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Where EAST meets the Northwest

CULTURAL PRESERVATION. Mandaean priest Fawzi Masboob, originally of Iraq but now living in Detroit, Michigan, dons robes in preparation for a baptism before a wedding ceremony on the banks of Lake Quinsigamond, in Worcester, Massachusetts this past spring. Refugee activists are trying to raise money to build a Mandaean cultural center in Worcester or Boston so refugees can pass down their rapidly disappearing two-millennia-old religion. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #49 (December 15, 2009), page 8.

By Russell Contreras

Associated Press Writer

BOSTON — Refugee activists are developing plans to build a Mandaean cultural center somewhere in Massachusetts so the increasing number of Iraqi Mandaeans settling in the area can try to preserve their rapidly disappearing two-millennia-old religion.

Mandaean doctor Wisam Breegi said activists hope to raise $2.5 million for a cultural center in Boston or Worcester to offer job training to Mandaean refugees and teach Mandaean religion to refugee children.

Mandaeanism is a tiny, ancient religion that views John the Baptist as its great teacher. Around 60,000 Mandaeans remain in the world after fleeing Iraq and Iran because of persecution.

Breegi said a center could attract one of the world’s two dozen remaining Mandaean priests to Massachusetts, where more than 100 families have resettled, making the state home to one of the largest Mandaean settlements in the United States.

"We’re getting to be diluted and we’re going to lose our identity if we don’t do something," said Breegi, who has helped hundreds of refugees resettle in Massachusetts and is leading efforts to create a center. "It will probably take a long time, but I think we can do this."

So far, organizers are in the early stages of an effort to raise funds for a planned center that will be used to expose youth to Mandaean religion and teach Mandaean adults modern jewelry techniques, as many Mandaeans were jewelers back in Iraq.

Breegi said organizers are looking at a number of potential sites located beside a running body of water — a requirement for a Mandaean house of worship.

Passing on the religion is key to keeping Mandaean traditions alive. The religion does not allow converts, and those who marry non-Mandaeans are no longer considered Mandaean to some.

Traced to the period of the Roman Empire, experts say Mandaeanism is a branch of the Gnostic movement that doesn’t view Jesus as a Messiah, but contains Judeo-Christian elements.

In the 1990s about 70,000 Mandaeans lived in Iraq. Today, only around 3,000 or so remain and another 5,000 to 10,000 live in Iran.

Experts say old protections that once shielded Mandaeans are all but gone since Muslim extremists have gained power and stepped up efforts to kill Mandaeans or convert them by force to Islam. Experts believe the latest mass Mandaean exodus was an unintended consequence of the Iraq war.

About a quarter of the population is in refugee camps in Jordan and Syria, while others are spread throughout the world. According to the U.S. State Department, about 1,500 Iraqi Mandaeans have resettled in the United States, including close to 400 around Worcester.

Refugees have conducted a few ceremonial baptisms in local Lake Quinsigamond, a four-mile-long pond popular for rowing regattas. A Mandaean priest from Detroit also visited Worcester to perform a wedding.

Jozefina Lantz, the director of immigrant services at Lutheran Social Services in Worcester, said the population in Worcester remains close knit and is trying to re-establish a community despite the odds.

"They gravitate to each other and worry that they’re losing their religion," Lantz said. "I think a center would be fantastic and would really help them out a lot."

Nathaniel Deutsch, co-director of the Center for Jewish Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz, who is also helping with fundraising, said Hmong and Somalian refugees created similar centers after relocating to Minnesota a few years ago.

"We’re kind of following that model," Deutsch said. "A center like this would help maintain traditions, many which are 1,000 years old."

Deutsch said he was optimistic activists could raise the money, but thinks it might take a while during the economic downturn.

But Breegi fears that if it takes too long to create a center, Mandaean refugees will lose interest.

"They’ll become discouraged and will lose all faith," Breegi said. "We can’t let that happen after everything they’ve been through."