Most of Babylonian Jewry immigrated to the land of Israel during the heroic Operation Ezra and Nehemia in 1950-1951. The story of the absorption of the members of this community is astounding. They reached the highest positions in academia, science, arts, culture and sport, economics and society, politics, the IDF and defense system, public activism and philanthropy. Those who escaped Iraq and moved to Europe, the United States, Canada and other countries also reached impressive achievements and contributed to the countries where they settled.

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda was founded to immortalize the heritage of a diaspora community which no longer exists. It is the largest center in the world for documenting, researching, collecting and preserving the spiritual treasures and art created by Babylonian Jewry. The Center was not designated to represent Iraqi Jewry alone and advance its interests. Rather, the opposite is true: the Center documents and perpetuates the extensive story of the heritage of the oldest of Jewish communities, an opulent heritage which became a part of the entire Jewish nation. This is what makes the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center so distinctive.

The Center attracts thousands of visitors each year who discover the history and culture of Babylonian Jewry and are exposed to its unique treasures. Every year, we expand the museum and open new exhibits with the assistance of the museum’s friends and supporters in Israel and worldwide. There is still much work ahead of us. The large room of safes at the Center includes valuable heritage and historic items waiting for the museum to expand so that we can incorporate them in new exhibits.

Among the immigrants in Operation Ezra and Nehemia were my parents, who immigrated with my older brother and me, a child not yet five years old. The family made its first steps in Israel at the Kfar Hassidim absorption camp near Haifa, where I also began first grade. I feel honored and privileged to have been chosen to serve as the chairman of the executive committee of the Center. I can promise that my colleagues on the executive committee and myself, who work on a voluntary basis, will do our best to preserve and develop the Center for the benefit of our generation and for future generations of the Jewish nation, in Israel and all over the world.

Sincerely,

Prof. Efraim Tzadka, Chairman