[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The building is traditionally believed to stand on the site of an ancient synagogue built by King Jeconiah, who was exiled from the Land of Israel to Babylon in 597 BCE.

[16] Additionally, the Nehardean community founded an academy that became one of the most significant centers of Jewish learning in the Middle East by the early third century CE.

Ezekiel buried half of the soil he had collected in the bag that the defeated King Jehoiachin carried with him to Babylon for his eventual burial.

[17][18] This synagogue is considered the first of its kind in history, and Ezekiel referred to it as Kehila Kedousha, which means "Holy Community."

Jews worshipped there under the rule of the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, continuing even after Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia.

The position of Resh Galuta was abolished, and a Persian official was appointed to oversee the Jewish community, including collecting taxes.

The Jews covertly dismantled the synagogue in Babylon and transported it, along with the soil from King Jehoiachin's bag, to Baghdad, where it remained in the same spot.

In the 1920s, floodwaters from the Tigris reached the Jewish quarter, including the Great Synagogue, causing significant damage.

A British city planner, inspecting the damaged buildings, found that a wall of the synagogue had collapsed and deemed it dangerous.

These books, written on calfskin, were organic materials, and when sealed tightly underground, they could produce methane gas.

However, the community believed that the explosion was the Shekhina (divine presence) protecting the synagogue, and this interpretation became widely accepted.

According to Sami Sourani, the synagogue is now under the control of the Custodian of Absentee Property, a department of the Iraqi government that manages Jewish assets that were frozen in 1951.

It remains unclear whether the synagogue is being properly maintained or how the Iraqi government is managing Jewish properties in general.

Jews who were leaving Iraq gathered at the Massouda Shemtov synagogue before being transported by bus to Baghdad International Airport.