The Jews of Iran

Iran’s Jews have an interesting history. They arrived by force during the Babylonian captivity, survived the conquest by the Persians, the empire’s conversion to Islam, persecution, constant resettlement, and humorously, conflict with Ashkenazi Jews in Queens! Their customs were a mix of ancient Jewish practices couples with Persian traditions, some of which they retained, others they lost after leaving the country.

This wonderful book discusses the customs and history or Iran’s Jews, with historical scholars contributing essays in each chapter. One of the biggest issues is the Jewish community’s place in Muslim society, mainly whether they were tolerated or distrusted. Haideh Sahim, a professor of literature at Hofstra, gives an interesting background to the persecutions, using the Mashadi community as an example. The Jews of Mashad were caught in the middle of a conflict between opposing armies, one of which was anti-clergy, and since Mashad is home to a Shiite shrine, this put them into a dangerous situation. Some converted to Islam to survive, but practiced Judaism in secret. There was some benefit to the Jews’ presence in Mashad, however; the British traders, wary of being robbed by Turkumen tribesmen, needed the Jews to act as go-betweens and make loans (so they wouldn’t have to carry cash.) The British couldn’t trust the Armenians, because they had ties to Russia, who wanted to sabotage the British trade efforts. When Britain attacked Iran in the 1830’s, the Jews were blamed for it and their quarters were attacked.

Shalom Sabar, professor at Hebrew University in Israel, discusses a more positive aspect of Iranian Jewish life, namely the decorated Ketubah. For Ashkenazi Jews in Europe, and even Sephardic Jews in Italy, the fancy artistic marriage documents were for the wealthy. In Iran however, all people had them decorated. He points out that the decorate Ketubahs of Europe used the square calligraphy of the sofer, but in Iran, the writing was done in common cursive script. Calligraphy was used only for the brachot, or anything that had the name of the creator. In Iranian Ketubahs, there is also, according to him, a lack of imagery. Islam prohibits human faces, so an Iranian Ketubah would not show the bride and groom, or images of Jerusalem, or any biblical imagery. It’s only going to have vines, flowers, or decorative motifs.

I went to Yeshiva until I was 18 years old, but I never had a really well-rounded education on Judaism like I got from reading this book. If you’re studying Jewish history, this book will make you an expert, because each chapter is written by a different scholar, offering diverse theories and opinions.