“Shadow in Baghdad” at URI Hillel

On Wednesday, February 19, students, faculty and community members came to URI Hillel to hear Shir Mnuchin, an Israeli, tell her mother’s story and see an excerpt from the documentary “Shadow in Baghdad.” The film details Linda Abdul-Aziz’s escape from Iraq to Israel in 1970 while her father, Mnuchin’s grandfather, stayed behind and was subsequently kidnapped, jailed and likely murdered.        

Mnuchin, a colleague and friend of Rhode Island Community Shaliach (Emissary) Matan Graff, is herself a former Israeli Emissary to Mobile, Ala., and is touring the country promoting the film. Her visit to URI Hillel was organized by Graff and the Jewish Alliance of Greater RI.

Mnuchin opened with a statement about the importance of acknowledging family roots and how knowing family stories impacts one’s identity. She involved the audience by asking each person to share where his or her grandparents were born. The diverse nature of the crowd was demonstrated as the answers ranged from Rhode Island to Russia to South Africa to Morocco. She then transitioned into the tale of her own family and the Jewish community of Iraq.

The Jewish community in Iraq dated back 2,600 years but was pressured to leave the country after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. However, Mnuchin’s grandfather, a successful attorney, decided to stay, and Abdul-Aziz, born in 1950, led a relatively integrated life as a Jew in a Muslim land until the Six Day War in 1967. At that time, things got progressively worse for the Jewish community in Iraq and in 1970, at age 20, Abdul-Aziz, who saw no future in Iraq, decided to flee to Israel. Her siblings and mother came quickly after her while her father stayed behind. He was soon arrested and disappeared.

After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, when channels of information began to open, Abdul-Aziz started investigating what happened to her father. An Iraqi journalist read an article she wrote and got in contact with her, offering to help her. Her online relationship with the journalist and the uncovering of the mystery of what happened to her father is the subject of the documentary “Shadow in Baghdad.” Mnuchin showed an extended clip of the film and shared how the production of the documentary helped her mother to reconcile the guilt she felt about leaving her father behind.

“The screening was eye-opening to watch. It really made me realize how the Middle East has evolved,” said Sabrina Brotons, URI Hillel Student Co-President. “It was inspiring to hear Shir’s family history and learn about their success and resilience.”

JONATHAN FRIESEM is a Ph.D. student in Education and URI Hillel Board member.