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Shalom Mr. Naim Dangoor,
Kol HaKavod that you take interest in researching the Davidic lineage. It is also a subject that most interests me and I read the articles and letters in the Scribe and other sources on this subject with vigour and analysis, trying myself to gather information and research this subject during my spare time!
I have read quite often in your articles and response to letters that you claim to be the present incumbent of the Davidic lineage for e.g. in a response to letter "SIXTY GENERATIONS ROOTS TO BABYLON?", copied below, in the latest on-line edition of The Scribe:
"… "Exilarch" was the title of the head of the Jewish community in Babylon. It became extinct in the year 1270 and was revived by Mr Naim Dangoor 700 years later in the year 1970, and he is the present incumbent …. "
I would like to know how you can possibly claim that you are the present incumbent to the Exilarch unless you have
a) proof that you are from the lineage of King David either from your fathers fathers ... branch, ie. a complete paternal link or
b) you have a massoret that you are from King David's lineage from your father's father’s ... branch in a similar way that the Kohanim and Lewi'im of today claim that they are Cohanim or Lewi'im - by way of massoret passed from father to son.
That the Davidic lineage today is ambigious, unlike the Kehunah or Lewi'im (which also have some doubts), does not give right to claim the title of "Exhilarch", or "Resh Galuta", based on the fact that after 3000 years it is a high probability that all of us have King David's genes. Sure, most of us today may have his genes.... but the ONLY genes that determine whether one can be a Resh Galuta and a Mashiach are the paternal genes!!... Paternal genes that trace all the way back to the last King of Yehudah!! If throughout this genealogy there is a woman found in this link for e.g. father the son of father the son of father… the son of mother the daughter of father son of father ... son of last King of Yehudah ... then that mother invalidates the whole line of descendants born from her to be the Resh Galuta and certainly the Mashiah. If this were not case then one can have rediculous and absurd situations where a Kohen Gadol could also be the Mashiach: Kohen, being descendant of Aharon, from his father's side and descendant to King David from his mother's side!! Or even more absurd: a gerr could also be a Mashiach - if the person that wrote the letter quoted above listing all the ascendants to one of the Resh Galuta, were to become a gerr - then he could be a candidate for the Mashiach, according to your claims, as I understand it!! Moreover that you claim that the Resh Galuta ceased in 1270 due to the Mongols... certainly does not mean that there were (no) other descendants from this lineage that scattered to different places. The lineage stated in the letter above is a prime example, only we are looknig for the side that did not intermarry!! Moreover it is known that certain families have a tradition that they descend from King David.
As far as your lineage is concerned I believe that it is of prestigious Hachamim such as Hacham Ezra Dangoor and other Hachamim. I also believe that "Dangoor' is believed to be from the pasook "Dan Gur Aryeh" in the Blessing that Shevet Dan received from Moshe Rabbenu at the end of Sefer Devarim
… Perhaps you are from Shevet Dan?
However, the question is: do you have a complete paternal link, whether by proof or by massoret (Tradition), to a Resh Galuta in order to be "the present incumbent" of the Exilarch?
Shmuel R. Yossef
Petach Tiqwah, Israel.
A little about myself:
I was bom in 1970 in Sydney, Australia. I made Aliyah in 1996. I studied
in Yeshivah "Midrash Sephardi", Yerushalyim, in 1988. I am an
Electronic Engineer which is my present working profession. My
grandparents are from Baghdad. My grandmother, Rachel Joseph, has been
living in London for the past 50 years. My interests include studying
Torah, family reseach, Jewish History research with emphasis on Jews in
Arab Lands and study of those Hachamim. I am still single, and I keep our
Iraqi traditions including reading from the Sefer Torah in our tunes... !!

Shmuel R. Yossef
shmuel.yossef@starcore-dsp.com

Scribe:
1. Naim Dangoor does not claim to be the Mashiah
2. When the Mashiah comes, hopefully soon and in our days Amen, he will have to declare and demonstrate his own credential.
3. The line of Exilarchs need not to be the line of the Mashiah.
4. Mr. Dangoor occupies the position in an acting capacity to perpetuate our Babylonian tradition, and if at any time someone can demonstrate beyond all doubt of having a better lineage, then he would receive the total benefit of the Exilarch’s Foundation which has been endowed by over £25 million pounds of which £10 million has been earmarked for re- starting Jewish life in Iraq after liberation.