CarolC, thanks. We keep cross-posting!

I agree that it would be speculation to say whether his previous family members had been paid. Also speculation to imagine what "close to" means in real terms. Or whether those previous generations did anything for the synagogue. etc, etc.

Don't get me wrong; it's nice that Jews and Muslims are sometimes friends, even in Iraq. (Of course, many Jews and Muslims here in the US know this is possible, because many of us have such friends.) But such individual friendships don't eliminate oppression and hatred from others, or institutional discrimination as I pointed out in Libya, so they may not have any large-scale social effects.