Vanishing History: Baghdad's Last 21 Jews
Jan. 30 -- It may be the most secret location in all of Baghdad.
Watch tonight's report on Baghdad's Jews on ABCNEWS' Nightline.
There is no sign outside — no visible markings whatsoever, just a plain metal gate in a brick wall, no different from any other house on the block.
Chances are if you come knocking, the nervous man who answers will say no one is home.
"Please," he told our translator, "just go away."
Hidden Away
Baghdad's last synagogue is tucked in a side street of what used to be a mostly Jewish neighborhood, one of several in the Iraqi capital.
But the Jews are long gone.
The only hint that they used to live here is the subtle pattern in the arrangement of the bricks and mortar, one brick in a dozen placed at an odd angle, a secret code embedded in the architecture. It's so discreet that the current inhabitants of those houses probably haven't even noticed it. But once someone points it out, you begin to see it everywhere.
In 1948, there were more than 150,000 Jews living in Baghdad. Now there are 21 left.
No one comes to worship at the synagogue anymore. It would be too dangerous for Iraq's Jews to gather in one place. The rabbi has been dead for seven years.
Most of the people who live near the synagogue are unaware of its existence. Those who do seem to know about it appear to view any Western visitors with deep suspicion.
The temple itself is heartbreaking. It looks always ready for a service that will never happen. There are stacks of scriptures at the ends of the cushioned benches. On one wall, there's a clock with Hebrew lettering, the hands frozen at 7:30. A pair of old pajamas hung from a clothesline strung across the front of the building one recent Saturday. It little mattered. No one was coming to pray that day.
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