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Persian Jews (also called Iranian Jews) are members of Jewish communities living in Iran and throughout the former greatest extents of the Persian Empire, The term is also used in reference to the descendants of these groups in primarily residing in Israel and the United States.

In Iran, Judaism is the second oldest religion still existing (after Zoroastrianism) and it has a long and varied history in the region. Today, the largest groups of Persian Jews are found in Israel (75,000 in 1993 and the United States (45,000) (especially in the Los Angeles area, home to a large concentration of expatriate Iranians). By various estimates, between 11,000 and 40,000 Jews remain in Iran, mostly in Tehran, Isfahan and Hamedan. There are also smaller communities in Western Europe, Australia, and Canada. A number of groups of Persian Jews have split off since ancient times, to the extent that they are now recognized as separate communities, such as the Bukharan Jews and Mountain Jews.

History

Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years, since the first Jewish diaspora when Shalmaneser V conquered the (Northern) Kingdom of Israel (722 BCE) and sent the Israelites into captivity at Khorasan. In 586 BCE, the Babylonians expelled large populations of Jews from Judea to the Babylonian captivity.

Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. The Persian Jewish communities include the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still extant) communities not only of Iran, but of parts of what is now Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, northwestern India, Kirgizstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Some of the communities have been isolated from other Jewish communities, to the extent that their classification as "Persian Jews" is a matter of linguistic or geographical convenience rather than actual historical relationship with one another. During the peak of the Persian Empire, Jews are thought to have comprised as much as 20% of the population.

Cyrus the Great and Jews

Three times during the 6th century BCE, the Jews (Hebrews) of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. These three separate occasions are mentioned (Jeremiah 52:28-30). The first was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, when the temple of Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed. After eleven years (in the reign of Zedekiah) a fresh rising of the Judaeans occurred; the city was razed to the ground, and a further deportation ensued. Finally, five years later, Jeremiah records a third captivity. After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus the Great gave the Jews permission to return to their native land (537 BCE), and more than forty thousand are said to have availed themselves of the privilege, (See Jehoiakim; Ezra; Nehemiah Jews, and Cyrus Cylinder).

Parthian period

Jewish sources contain no mention of "Parthian" (Old Persian: Parthava, akin to Persia) influence; the very name Parthia does not occur, unless indeed "Parthian" is meant by "Persian" which occurs now and then. The Armenian prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces as well (I Macc. xv. 22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces. Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince; the Syrian king, Antiochus Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I., against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BC) at the River Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks. In 40 BC the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II., fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears in order to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of Palestine. But the reverse was to come about: the Palestinians received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Still in religious matters the Babylonians, as indeed the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon Palestine. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals.

The Parthian Empire (Persian: Ashkanian) was an enduring empire that was based on a loosely configured system of vassal kings. Certainly this lack of a rigidly centralized rule over the empire had its draw backs, such as the rise of a Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai). Yet, the tolerance of the Arsacid dynasty was as legendry as the first Persian dynasty, the Achaemenids. There is even an account that indicates the conversion of a small number of Parthian vassal kings of Adiabene to Judaism. These instances and others show not only the tolerance of Parthian kings, but is also a testament to the extent at which the Parthians saw themselves as the heir to the preceding empire of Cyrus the Great. So protective were the Parthians of the minority over whom they ruled, that an old Jewish saying indicates, “When you see a Parthian charger tied up to a tomb-stone in Palestine, the hour of the Messiah will be near”. The Babylonian Jews wanted to fight in common cause with their Palestinian brethren against Vespasian; but it was not until the Romans waged war under Trajan against Parthia that they made their hatred felt; so, that it was in a great measure owing to the revolt of the Babylonian Jews that the Romans did not become masters of Babylonia too. Philo speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after the destruction of Jerusalem. Accustomed in Jerusalem from early times to look to the east for help, and aware, as the Roman procurator Petronius was, that the Jews of Babylon could render effectual assistance, Babylonia became with the fall of Jerusalem the very bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the Bar Kochba revolt no doubt added to the number of Jewish refugees in Babylon.

In the continuous struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Parthians: their protectors. Possibly it was recognition of services thus rendered by the Jews of Babylonia, and by the Davidic house especially, that induced the Parthian kings to elevate the princes of the Exile, who till then had been little more than mere collectors of revenue, to the dignity of real princes, called Resh Galuta. Thus, then, the numerous Jewish subjects were provided with a central authority which assured an undisturbed development of their own internal affairs.

Sassanid period (225-634)

By 225 BC, Persian influences was on the rise again. Ardashir I destroyed the rule of the Arsacids in the winter of 226 BC, and founded the illustrious dynasty of the Sassanids. Different from the Parthian rulers, who in language and religion inclined toward Hellenism, the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the Pahlavi language, and restored with zeal the old monolithic religion of the Zoroastrianism, founded upon worship of Ahura Mazda, which now, under the favoring influence of the government, attained the zeal of conservatism.

Shapur I (Shvor Malka, which is the Aramaic form of the name) was friend to the Jews. His friendship with Shmuel gained many advantages for the Jewish community. Shapur II's mother was Jewish, and this gave Jews community a relative freedom of religion and many advantages. He was also friend of a Babylonian rabbi in the Talmud named Raba (Talmud), Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the Jews in the Persian Empire. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shaput King" because of his bright and quick intellect.

Of course, both Christians and Jews suffered occasional persecution; but the latter, dwelling in more compact masses in cities like Isfahan, were not exposed to such general persecutions as broke out against the more isolated Christians. Generally, this was a period of occasional persecutions for the Jews, followed by long periods of benign neglect in which Jewish learning thrived.

Early Islamic period (634-1255)

After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, were assigned the status of dhimmis, inferior subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis were allowed to practice their religion, but were forced to pay taxes (jizya, a poll tax, and initially also kharaj, a land tax) in favor of the Arab Muslim conquerors. Dhimmis were also required to submit to a number of social and legal disabilities; they were prohibited from bearing arms, riding horses, testifying in courts in cases involving a Muslim, and frequently required to wear clothings, clearly distinguishing them from Muslims. Although some of these restrictions were sometimes relaxed, the overall condition of inequality remained in force until the Mongol invasion.

Mongol rule (1256-1318)

In 1255, Mongols led by Hulagu Khan began a charge on Persia, and in 1257 they captured Baghdad putiing an end to the Abbasid caliphate. In Persia and surrounding areas, the Mongols established a division of the Mongol Empire known as Ilkhanate. Because in Ilkhanate all religions were considered equal, Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis. One of the Ilkhanate rulers, Arghun Khan even prefered Jews and Christians for the administrative positions and appointed Sa'd al-Daula, a Jew, as his vizier. The appointed, however, provoked resentment from the Muslim clergy, and after Arghun's death in 1291, al-Daula was murdered and Persian Jews suffered a period of violent persecutions from the Muslim populace instigated by the clergy. The contemporary Christian historian Bar Hebraeus wrote that the violence commited against the Jews during that period "neither tongue can utter, nor the pen write down".

Ghazan Khan's conversion to Islam in 1295 heralded for Persian Jews a pronounced turn for the worse, as they were once again relegated to the status of dhimmis. Öljeitü, Ghazan Khan's successor, destroyed many synagogues and decreed that Jews had to wear a distinctive mark on their heads; Christians endured similar persecutions. Under pressure, some Jews converted to Islam. The most famous such convert was Rashid al-Din, a physician, historian and statesman, who adopted Islam in order to advance his career at Öljeitü's court. However, in 1318 he was executed on fake charges of poisoning Öljeitü and for several days crowds had been carrying his head around his native city of Tabriz, chanting "This is the head of the Jew who abused the name of God; may God's curse be upon him!" About 100 years later, Miranshah destroyed Rashid al-Din's tomb, and his remains were reburied at the Jewish cemetery. Rashid al-Din's case illustrates a pattern that differentiated the treatment of Jewish converts in Persia from their treatment in other Muslim lands, except North Africa. In most Muslim countries, converts were welcomed and easily assimilated into the Muslim population. In Persia, however, according to Bernard Lewis and David Littman, Jewish converts were usually stigmatized on the account of their Jewish ancestry for many generations.

Safavid and Qajar dynasties (1502-1925)

Further deterioration in the treatment of Persian Jews occurred during the reign of the Safavids who proclaimed Shi'a Islam the state religion. Shi'ism assigns great importance to the issues of ritual purity — tahara, and non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean — najis — so that physical contact with them would require Shi'as to undertake ritual purification before doing regular prayers. Thus, Persian rulers, and to an even larger extent, the populace, sought to limit physical contact between Muslims and Jews. Jews were not allowed to attend public baths with Muslims or even to go outside in rain or snow, ostensibly because some impurity could be washed from them upon a Muslim.

The reign of Shah Abbas I (1588–1629) was initially benign; Jews prospered throughout Persia and were even encouraged to settle in Isfahan, which was made a new capital. However, toward the end of his rule, the treatment of Jews became harsher, upon advice from a Jewish convert and Shi'a clergy, the shah forced Jews to wear a distinctive badge on clothing and headgear. In 1656, all Jews were expelled from Isfahan because of the common belief of their impurity and forced to convert to Islam. However, according to David Littman, as it became known that the converts continued to practice Judaism in secret and because the treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews, in 1661 they were allowed to revert to Judaism, but were still required to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothings.

Under Sunni Muslim Nadir Shah (1736–1747), who abolished Shi'a Islam as state religion, Jews experienced a period of relative tolerance when they were allowed to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad. Yet, the advent of a Shi'a Qajar dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions. Bernard Lewis reports that in the middle of the 19th century, a European traveller wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "...they are obliged to live in a separate part of town...; for they are considered as unclean creatures... Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt... For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans... If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults. The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him... unmercifully... If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods... Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them... Sometimes the Persians intrude into the dwellings of the Jews and take possession of whatever please them. Should the owner make the least opposition in defense of his property, he incurs the danger of atoning for it with his life... If... a Jew shows himself in the street during the three days of the Katel (Muharram)..., he is sure to be murdered."

The 19th century was marked by a wave of forced conversions and massacres, usually inspired by the Shi'a clergy, according to David Littman and Bernard Lewis. A reprentative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from Tehran in 1894: "...every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews". . In 1830, all the Jews of Tabriz were massacred by having their throats slit; the same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of Shiraz. In 1839, Jews were massacred in Mashhad and survivors were forcibly converted. However, European travellers later reported that the Jews of Tabriz and Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. Jews of Barforush were forcibly converted in 1866; when they were allowed to revert to Judaism thanks to an intervention by the French and British ambassadors, a mob killed 18 Jews of Barforush, burning two of them alive. In 1910, the Jews of Shiraz were accused of ritual murder of a Muslim girl. Muslim dwellers of the city plundered the whole Jewish quarter, the first to start looting were the soldiers sent by the local governor to defend the Jews against the enraged mob. Twelve Jews, who tried to defend their property, were killed, and many others were injured. Representatives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle recorded other numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Persian Jews.

Littman concludes that driven by persecutions, thousands of Persian Jews emigrated to Palestine in the late 19th – early 20th century.

After 1979

At the time of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there were approximately 100,000 Jews living in Iran, the historical center of Persian Jewry. Over 85% have since moved to either Israel or the United States. At the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, 80,000 still remained in Iran. From then on, Jewish emigration from Iran turned into a mass exodus, reducing the community's population to less than 40,000 today, with around 25,000 residing in Tehran. However, Iran's Jewish community still remains the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel.

Persian Jewish communities in other countries have suffered even greater declines. In Afghanistan, most Persian Jews fled the country after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Only one known individual from the original community remains. The community in Pakistan, where the state religion is Islam, has dwindled to less than 200. Persian Jewish communities in what is now India, on the other hand, have avoided such persecutions. Known as Baghdadi Jews, they have resided for millennia in the Rann of Kutch region as well as Bombay, most have chosen to emigrate to Israel since 1948.

Current status in Iran

Iran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and as with Zoroastrians, they are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament. Maurice Motamed has been the Jewish MP since 2000, and was re-elected again in 2004.

Languages

Most Persian Jews speak Persian, but various Jewish languages have been associated with the community over time. They include:

• Dzhidi (Judæo-Persian)
• Bukhori (Judæo-Bukharic)
• Judæo-Golpaygani
• Judæo-Kermani
• Judæo-Shirazi
• Judæo-Esfahani
• Judæo-Hamedani
• Judæo-Kashani
• Judæo-Borujerdi
• Judæo-Nehevandi
• Judæo-Khunsari
• Judæo-Yazdi
• Juhuri language (Judæo-Tat)

Terminology

Today the term Iranian Jews is mostly used to refer to Jews from the country of Iran, but in various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used to refer to Jews who speak various Iranian languages. Persians in Israel (many of whom are Jewish) are referred to as Parsim (Template:Lang-he meaning "Persians"). Jews in Iran (and Jewish people in general) are referred to by two common terms: Kalimi, which is considered the most proper term, and Yahudi, which is less formal.

Famous Persian Jews

• Esther
• David Alliance
• Meulana Shahin Shirazi
• Moshe Katsav
• Shaul Mofaz
• Soleiman Haim
• Benjamin Nahawandi
• Morteza Ney Dawood

See also

• Bukharan Jews
• History of the Jews in Iraq
• History of the Jews in Afghanistan
• Iran-Israel relations
• Iranian festivals
• Jews in India
• List of Asian Jews
• Islam and Judaism
• Persian people
• Purim
• Religious minorities in Iran

Notes

1. Template:Harvard reference. In recent years, Persian Jews have been well-assimilated into the Israeli population, so that more accurate data is hard to obtain.
2. Littman (1979), pp. 2–3
3. ^ Littman (1979), p. 3
4. Lewis (1984), pp. 100–101
5. Lewis (1984), pp. 33–34
6. Lewis (1984), pp. 181–183
7. Littman (1979), p. 10
8. Littman (1979), p. 4
9. Lewis (1984), p. 168
10. Littman (1979), pp. 12–14
11. Lewis (1984), p. 183
12. Littman (1979), p. 5

References

• Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691008078.
• Littman, David (1979). "Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia," The Wiener Library Bulletin, Vol. XXXII

External links

• History of the Iranian Jews
• TEHRAN JEWISH COMMITTEE (IRAN)
• The Jews of Iraq
• Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran
• The invisible Iranians
• Jews in Iran Describe Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions
• The Jewish Virtual Library's Iranian Jews page
• International Religious Freedom Report, 2001. Iran at US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
• Parthia (Old Persian Parthava)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Persian Jews
• History of Iran
• Iranian peoples
• Persian people
• Jewish history
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