Large and diverse collection of over 100 books and booklets (including dozens of books and booklets printed in Baghdad), printed and handwritten calendars, sketches of Shiviti and amulets, many lists and documents, photographs and pictures – from the archive of Chacham Salman Dabby, who served in various religious positions and as beadle of the Meir Taweig synagogue in Baghdad, ca. 1948-1970.
The Meir Taweig synagogue was built in 1946 in the Al-Bataween neighborhood south of Baghdad, and for approximately twenty years was the only synagogue active in Baghdad (after the immigration of most of Iraqi Jewry to Eretz Israel in the beginning of the 1950s). After the Six Day War, the remaining small community disintegrated totally, and its last members immigrated then to Eretz Israel (in the whole of Iraq, less than 400 Jews were left). Chacham Salman Dabby (ca. 1904-Tevet 10, 1987), served for 22 years as beadle and cantor of the Meir Taweig synagogue, and was one of the leaders of the community. He also served as shochet and mohel. In ca. 1970, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in Holon, where he aided the establishment of a synagogue for Iraqi Jews. With his departure from Iraq, he succeeded in salvaging books and documents, some of them from the immense library of the Meir Taweig synagogue (which he claimed contained some quarter of a million books, many documents and dozens of Torah scrolls – see previous item). He habitually conserved and pasted in those books various documents, printed items and manuscripts (which were thus rescued from oblivion in Baghdad). In Holon he continued this practice, of saving various leaves and documents by pasting them into his books. In one of the books he pasted his Army Service certificate from 1941 (this certificate also served as passport). All the books contain many signatures and inscriptions in his handwriting, memorials of deceased relatives and various notes. In many places he signs with his full signature: "the young Salman Eliyahu Binyamin Daniel Dabby" (Salman son of Eliyahu son of Binyamin son of Daniel Dabby – following the style of signature of Iraqi Jews, who refer to their ancestors in their signature).
Partial description of books from the collection:
· Volume of Mikraot Gedolot, Ketuvim [Venice, 1617-1619]. Lacking title page. With inscriptions and notes from various periods. At the end of Mishlei [before p. 767a], a document appears signed by 28 rabbis and notables of the community, regarding the terms of the giving of a Torah scroll to the "Synagogue of the Midrash of the illustrious wealthy R. Yaakov Tzemach Nissim". Baghdad, Sivan 1862.
· Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer. Lviv, 1876. The title page contains the handwritten ownership inscription and two signatures of the Kabbalist R. Shimon Agassi dated 1895. The great Torah scholar and Kabbalist R. Shimon Agassi (1852-1914) was a leading scholar of Iraq (after the Ben Ish Chai) and a foremost teacher of R. Yehuda Fatiyah – who writes about him and about the Ben Ish Chai in his preface to his book Beit Lechem Yehuda: "And behold, in our city of Baghdad we had two golden cherubs who sheltered the city from within and without, and they were our fortification and refuge on a day of wrath… and they with their merit and righteousness protected the city…".
· Volume of printed booklets and handwritten leaves, with the signatures of the Chief Rabbi Sasson Kachuri (Kaduri), who also signs: "the young Sasson Kachuri Yechezkel Ezra Shalom Gabriel Elia"; "the Shach"; "Shachen Tov". R. Sasson (Kachuri) Kaduri (1886-1971) was the Chief Rabbi and head of the Baghdad community. In 1920, he was appointed dayan in R. Yechezkel Eliyahu's Beit Din, and in 1923, head of the Beit Din. In 1927, he was officially appointed as Chacham Bashi (Chief Rabbi), position he held for over forty-five years.
· Tikunei Zohar, with the Kevod Melech commentary. Livorno, [1854]. A photograph is pasted at the end of the book, of Salman Dabby's meeting in 1976 with the President of Israel, Prof. Efraim Katzir.
· Daat Tevuna. Introduction to Kabbala, by R. Yosef Chaim, the Ben Ish Chai. Jerusalem, [1910].
· Various booklets in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic (in Hebrew script), printed in Baghdad and other oriental countries, including calendars and prayer timetables, printed in Baghdad and Jerusalem between 1931-1982. (Two copies of a calendar for 1971-1972, printed in 1971 in Baghdad. With the picture of R. Sasson Kaduri, who passed away in 1971 – the second copy also contains the picture of the President of Iraq: Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr).
· Handwritten calendar for 1969-1970. With a dedication handwritten and signed by "the editor Yitzchak Ezra Abdallah": "I arranged this calendar in honor of my dear friend Ch. Salman Dabby".
Over 100 items. Varying size and condition.