Baghdad has eight Jews left. And life isn’t easy. According to a report in Time magazine online today, “there are only eight Jews left in the Iraqi capital, and their situation is ‘more than desperate.’” True to form, they could emigrate but they can’t all agree on the terms. They’re also under pressure from all sides, to leave, convert, or at the very least, stay quiet.

The Iraqi Jews constituted one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, and that the country contains numerous important Jewish sites, such as the graves of the prophets Ezra and Ezekiel. The flourishing Jewish community in Baghdad also produced one version of Judaism’s second-holiest book, the Talmud, in about 550 A.D….

The Jewish population in Iraq began to disappear after 1948, when the founding of Israel resulted in anti-Jewish reprisals throughout the Arab world. Says Felice Gaer, one of the International Religious Freedom panel’s commissioners and head of the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for Human Rights: “I didn’t know about this community until I heard about it from Canon White. I certainly intend to learn more about the situation. It’s hard to believe that those who want to provide charitable assistance couldn’t reach people anywhere in the world, no less in a country where he U.S. has 160,000 troops.”

Both Gaer and [the Rev. Canon Andrew] White point out that the plight of the remaining Jews is not very different from the hardships faced in Iraq by other religious minorities such as Christians, Mandeans (a gnostic group to whom John the Baptist is a central figure) and Yazidis (whose faith draws from Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity and other sources). However, the priest says that the Jews have not able to get any material aid from the Iraqi government, and have been advised by officials “to say that they are Christians or to become Christians, because it’s a lot safer.”

The story relates that the government is afraid to recognize that Jews still exist in the country, particularly since most were expelled in the years following the establishment of Israel. Check out www.jimena.org to learn more about them and Jews from other Middle Eastern countries. There’s a chapter in Seattle, and from what I understand their stories are fascinating…

The video blog called Rocketboom had a series of videos where they visited Israel.  They were very interesting, and strangely unbiased.  Who knew?  I particularly enjoyed the last one.

Enjoy.

The guest editor at Jewcy this week is Seattle blogger Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam. You can read our profile of Richard here. 

Members of the Israeli government can’t agree on peace talks, civil marriages, how to treat non-Jews in their midst, you name it. But one thing they finally did agree on: bicycle safety. According to press release sent to us today by Rubenu, an Israeli organization that “promotes health and safety” (what’s next, a smoking ban in public places?), as of last Wednesday, “Bicycle helmets are now required by law for anyone – adults and children - riding a bicycle, skateboard, rollerskates, rollerblades or motorized scooter in Israel.”

Avi Maderer, Director of the Rubenu Israel organization, advises parents about compliance with the new law: “The best way for parents to ensure that their children always wear a bicycle helmet while riding is by allowing the child to choose one they like, especially its colour and style. Additionally, parents, teachers and guardians should set a proper example by always wearing a helmet when they cycle. For both safety and educational reasons, experts recommend that toddlers on tricycles and “Bimbot” wear a helmet as well, although the new law does not apply to these vehicles. Parents should use the new law as a cue to stress the importance and benefits of helmet-wearing to their children.”

While a helmet can certainly help if a rider is hit or falls off his or her bike, there’s unfortunately nothing about improving the skills of Israeli drivers.

Counter to what Daniel has been posting about Christians United for Israel comes this story in today’s NYTimes about evangelical Christian leaders who do want to see a Palestinian state.

On Friday, these leaders sent a letter to President Bush saying that both Israelis and Palestinians have “legitimate rights stretching back for millennia to the lands of Israel/Palestine,” and that they support the creation of a Palestinian state “that includes the vast majority of the West Bank.”

They say that being a friend to Jews and to Israel “does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted.” The letter adds, “Both Israelis and Palestinians have committed violence and injustice against each other.”

The letter is signed by 34 evangelical leaders, many of whom lead denominations, Christian charities, ministry organizations, seminaries and universities.

CUFI leader John Hagee’s response? “Bible-believing evangelicals will scoff at that message.”

The Times writer, Laurie Goodstein, elucidates the differences between Hagee’s believers and the other evangelicals — and it’s becoming more and more obvious that this country’s evangelical Christians are not the black-and-white drones we often make them out to be — as this:

There is a crucial theological difference between Mr. Hagee’s views on Israel and those expressed by the letter writers, said Timothy P. Weber, a church historian, former seminary president and the author of “On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend.”

Mr. Hagee and others are dispensationalists, Mr. Weber said, who interpret the Bible as predicting that in order for Christ to return, the Jews must gather in Israel, the third temple must be built in Jerusalem and the Battle of Armageddon must be fought.

Mr. Weber said, “The dispensationalists have parlayed what is a distinctly minority position theologically within evangelicalism into a major political voice.”

So my question to you, Daniel, is this: If these groups were holding big fundraisers like CUFI did in DC and here, and that money were going to the umbrella organization for the local Jewish federation, would that change the way you feel about giving them money?