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(בית שלום in Hebrew)
The Shalom dynasty, or Mishpahath HaShalomi as they were known as until the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem around AD 70, became a symbol of Jewish longing for a return to the Land of Israel during their 2000 year exile in Mesopotamia, later Iraq. The dynasty, which had branches in Mosul and Baghdad until Iraqi Jewry was expelled in 1951, was highly regarded among Iraq's Jewish community producing noted scholars such as Rabbi Bezek Shalom and his grandson, the mystic Tsurishadai Shalom. However, the family was also widly respected in non-Jewish cirlces as several members of the dynasty were advisers and physicians to the Ottoman court in Baghdad.
The family retained its own trop for bible-reading and pronunciation of Hebrew similar to that of the ancient Israelites, characterised by the letters waw (instead of vav) and dlimmel (instead of gimmel). The family was noted for its piety and supported many charitable institutions, and may have comprised over 10 000 people in 1951.
During WWII clan leader Ovadia-Nimrod Shalom sent 5 representatives of the family to China and Japan to provide spiritual guidance to several thousand European Jews who had fled there to escape Nazi persecution in Poland. Whilst there, the Shaloms managed to protect the property of the local inhabitants from the illiterate Hao-Ming mafia gangs, which won them much admiration from local residents.
Today, Beth Shalom is mainly concentrated in Israel ( Tel Aviv and Haifa) and in London, England. Amazingly, the oldset child of each family in the dynasty has, for the last 2000 years, almost without exception, married into the dynasty, and members can trace their lineage to Joshua, who became the leader of the children of Israel after the death of Moses.
Prominent family members include Silvan ShalomSilvan Shalom (b. 1958) was appointed Foreign Minister of Israel by Ariel Sharon. First entering the Knesset in 1992, Shalom served previously as finance minister ( 2001- 2003). Born in Tunisia, to the beit shalom dynasty, Shalom immigrated to Israel in 1, the foreign minister of the State of Israel, whose grandparents emigrated to TunisiaTunisia is a Muslim Arab country situated on the North African Mediterranean coast. It borders on Algeria to the west and Libya to the south and east. El-joumhouriyya et-Tounisiyya Official language Arabic Capital Tunis President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali P from Iraq, and Television news anchor Haim Yavin married into the family, as did Scottish singer Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox (born December 25, 1954) is a singer from Aberdeen, Scotland. As a child, she attended a school for the exceptionally intelligent. She also studied the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She is best known for having been the four, and chemist Clive Pearce.