cried unto God from the depths of their suffering in the diaspora. It has been but little more than fifty years that Jews have found in Amer ica the opportunity to live truly peaceful and unfettered lives. “In the midst of their oppression and suffering through the centuries, one fact served to sustain life and to give hope even in the depths of despair. God repeatedly promised in FROM THE EAST By the close of the nineteenth cen tury, events had already begun to conspire toward bringing the Jews back into their own land. The Bal four declaration, issued by England du ring .the F irst World War, and the subsequent release of the Holy Land by the forces of General Allen- by, advanced the return to Zion. It was not, however, until the setting up of the Jewish State in 1948, that the doors were flung wide open to Jews from all parts of the world. Then the promise of God con tained in Isaiah 43 began to come to pass. “I will bring thy seed from the east,” was the pledge God had made. East of the land of Israel, Jewish communities had existed for millen niums. There was no limit to the penetration of J ew ish tr a d e r s through the centuries, so that Baby lon, which contained the first Jewish community in the east, was but the forerunner of many other settle ments. The Babylon community was mostly the result of capture and de portation, but the communities of India, Afghanistan, Malaya, China and other eastern lands were chiefly the result of Jewish search for trade and subsequent settlement in those lands. In the east Jews suffered much less than the Jews of Europe. Yet they too longed for the day when their nation would be gathered home again. With the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews began to stream back to their land from each eastern 29
country. From far-off China, thou sands were flown in or came by ship. The largest ingathering of all was that from the Arab land of Iraq. This is the land of ancient Babylon! Edersheim, “When the Babylonian captivity of Judah came to an end, many Jews returned to Israel under Zerubbabel. Later, others followed under Ezra and Nehemiah. Neverthe less, a substantial number chose to remain^ in Babylon. Centuries later, those in Babylon were joined by Palestinian Jews forced to flee from their homes. Especially was this so at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and Bar Kochbas’ defeat in 135 A.D. The size of this community fluctuated through the centuries.” William Hull, “In 1948, at the time of the Arab-Jewish war, there were about 135,000 Jews in Baghdad and adjacent parts of Iraq.” As Zionism developed, resulting in an increasing immigration of Jews into Palestine and a parallel increas ing of Arab opposition, the lot of Jews in Arab countries became diffi cult. Iraq was no exception. The Jewish position in Baghdad became increasingly difficult during the Arab-Jewish war and, with the signing of an armistice between Is rael and most of the Arab nations, the Jews of Iraq petitioned to be allowed to go to Israel. The answer of the government of Iraq was to pass a law freezing all assets pos sessed by the Jews of Iraq. Among Baghdadian Jews were those of great wealth. It is estimated that the total property seized by the Iraqi Arabs from the Jews was worth five hundred million dollars. The frozen assets were declared to be the prop erty of the Iraqi government and permission was then granted to Jews to leave the country upon their re nouncing their Iraqi citizenship, and promising never to return. A giant airlift was organized to carry the Jews from Baghdad to Lydda airport in Israel. For months,
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