(Jewish Group) Signs of a forgotten Jewish past in Mosul
Imprints of mezuzahs, the small parchment scrolls fixed to the entrances of Jewish homes around the world, can be found in concrete doorways in a neighborhood that used to be called Mahallat al-Yahud, or "the place of the Jews." Today, much of it is in ruins.
For centuries, a community of Jews thrived in Mosul. In the 1950s, many of them fled the country.
But the city's Jewish heritage was further obliterated when ISIS took over Mosul in 2014. ISIS, which controlled the city for three years, destroyed religious sites that didn’t fit their strict version of Islam — including the Tomb of Jonah, or Nabi Yunus, the Biblical prophet who landed here after he was believed to have been swallowed by a whale.
Now, as Mosul rebuilds, historian Mohammed Omar is trying to preserve the city’s Jewish history.
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