The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century (Brill's Series in Jewish
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The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century Brill’s Series in Jewish Studies General Editor David S. Katz (Tel Aviv) VOLUME 40 The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century Aspects of History, Community, and Culture by David Yeroushalmi LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 This publication sponsored in part by The Graduate Society Foundation of Los Angeles. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Jews of Iran in the nineteenth century : aspects of history, community, and culture / edited by David Yeroushalmi. p. cm. — (Brill’s series in Jewish studies ; v. 40) ISBN 978-90-04-15288-5 (alk. paper) 1. Jews—Iran—History—19th century. 2. Jews—Iran—Social conditions—19th century. 3. Iran—Ethnic relations. I. Yeroushalmi, David. DS135.I65J49 2008 305.892’405509034—dc22 2008035818 ISSN 0926-2261 ISBN 978 90 04 15288 5 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. 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Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands To Mattan and Judy with Love CONTENTS Acknowledgments ....................................................................... xiii List of Abbreviations .................................................................. xv Note on Transliteration and Style .............................................. xvii Introduction and Background .................................................... xix SECTION I LEGAL POSITION AND GENERAL CONDITION Source 1 Regarding the Legal Position of Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (Ahl-i Kitab) within the Shiite State, according to Jamii-i Abbasi ....................................................... 3 Source 2 The Condition and Disabilities of the Jews in Iran in the 1850s, according to the Jewish Explorer I.J. Benjamin, Known as Benjamin II ......................................... 11 Source 3 On the Legal and Actual Condition of the Jews of Iran in the Year 1873, as Reported in The Jewish Chronicle of London on September 12, 1873 ....................................... 18 Source 4 The Jews of Iran in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, as Observed by Dr. Jacob E. Polak ........................................ 24 Source 5 The State of the Jews in Iran in 1876, as Refl ected in the Report of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1876–7) ................................................................................... 36 Source 6 The Jews of Iran in the Year 1888, as Reported by Morris Cohen, Educator and Communal Offi ceholder in the Jewish Community of Baghdad .................................. 42 Source 7 Regarding the Proper Manners of Association with Unbelievers and Adversaries .......................................... 46 viii contents Source 8 Jews in the Eyes of the City Mob, as Refl ected in a Street Song that was Chanted in Tehran towards the End of the Nineteenth Century ............................................. 51 Source 9 The Jews of Yazd Being Forced to Dispose of the Charred Bodies of the Followers of Bāb, Massacred in 1891 ......................................................................................... 55 SECTION II DEMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFUSION Source 10 The Jewish Population of Iran in the Year 1868, according to a Report Submitted by the British Legation in Tehran on April 28, 1868 .................................................. 63 Source 11 The Demographic Size of the Jewish Communities and Settlements of Iran Following the Great Famine of 1871–2, as Reported by the Anglo-Jewish Association in 1875 ................................................................. 71 Source 12 Estimates and Figures on the Jewish Population of Iran During the Years 1889–1903, according to European Sources ................................................................... 76 SECTION III ECONOMY AND MATERIAL EXISTENCE Source 13 Jewish Trades and Occupations in Nineteenth-Century Iran According to Contemporary European Sources ................................................................... 87 Source 14 Recollections of an Itinerant Jewish Physician of Gulpaygan, Regarding the Year 1811 ................................... 97 Source 15 Jewish Minstrels and Dancers of Shiraz in 1888, as Witnessed and Described by the Late Professor E.G. Browne .................................................................................... 102 contents ix Source 16 Details of a Commercial Partnership and Dispute between Two Jewish Merchants of Yazd, ca. 1880, Referred for Judicial Decision to Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad .................................................................................. 108 SECTION IV COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION AND INNER COMMUNAL RELATIONS Source 17 The Old Synagogue in the City of Hamadan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, as Described in the Year 1850 by Dr. Abraham de Sola, Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of Montreal, Canada ................... 121 Source 18 Standard Formula Used for the Appointment of the Head of the Jewish Community (Heb. Nasi ) in the City of Urumia, ca. 1898 ............................................................... 131 Source 19 Communal Agreement Signed and Issued by the Religious Leaders of the Jewish Community of Sanandaj on 22 of Tevet 5635 (December 30, 1874) ........................... 134 SECTION V CULTURE AND EDUCATION Source 20 Jewish Culture and Education in Iran in the Nineteenth Century, according to the Late Professor Ezra Sion Melammed (1903–1994) ................................................ 141 Source 21 The Educational System in the Jewish Community of Hamadan in the 1840s, according to Dr. Abraham de Sola’s Account, Published in 1850 ............. 151 Source 22 A Passage from a Judeo-Persian Homiletic Commentary on Leviticus, Composed by Commentator and Poet Binyamin, Son of Eliyahu of Kashan, ca. 1824 ................................................................................... 158 Source 23 Song of Praise and Prayer for Sir Moses Montefi ore ............................................................................... 164 x contents SECTION VI RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL LIVES Source 24 From the Memoirs of a Learned Rabbi of Shiraz: Mulla Rahamim Melammed ha-Cohen (Sept. 16, 1864, Shiraz–Jan. 12, 1932, Jerusalem) ........................................... 173 Source 25 An Account of Pilgrims on Their Way to the Tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel (Located about 15 Kilometers to the North of Al-Najaf, in Southern Iraq ), in the Year 1809 ......................................................................................... 184 Source 26 A Question in Matters of Family Law, in the Jewish Community of Tehran, Addressed to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1898 .......................................... 187 SECTION VII ASPECTS OF LIFE AND HISTORY IN THE LARGER COMMUNITIES Source 27 The Jewish Community of Yazd in the Nineteenth Century, according to Azaria Levy, Scholar of Jewish Communities of Iran .................................................. 193 Source 28 The Jews of Shiraz in the 1890s ........................... 209 Source 29 The Jewish Community of Isfahan in the Year 1888, as Depicted by the Heads of the Community in the Hebrew Weekly Habazeleth, January 25, 1889 ....................... 232 Source 30 The Jewish Community of Kashan during the Great Famine of 1871–2: Testimony of Asher, Son of Yusef, a Native of Kashan (ca. 1872) .................................... 240 Source 31 On the Jewish Community of Tehran in the Year 1875, as Reported by the Chief Rabbi of that Community to Isaac Adolphe Crémieux, President of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, Paris ....................................................... 243 contents xi Source 32 The Jewish Community of Tehran and the Cholera Epidemic of 1892, Reported by Mirza Nurullah Hakim, in the Jewish Missionary Intelligence, London, March 1893, pp. 44–45 .......................................................... 250 Source 33 On the Condition of the Jewish Community of Hamadan in the Year 1864, according to a Letter by the Heads of that Community to Jewish Leaders and Organizations of Western Europe ......................................... 255 Source 34 Letter from the Community of Urumia with Regard to the Condition of the Jews of Western Azerbaijan in the Years 1888–1893 ....................................... 279 Source 35 Letter by the Heads of the Jewish Community of Tehran to Jewish Organizations of Europe with Regard to the State of the Community of Barfurush, Following the Pogrom in that Community in May 1866 ............................. 286 SECTION VIII MAJOR EVENTS AND PROCESSES Source 36 Earliest Reports in the Jewish Press of Western Europe Concerning the Jews of Iran and Their Hardships: The Voice of Jacob, London, April 25, 1845 ............................ 297 Source 37 Report of the British Consul in Jerusalem Concerning the Condition of Persian Immigrants in Ottoman Palestine in 1892. FO 195/1765, No. 6 ................ 306 Source