Opinion & Comment
A Delegation of Iraqi Rabbis Visits Immigrant Camps

In the winter of 5710, a delegation was organized to visit various immigrant camps. Its members came back with a report of bad and bitter tales. Heading the delegation was R' Yehuda Tzadka zt'l, whose twelfth yahrtzeit falls on the twelfth of Cheshvan. Notes of that visit were recorded and they are brought here.

The delegation which visited the youth camps returned full of sad and bitter tales. The children in Ben Shemen complained and even wept that the counselors assigned to them spouted all kinds of heresy and that those in charge intended to place them in secular kibbutzim. One of the students told the rabbis who came to visit that they were veritable angels sent just at the right time, for on the morrow, they had been slated to be shipped off to non-kosher destinations.

"They asked us to plead with the administrator of the camp to send them only to religious places. The administrator did not happen to be on site so that we were unable to meet with him. We promised to do everything in our power to ask the Jewish Agency that they be transferred to religious places."

In the Karkur camp:

"The same situation applied there, as well. There too, the children begged to be assigned to religious places. They insisted that they came from religious homes where the fathers had recited Kiddush on Shabbos and had observed all the laws of kashrus and other laws. We met with the administrator there who received us cordially. We requested that he transfer the religious youth under his supervision, like the Moroccans and the Egyptian Jews, to religious establishments, but he claimed that it was not under his jurisdiction to divide up groups and rearrange them, since he received them all as such [i.e. as non- religious]. To arrange a transfer, he said, we would have to approach the Jewish Agency."

This was the Jewish Agency's reply to our report: "To the extent that it is in the power of the Jewish Agency to decide, we will do whatever we can and ascertain that no injustice is done to the Iraqi community which is replete with tradition and Torah." In those days, some people still put some stock in the words and promises of those who extended cloven hooves and boasted how kosher they were.

They Immediately Began to Cry

"The visit in Achuza: This is where they sorted out the children. The impression which this place left surpassed everything we had seen till then. As soon as the Iraqi youth learned that we were Iraqi too, they began wailing terribly. They complained that they had been picked on in particular to be transferred to irreligious places in spite of the fact that they came from traditional homes that had observed and cherished Torah and mitzvos like the very apple of their eye. They wept bitterly and copiously. The girls there demanded proper modest attire.

"The administrator there saw and heard the complaints with his very eyes and when asked why he had categorized these children as being non-religious, he replied: `Why should I believe them to be observant? We have a synagogue here but not once did I see the children enter it to pray. This proves they are not religious in the least, since the children from Tripoli do attend prayers there daily.'

"To this, we replied that children from Iraq are different than those from Tripoli since the Iraqi government has, for the past ten years, suppressed religion and forbidden them to learn religious studies in their schools. In fact, every home that possessed as much as a siddur with Hebrew letters was suspected of being Zionist. This is why the children born during this period can't even read Hebrew. They don't go to the synagogue because they are not familiar with the prayer text, but their homes were very observant of all the laws and traditions. When the director heard this explanation, he promised to change his policy towards the Iraqi children."

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HaRav Yehuda Tzadka, rosh yeshivat Porat Yosef, headed the delegation. He was joined by R' Efraim Zilca Hakohen, R' Ben Zion Chazan and R' David Sharabani, all of blessed memory. When these rabbis returned from their visit, they held a rally in the Ohel Rachel synagogue of the Iraqi community. This took place on motzei Shabbos, the 25th of Shvat, 5710.

A huge crowd of Torah-true congregants showed up to hear their report. When they described their visit in Achuza, the people burst out in cries of anger:

"Is this what we hoped for? We have been in exile for two thousand years and vigilantly guarded the Torah and its traditions -- and now that we have finally arrived in our homeland, shall we see our very children stripped of their religion and sent to secular places?" The masses wept and shouted. The rabbis told the gathering that "everywhere we went, we were received with great enthusiasm and huge crowds assembled to hear the speeches of the rabbis."

Still Being Processed

The delegation sent a report of its findings to all the pertinent government bodies. The Jewish Agency was asked to appoint a liaison officer to negotiate with the immigrants. They appointed an Iraqi cook in those camps that had a large concentration of Iraqi immigrants. We have already quoted the Agency's reactions.

The Israeli police department also reacted: "I have issued pertinent instructions to the police regarding the maximum restraint and deference demanded of them when dealing with the immigrants in their line of duty," wrote the chief police commissioner. The secretary of the Ministry of Welfare replied, "The matter is still being processed."

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HaRav Yehuda Tzadka was pained to the depths of his heart by the situation. He invested all of his energies in saving the youth from the hands of the Zionist administration. He did not suffice with the establishment of their compromising Torah framework for the youth. He demanded pure olive oil. "Reuven, go and rescue these tinokos shel beis rabban, these innocent babes," he begged of one of his adherents, adding, "Our generation needs a great many new lambs and kids to produce full grown he-goats."

In Elul, 5730, Yaavetz, the first Sephardi Talmud Torah based on pure Torah study, was established. R' Rachamim Cohen, its principal, tells, "In the beginning, it was located on Rechov Chagai 16 in cramped quarters without any sanitary facilities, not even running water. All it had was a barrel of water . . . We then moved to Rechov Menachem 4, and were neighbors with HaRav Berel Soloveitchik zt'l, eldest son of Maran HaRav Yitzchok Zev ztvk'l, who lived on Rechov Menachem 2.

"R' Berel approached me one day and asked, `What's doing, R' Rachamim?' I told him about our difficulties and he whispered, `Go to R' Yehuda Tzadka in Yeshivat Porat Yosef. He has influence in those places where you have no access.' And I did exactly as he advised."

"One Hundred Lira," Ruled the Rav

R' Rachamim has stories by the score. Like the time that R' Tzadka learned about a Jew in Ashkelon who came into possession of a rare and valuable sefer Torah. That Jew brought this priceless scroll to a synagogue in Ashkelon. R' Tzadka went there in person to try to persuade him to sell the scroll -- so that he could donate the proceedings to the Yaavetz Talmud Torah. "Living Torah scrolls," he said, "are more important than parchment scrolls."

HaRav Tzadka worked tirelessly for the sake of this cheder. On Friday evenings, he would make the rounds of various botei knesses and `coerce' the congregants to make pledges on its behalf. He, himself, would determine the sum they were to donate. He approached one particularly wealthy Persian Jew and told him he must give one hundred lira, a huge sum for those days! The Talmud Torah was also very important in his eyes because of the fact that it was totally independent and did not receive any financial support from the secular government.

One of his followers told how he used to accompany him in raising money for the Yaavetz school in Rechavya. One of the proud rich men there pounced upon him one time with shouts and abuse of, "You lowly ones! You leeches!" But R' Tzadka took no offense. He didn't even feel any insult in those words but maintained a proud dignity in doing whatever he could for the sake of the Talmud Torah.

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