Reconstruction of Mashadi Jewish Identity in Israel
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A Re-syncretic Embrace: Reconstruction of Mashadi Jewish Identity in Israel. Student: Lisette Flink – 6140823 Address: Harddraverstraat 46a, 3033 XM Rotterdam Email: [email protected] Subject: Master Thesis Course: Cultural Anthropology and non-Western Sociology Discipline: Religion Supervisor: Dr. F. E. Guadeloupe Second reader: Dr. C. H. Harris Third reader: Dr. V. A. de Rooij Word count: 29.375 Date: January 7, 2013 Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Amsterdam Table of content Preface p. 3 Case Study: the Deserted Mashadi Singles Party p. 4 1. Mashadi Zionism p. 15 1.1 Israeli nationalism p. 16 1.2 Memoire and histoire p. 23 1.3 Palestinian Territories p. 27 2. Love and fear p. 32 2.1 Persian culture p. 34 2.2 Islam p. 38 2.3 The Iranian state p. 44 3. The Other-Sames p. 46 3.1 Persian Jews p. 48 3.2 Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews p. 52 Conclusion p. 58 Word of thanks p. 60 Bibliography p. 61 2 Preface When I attended my first Mashadi event in Israel – a memorial of a deceased Mashadi woman – I noticed the touchy sense of pride among the Mashadi community in Israel: ‘There has been a person who did his PhD study on our community ….’ (Edmond), and the many references of the community to this PhD student, Raphael Patai, to whose book I will frequently refer: ‘It is a very beautiful book, you can have a look at it, but as you can’t buy it anymore, I don’t want to lend it out to you’ (Dalia). The Mashadi community in Israel is a warm, friendly community that is willing to share their memories on their past of forced conversion. The community seems to be slowly merging into the Israeli society. One of my informants expressed his happiness to notice the declining level of marriages among the Mashadi community, as now he feels the Jews are getting united again: ‘… I am happy to see that [the Mashadis are merging into the Israeli society], because we were away from each other for 2000 years and now … we are getting back together and on the land that is ours and we are united, which is a miracle; one big family ….’ (Edmond). All my informants are able to identify with the Mashadi Jews in Israel. Whether they are fully or half Mashadis – with a few exceptions – they all have a clear idea about or view upon the Mashadi community. I am aware that the group of informants is too small to represent the community, but the data obtained from my informants is given from a Mashadi perspective and enables me to understand the Mashadi community. Mashadis who do not feel related and/or are not entangled within the Mashadi community can distance themselves from this community rather easily. I noticed that certain Mashadi families are more involved in the community than others. Those families are often families with two parents of Mashadi descent, while families less involved to the community often know only one full Mashadi parent. I start my thesis with a case study of the Mashadi Singles Party. By this thick description of falling into an observant-participation I aim to interest the reader in this specific community. I have experienced the Mashadi community as a warm and intriguing community of which the members in daily life propagate a Jewish lifestyle. I have attempted to write my thesis according to the values of the community. I apologize for any wrong interpretation of my fieldwork data and/or my failing attempt to write down my experiences. To secure the privacy of my informants, all names are changed, except for Hilda Nissimi, doctor in general history at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel, focusing on Mashadi Jews, and David Yeroushalmi, professor in the Middle East and History at the Tel Aviv University Israel, the Persian Jews as his specific research interests, who both have allowed me to refer to their real names in my thesis, which I consider relevant to my argumentation due to their academic backgrounds. 3 Case Study: The deserted Mashadi Singles Party Hè? Why are we stopping at the synagogue? Aren’t we supposed to go to a party?! Yossi looks at my surprised face and tells that the party is in the synagogue. A party in a synagogue?! I am astonished about this unexpected turn of the evening, and wonder what the party will be like. Yossi sits next to me, trying to find a place to park the car. He has a Persian background and is in his early to mid- forties, running his parents’ curtain shop, living with his mother and hoping to find a wife to start a family with. It seems to be busy around the synagogue; are all those people in the streets Mashadis? Wow! That would be great! After parking the car, Yossi and I walk towards the main entrance of the synagogue. It is a two floor, white plastered building, with a few steps leading up to the entrance. I can hear the sound of loud music playing, it sounds like Oriental music with the stirred up rhythms and heavy beats. I also hear some chatting coming from inside; it must be busy inside. Right before we enter the synagogue, Yossi says to me ‘Ladies first’ and steps to the side. I feel uncomfortable. What to expect inside?! I see a poster of the Mashadi Singles Party on the front door, all written in English. Why is it in English? Isn’t this party meant for and organized by Mashadi Israeli’s? I enter the entrance hall. Four women are chatting in Hebrew. They are in their late fifties or early sixties, wearing trousers and casual shirts. Those women must have just dropped of their children and/or have helped organizing the party. That must be the reason why they are standing in the entrance hall. Right behind us two other women enter the hall; they are in their late sixties or early seventies, wearing similar clothes as the other women. They greet the group of women exuberantly. It seems like they haven’t seen each other for a long time. But why are they here? Will they go to the party? Where are the young people? What is the purpose of this Singles Party? I have a look at Yossi. Why did he go to the party? I assumed it had to do with his friends in the Mashadi community. But has it? I know he is single… Meanwhile a woman enters the hall from the kitchen, holding a big plate with all kinds of fruits. She walks to the group of women, trying to greet the two women who have just arrived while holding the plate. This woman is quite a bit older; she must be in her mid to late seventies. When she arrives, the women start talking in Farsi to her. Why do they talk in Farsi? Doesn’t this woman speak Hebrew? The woman with the plate of fruit moves on, going through the double doors from where the music comes. Yossi goes to the toilet and asks to wait for him in the entrance hall. Nobody seems to pay attention to me as they are busy greeting and chatting. This gives me the opportunity to properly observe the room. It is a white painted hall with several doors opening into it. In the right corner there is a small kitchen with a service hatch opening into the hall. Next to the kitchen is the warden’s small office, on the wall black-and-white photographs of people. The warden, Shaul, approaches me. 4 He is in his late seventies, wearing a dark suit and has been the warden of the synagogue since its foundation, over ten years ago. He tells about the photos, which belonged to his late father. He explains that some of the photos were actually taken in Mashad; photos of the Jadid al-Islam – the new Muslims – boys school. The other photos were taken in Jerusalem, right after his father’ arrival in the Holy land as a young adult. All photos are in black-and-white, different shapes and frames. On the left side of the entrance hall a stairs goes up, next to it the bathrooms and the cloakroom. Right in front of the main entrance is a double door. I can hear the music playing. Yossi returns from the toilet and we walk together towards the double door, we enter the party hall of the synagogue. Moshe walks directly towards me. Moshe is a Mashadi, I have met before. He is in his early seventies, wearing a kippa and married to Roya, who is just a few years younger, and also of Mashadi descent. Together they have three children, none of them married to a Mashadi, and several grandchildren. Moshe greets me and welcomes me to the party. The party? Where is everybody? And where are the young Mashadis I was promised to meet? Why are the few people at the party all seniors? I thought that this would be the right place to finally meet the youth! Do they exist at all? What am I doing here? There are just two small groups of people in the room, one of two men, the other of three women, of which one is Moshe’s wife Roya. I walk towards her; she is sitting on the front row of chairs, chatting with another woman I have met before, Bahar. Bahar is a widow, in her late seventies.