelite Tribes from the northern Kingdom of Israel were exiled to Assyria from 730 BCE.Rea, Cam. The Assyrian Exile: Israel's Legacy in Captivity, p. 47 In the number and importance of its references to Babylonian life and history, the Book of Jeremiah stands preeminent in the Hebrew literature. With numerous important allusions to events in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah has become a valuable source in reconstructing Babylonian history within recent times. The inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar are almost exclusively devoted to building operations; and but for the Book of Jeremiah, little would be known of his campaign against Jerusalem.
During the 6th century BCE, the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in three waves. The first was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, when, in retaliation for a refusal to pay tribute, the First Temple in Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed. After eleven years, in the reign of Zedekiah—who had been enthroned by Nebuchadnezzar—a fresh revolt of the Judaeans took place, perhaps encouraged by the close proximity of the Egyptian army. The city was razed to the ground, and a further deportation ensued.Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, (1964) 1972 pp. 344–45 Five years later, Jeremiah records a third captivity. After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persians, Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return to their native land (537 BCE), and more than forty thousand are said to have availed themselves of the privilege. The earliest accounts of the Jews exiled to Babylonia are furnished only by scanty biblical details, although a number of archaeological discoveries (such as the Al-Yahudu Tablets) shed light into the social lives of the deportees; certain sources seek to supply this deficiency from the realms of legend and tradition. Thus, the so-called "Small Chronicle" (Seder Olam Zutta) endeavors to preserve historic continuity by providing a genealogy of the exilarchs ("Reshe Galuta") back to King Jeconiah. Jeconiah himself is made an exilarch.
The "Small Chronicle" states that Zerubbabel returned to Judea in the Greek period. Certainly, the descendants of the Davidic line occupied an exalted position among their brethren in Babylonia, as they did at that period in Judea. During the Maccabean revolt, these Judean descendants of the royal house had immigrated to Babylonia.
According to the biblical account, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great was "God's anointed", having freed the Jews from Babylonian rule. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persian Achaemenid Empire Cyrus granted all the Jews citizenship and by decree allowed the Jews to return to Israel (around 537 BCE). Subsequently, successive waves of Babylonian Jews emigrated to Israel. Ezra (fl. 480–440 BCE) returned from Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem (Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8).
During the Second Temple period two large Jewish communities developed in Mesopotamia: one in northern Mesopotamia who attributed their ancestry to the Ten Lost Tribes, and one in central Mesopotamia associated with the Judean exiles. The continuity of Jewish culture in Babylonia across the centuries is indicated by certain names which appear among Babylonian Jews in Ezra-Nehemiah and centuries later among Babylonian amoraim, but never in Judean sources, such as Shereviah.
Hellenistic period Information regarding the early period of Jewish history in Iraq is extremely limited. But with Alexander the Great's campaign, some accurate information concerning the Jews in the East reached the western world. Alexander's army contained numerous Jews who refused, from religious scruples, to take part in the reconstruction of the destroyed Belus temple in Babylon. The accession of Seleucus Nicator, 312 BCE, to whose extensive empire Babylonia belonged, was accepted by the Jews and Syrians for many centuries as the commencement of a new era for reckoning time, called the Seleucid era, or in Jewish sources "minyan sheṭarot" (era of contracts), which was also officially adopted by the Parthians. Nicator's foundation of a city, Seleucia, on the Tigris is mentioned by the Rabbis;Midrash Tehillim 9:8 both the "Large" and the "Small Chronicle" contain references to him.
The persecutions of Antiochus IV (168 BCE) appear to have been limited to Judea, and likely were not imposed on Babylonian Jews.Isaiah Gafni, The Jews of Babylonia in the Talmudic Era, p.26-35
Parthian period
Mithridates (174–136 BCE) subjugated, about the year 160, the province of Babylonia, and thus the Jews for four centuries came under Parthian domination.
Jewish sources contain no mention of Parthian influence; the very name "Parthian" does not occur, unless "Parthian" is meant by "Persian", which occurs now and then. The Armenian prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces as well (I Macc. 15:22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces.
Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince. The Syrian king, Antiochus VII Sidetes, in company with Hyrcanus I, marched against the Parthians. When the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BCE) at the Great Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks.
In 40 BCE the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II, fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of Judea. But the reverse was to come about: the Judeans received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Philo speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE).