She would stop at nothing to retrieve the ancient Torah scrolls left behind decades ago in the Kurdish village, but would she succeed in her mission? Sarah Hatan, a feisty grandmother many times over, snuck herself across the Iraqi border to confront the qadi who refused to give up the holy parchment — claiming it protected him from Saddam’s wrath.
The walls of the homes still standing were plastered with colorful posters in Arabic their festive appearance clashing ironically with the desperate situation on the street. Each poster showed a smiling Saddam Hussein in army uniform holding a rifle and calling on Iraqi citizens to stand strong. And amid all this a woman was pounding on the office door of the local qadi the village’s Islamic religious judge.
Two men emerged and asked what she wanted. They weren’t used to women coming to the office on their own let alone knocking so insistently.
“Tell the qadi that Sarah Hatan from Israel wants to see him urgently” the woman announced.
A Jewish woman? From Israel? In the middle of the war? They were shocked but Qadi Ali Hassan curiosity getting the better of him ushered her in.
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