The Removal of the Ḥakham Bashi of Baghdad, David Pappo, by the Young Turks

This chapter explores the appointment of Rabbi David Pappo as ḥakham bashi in Baghdad, and his removal by the Ottoman rulers after coming under suspicion of involvement in seditious political activity. Rabbi Pappo took up his new post in Baghdad armed with an official firman from the sultan — the first ḥakham bashi of the city to be so recognized since Rabbi Elisha Dangoor over twenty years earlier. The arrival of this new leader, adorned with official trappings of honour from the Sublime Porte, seems to have given the new communal board an influx of confidence and energy. Its financial matters were put on a sound footing, and relations with institutions of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) improved. Even the issue of the curriculum in the community's educational institutions seemed to be on the path to resolution, with the ḥakham bashi declaring his willingness to discuss the implementation of educational reform. The chapter then considers the Young Turk Revolution and the events that form the crucial background to the removal from office of the governor of the Baghdad district, Nazem Pasha, which ultimately led to the deposition of the ḥakham bashi, Rabbi Pappo.