Born | Bombay, India, 1941, to a Jewish family from Basra, Iraq |
Career | Based in Los Angeles since 1981; management consultant, then general contractor |
Education | B.A., Fordham University; M.A. and ABD in Islamic Studies |
Expertise | Jewish life in Basra and Baghdad; the 1948 arrests of Iraqi Jews; escape and resettlement in Israel |
Speaks to | University students, synagogues, and community audiences |
Carmella Pardo was born in Bombay, India, in 1941, where her Iraqi Jewish family had gone for safety during the Second World War. When she was two, the family returned to Basra, where her father was a senior official at the port. In 1948, when Carmella was six, officers came to their home and arrested him along with dozens of other Jewish men from the port. Accused of being both a communist and a Zionist, he was sentenced to five years of hard labor in a desert prison.
With her father in prison, Carmella's mother moved the children to Baghdad and then arranged their escape. On a cold night the small group walked for hours, were robbed of their coats and belongings, and crossed a river by boat into Iran. After waiting in Tehran, they reached Israel in January 1951, where Carmella was sent to a kibbutz and her father joined the family after his release. She later served in the Israel Defense Forces, using her knowledge of Arabic, before studying in England and then the United States.
In the United States, Carmella earned a B.A. from Fordham University and an M.A. and ABD in Islamic Studies, and taught biblical Hebrew and Arabic at NYU. She became Director of Program Development and, in 1976, National Executive Director of the American Zionist Federation. In 1981 she moved to Los Angeles as a management consultant and later worked as a general contractor for 22 years. A past president of Kehillat Maarav, she served on JIMENA's board and has spoken to students at Chabad of USC and at JIMENA's Mizrahi Shabbat.
Speaking Topics
What Carmella talks about
1. Jewish life in Basra
Growing up in a port city's Jewish community in the 1940s.
2. The 1948 arrests
Her father's arrest, trial, and imprisonment, and what it meant for Iraq's Jews.
3. Escape through Iran
A child's view of a dangerous night crossing and the journey to Israel in 1951.
4. Becoming Israeli, then American
Kibbutz life, army service, and building a career and community in the United States.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2016 | JIMENA Board of Directors |
2014 | Hosted JIMENA's Los Angeles Steering Committee at her home |
Date unconfirmed | Chabad of USC and JIMENA's Mizrahi Shabbat, Los Angeles: talks to university students |
Date unconfirmed | JIMENA Oral History and Digital Experience Project: recorded testimony |
These are a selection of Carmella’s talks. Carmella has given many more than are listed here.
Affiliations
Organizations
- Kehillat Maarav (past president)
- JIMENA (former board member)
- Jewish Community Relations Council
- B'nai B'rith
- Los Angeles and Tel Aviv partnership
- Family Readiness Committee for families of mobilized U.S. military reservists
Book Carmella
Bring this speaker to your audience
To invite Carmella Pardo to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.