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Ezra's Burial Shrine, Al Uzayr, Iraq.
I was able to locate more of Ezra's records back in 2000. These were available under the Arabic rendering for Ezra's name, Uzayr. I published several of them, but
noticed an almost disturbing spike in military and government visits to the website. Apparently, they were concerned with why I was interested in Uzayr... the place.
I didn't know Uzayr was a place. My studies concerned a person. At any rate, it was that confrontation that helped me fill in the blanks. The residents of the town
honored Uzayr by naming the town after him. Later, the Shia built a beautiful shrine over Uzayr's tomb. The initial records identifying the Tomb of Ezra:
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Military Records Concerning Uzayr ~ The place.
The 14th Infantry Division's 426th Infantry Brigade was reportedly deployed in the "Al Ezaire" area. The 18th Infantry Division's 95th Infantry Brigade was reportedly
deployed in the Qala Salih / Al Ezair/Immarah area.
Al Uzayr [variants: Uzayr, Qasabat al `Uzayr, Azair, Al Ezaire, Al-Ezair, Ezra] is located in Maysam Governorat, about 375 Km south of Baghdad. Its remarkable sights
included the Shrine of Ezra the Prophet or Scribe (Ezra Ha'Sofer). The Shrine of Ezra the Scribe is located in Southern Iraq on the bank of the Tigris. The history record of
the Shrine of Ezra near Basra goes back to 457-432 BC.
There's a very ancient tradition which is probably true, that the prophet is buried here, but the actual shrine is new. In the 5th century BC, the Prophet Ezra recorded the
Bible, changed the Hebrew alphabet to the current square script, introduced the Synagogue as the place of worship in lieu of the Temple and later led an Aliyah to Jerusalem.
It was said of Ezra that if the Torah had not been given to Moses, Ezra would have been worthy to receive it. The Prophet Ezra (also known as Uraha) was held in high esteem
by both Jews and Muslims, the principal inhabitants of the area besides Babylonian Jewish Christians.
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From The Scribe:
Ezra, the son of a priest, set about to restore Jewish life in the land and was responsible, to a large extent, for codifying various aspects of Jewish practice, helping create
the weekly division of Torah portions, for example. He died in Persia, according to historical sources, which could explain his being buried in southern Iraq, near the border
with Iran.
The tomb, is located on the bank of the muddy and fast-flowing Tigris River in a town called Al-Uzayr, some 250 miles south of Baghdad. Al Uzayr, like Kifl, is a run-down
place filled with mud brick homes, its main street lined with peddlers selling vegetables and live chickens. The shrine of Ezra sticks out among the drabness, topped with a
blue-tiled dome and enclosed with a high cement wall that has what seems like a small minaret rising from one corner.
Zayir Zahlan, an 80-year-old man in a grayish robe and white keffiya, has been watching the tomb since the last Jewish family left town in 1950. Zahlan, who has a white beard
and cloudy eyes, said he had guarded the shrine during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, when most people had fled Al Uzayr, which was close to the front. He stayed there as well
during the 1991 Gulf War and during the most recent fighting, he said; "I saw the prophet [Ezra] in a dream, arid he told me: Don't leave me, and I won't leave you'."
The 250-year-old building was renovated two years ago with help from the Saddam government. Less ornate than Ezekiel's tomb, it also has a front room that leads into a domed
chamber holding a large tomb covered in green cloth. The dome, painted white with blue outlines, has the name of God, YHWH, written in large Hebrew letters on one side. Next
door to the shrine stands what used to be a synagogue. White plastic lawn chairs were lined up against the walls of the room, which is used as an Islamic study center now.
The caretaker and his grandson, a 25-year-old Shiite imam with a wispy black beard, pointed to a large patched segment of the brick ceiling. An Iranian rocket came through that spot
during the 1980s, tearing a hole in the ceiling but not exploding, they said. I asked if any old books remained from the time when the building was a synagogue. No, said the young
imam, but we do have another book.
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Death of Ezra the Scribe
The Tenth of Tivet by Aish.Com
The ninth day of Tevet is held to be the day of the death of Ezra the Scribe. This great Jew is comparable even to Moses in the eyes of the Talmud. "If the Torah had not been granted through Moses, it could have been granted to Israel through Ezra." Ezra led the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. It was under his direction and inspiration, together with the help of the court Jew, Nechemiah, that the Second Temple was built, albeit originally in a much more modest scale and style than the grandeur of Solomon's Temple.
Ezra also renewed the covenant of Moses between Israel and God, staunched the flow of intermarriage that afflicted the Jews returning to Jerusalem, strengthened public and private Sabbath observance, and created the necessary schools and intellectual tools for the furtherance of the knowledge and development of the Oral Law of Sinai within the Jewish people.
A man of incorruptible character, great compassion, deep vision and erudition and inspirational charisma, Ezra the Scribe is responsible for the survival of Judaism and the Jews till this very
day. It is no wonder therefore that Jews marked the day of his death as a sad day on the Jewish calendar. Since fasting on the eighth, ninth and 10th days of Tevet consecutively would be
unreasonable, the events of the eighth and ninth were subsumed into the fast day of the Tenth of Tevet.
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More to come over the spring season....
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