The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies. 40)

Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 14
List of Abbreviations......Page 16
Note on Transliteration and Style......Page 18
Introduction and Background......Page 20
SECTION I LEGAL POSITION AND GENERAL CONDITION......Page 58
Source 1 Regarding the Legal Position of Jews, C hristians, and Zoroastrians (Ahl-i Kitab) within the Shi'ite State, according to Jami'i-i 'Abbasi......Page 60
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......Page 68
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......Page 75
Source 4 The Jews of Iran in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, as Observed by Dr. Jacob E. Polak......Page 81
Source 5 The State of the Jews in Iran in 1876, as Refl ected in the Report of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1876–7)......Page 93
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......Page 99
Source 7 Regarding the Proper Manners of Association with Unbelievers and Adversaries......Page 103
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......Page 108
Source 9 The Jews of Yazd Being Forced to Dispose of the Charred Bodies of the Followers of Bäb, Massacred in 1891......Page 112
SECTION II DEMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFUSION......Page 118
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......Page 120
Source 11 The Demographic Size of the Jewish Communities and Settlements of Iran F ollowing the Great Famine of 1871–2, as Reported by the Anglo-Jewish Association in 1875......Page 128
Source 12 Estimates and Figures on the Jewish Population of Iran During the Years 1889–1903, according to European Sources......Page 133
SECTION III ECONOMY AND MATERIAL EXISTENCE......Page 142
Source 13 Jewish Trades and Occupations in Nineteenth-Century Iran According to Contemporary European Sources......Page 144
Source 14 Recollections of an Itinerant Jewish Physician of Gulpaygan, Regarding the Year 1811......Page 154
Source 15 Jewish Minstrels and Dancers of Shiraz in 1888, as Witnessed and Described by the Late Professor E.G. Browne......Page 159
Source 16 Details of a Commercial Partnership and D ispute between Two Jewish Merchants of Yazd, ca. 1880, Referred for Judicial Decision to Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad......Page 165
SECTION IV COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION AND INNER COMMUNAL RELATIONS......Page 176
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 C ongregation of Montreal, Canada......Page 178
Source 18 Standard Formula Used for the Appointment of the Head of the Jewish Community (Heb. Nasi ) in the City of Urumia, ca. 1898......Page 188
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)......Page 191
SECTION V CULTURE AND EDUCATION......Page 196
Source 20 Jewish Culture and Education in Iran in the Nineteenth Century, according to the Late P rofessor Ezra Sion Melammed (1903–1994)......Page 198
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......Page 208
Source 22 A Passage from a Judeo-Persian Homiletic Commentary on Leviticus, Composed by C ommentator and Poet Binyamin, Son of Eliyahu of Kashan, ca. 1824......Page 215
Source 23 Song of Praise and Prayer for Sir Moses Montefi ore......Page 221
SECTION VI RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL LIVES......Page 228
Source 24 From the Memoirs of a Learned Rabbi of Shiraz: Mulla Rahamim Melammed ha-Cohen (Sept. 16, 1864, Shiraz–Jan. 12, 1932, Jerusalem)......Page 230
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......Page 241
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......Page 244
SECTION VII ASPECTS OF LIFE AND HISTORY IN THE LARGER COMMUNITIES......Page 248
Source 27 The Jewish Community of Yazd in the Nineteenth Century, according to Azaria Levy, Scholar of Jewish Communities of Iran......Page 250
Source 28 The Jews of Shiraz in the 1890s......Page 266
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......Page 289
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)......Page 297
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......Page 300
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......Page 307
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......Page 312
Source 34 Letter from the Community of Urumia with Regard to the Condition of the Jews of Western Azerbaijan in the Years 1888–1893......Page 336
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......Page 343
SECTION VIII MAJOR EVENTS AND PROCESSES......Page 352
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......Page 354
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......Page 363
Source 38 The Great Famine of 1871–2 in Iran and the Beginning of Organized Activity Abroad on Behalf of Iranian Jews. From the Report of the Persian Famine Relief Fund, Published by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, London 1873, pp. 8–16......Page 378
Source 39 Presentation of Addresses to the Shah on Behalf of the Jews of Persia, The Jewish Chronicle, June 27, 1873, pp. 213–214......Page 403
Source 40 Situation of the Jews in Hamadan, in October 1892, as Reported by AJA, 22 (1892–1893), pp. 55–63......Page 440
List of Published Works Cited......Page 472
Index......Page 484