In 2004, approximately 35 Jews were living in Baghdad, but by 2008, the once-thriving community of Jews living in the Iraqi capital has dwindled to below 10, not enough to hold a minyan (the requesite 10 men needed for most religious rituals), and a handful more in the Kurdish-controlled northern parts of Iraq.
10 The community still lives in fear, scared even to publicize the exact numbers of Jews remaining in Baghdad, but the Jewish Agency estimates it at about seven. Most of those in Baghdad are elderly, poor and lacking basic needs such as clothing, medication and food, but some remaining are middle class, including two doctors. The one
synagogue, the Meir Taweig Synagogue, was closed in 2003, after it became to dangerous to gather out in the open. Among the remaining Jews, one fearful man now in his early 40s describes himself as “the rabbi, slaughterer and one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Iraq.”
11