Born in Baghdad

About the Book

In Baghdad, Iraq, in 1939, nine-year-old Heskel Haddad, then the most fervent of Iraqi nationalists, first heard a fellow Iraqi call him "lousy Jew." Iraq, which for centuries was called Babylon, housed the world's oldest continuing Jewish community, largely concentrated in the capital city of Baghdad. By the late 1930's spurred by pro-Nazi elements, the Arab community had become increasingly anti-Semitic. On the eve of the holy day of Shuvuot, small roving bands of M'silmin killed 900 Jews in Baghdad, among them Heskel Haddad's cousin, his closest friend, who had been stabbed in the back and left to die in slow agony.

Heskel Haddad swore the solemn oath to avenge his cousin, and began to organize an underground movement to protect his fellow Jews from further slaughter. As conditions worsened in Iraq, more and more Jews dreamed of escaping to Israel, but attempts to flee through Syria and Trans-Jordan meant death in the desert or at the hands of the Bedouin. The only way out was into neighboring Persia, now called Iran. Between 1948 and 1950, the Underground led 20,000 Jews to safety.

An anonymous informer put Haddad on the "wanted list," and eventually Haddad was forced to leave Iraq forever. After a grueling journey through the desert into Iran, Haddad was forced to leave Iraq forever. After a grueling journey through the desert into Iran, Haddad arrived in Israel, where he was reunited with his family, which had left Iraq penniless as a result of the mass expulsion of Jews.

Born in Baghdad is a gripping, richly atmospheric book about exotic lands poised between ancient tradition and modern change-and about the human values that must ultimately transcend both.

About the Author

Heskel M. Haddad, M.D., is a native of Baghdad, Iraq. He got his degree from the Royal College of Medicine in Baghdad and at the Hebrew University Hadassah School of Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel. One of the nation?s leading ophthalmologists, he is a clinical professor of ophthalmology and an eye surgeon at New York Medical College. Dr. Haddad has written extensively on medical and ophthalmic subjects, and has written five medical books. He is editor-in-chief of the medical journal Metabolic, Pediatric and Systemic Ophthalmology. Dr. Haddad is also the author of Jews of Arab and Islamic Countries. A scholar of Jewish history, he studied at the world?s oldest yeshiva, Zilkha in Baghdad. He has acted on behalf of Israel and world Jewry, particularly by helping Jews escape from Arab and Islamic nations, notably Iraq. He is president of the American Committee for Rescue and Resettlement of Iraqi Jews, as well as president of the World Organization for Jews from Arab Countries in the United States. Dr. Haddad met with the late President Sadat of Egypt before the Camp David meeting in 1978, pressing his demands for the rights of Jews from Arab countries. Currently Dr. Haddad lives in New York City.

Phyllis I. Rosenteur is the author of many books, including An Affair of the Flesh, Morpheus and Me, and The Single Woman. She has written for the United Features Syndicate, for radio and television, and for many of the major consumer magazines. She lives in New York.