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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Persia 02 (today Iran): Tamerlane and Safawid dynasty 1502-1736

Chaos under Tamerlane - tolerance and persecution of the Jews under the Safawid Shahs - Jewish messianic movement under Shabbetai Zevi

from: Persia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 13

presented by Michael Palomino (2007)

[Campaigns under Tamerlane - Safawid dynasty with Thi'ism persecution of all other religions as "ritual uncleanliness" of nonbelievers]

<Under the Safawid Dynasty (1502-1736).

The fate of the Jews in Persia and Babylonia under Tamerlane (d. 1405), the greatest world conqueror Asia has produced after Genthis Khan, is shrouded in obscurity. It must be assumed that in the wake of the devastating campaigns which spread destruction and annihilation over all the lands of western Asia, the Jews did not escape the atrocities which Tamerlane and his army committed everywhere. The Jewish settlement were undoubtedly reduced and decimated through warfare, the intolerance of the authorities, and the fanaticism of the masses [[had absolutely bad effect]]. But that the Jewish settlements in (col. 312)

Persia, although weakened and reduced in numbers, survived these troubled centuries became evident with the emergence of a new dynasty, the Safawids. Under this dynasty the Jews once again appear on the scene, and according to European travelers of that period they were living in "all the cities of Persia" and were estimated at about 30,000.

The founders of the Safawid dynasty put the country on entirely new political and religious bases. They introduced Thi'ism as the state religion and established a hierarchy  of clergy with almost unlimited power and influence in every sphere of life. The concept of the "ritual uncleanliness" of nonbelievers, the principal cornerstone of their interconfessional relationship, made the life of the Jews in Persia a sequence of suffering and persecution. Under no other Persian dynasty was the hatred of the Jews more intense.

[Reforms and immigration movements to Persia under Shah Abbas I]

They [[the Jews in Persia]] experienced a temporary improvement under Shah *Abbas I (d. 1629) who introduced reforms in order to weaken the theocratic basis of the state and free Persia from the fetters of its all-too-powerful Shi'a clergy, and to break the political, economic, and cultural isolation of the country.

Realizing that the most urgent requirement for Persia was increased population and economic ties with the outside world, Shah Abbas fundamentally changed the policy of the state toward non-Muslims and foreigners. Far from being antagonistic, as were his predecessors, toward Europeans and nonbelievers, he encouraged the immigration of foreigners - merchants, settlers, and artisans - from neighboring countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, and also from Europe.

By granting freedom of religion and special privileges and facilities to all who were prepared to come to his territory, he was able to succeed. This liberal and tolerant attitude made Persia at that time the meeting place of European envoys, emissaries, diplomats, merchant-adventurers, and missionaries - all eager to obtain commercial, political, or religious concessions and privileges. Never before in the history of Persia's relationship with the outside world were the economic and political ties between Persia and Europe closer.

[New persecution of the Jews under Shah Abbas II - forced conversion to Islam - secret Jewish life - new tolerance of religion since 1661]

For the Jews of Persia, the second part of the 17th century was a time of great suffering and persecutions. the conception of the ritual uncleanliness of the Persian Jews, which led to the introduction of a special headgear enforced (col. 313)

persecution, a tragic parallel to the Inquisition of Spain, was regarded as more cruel than that of the time of Ahasuerus and Haman. European sources as well as the Judeo-Persian chronicles of *Babai ibn Lutf and Babai ibn Farhad describe in great detail the sufferings of the Jews during the time of Shah Abbas II. They show how in Isfahan, the capital, and in other communities the Jews were compelled to abandon their religion, how their synagogues were closed and they were led to the mosque, where they had to proclaim a public confession of Muslim faith.

After their forced conversion, they were called new Muslims; they were then, of course, freed from the payment of the poll tax and from the wearing of a special headgear or badge. Despite all the measures on the part of the Shi'a clergy to supervise the Islamization of the Jews, most of them adhered tenaciously and heroically in secret to their religion and began to live a dual life as secret Jews, repeating the phenomenon of the *Marranos in an Islamic version. The double life of these forcibly converted Jews did not escape the attention of the Persian authorities, and led finally to an edict issued in 1661 allowing the Jews to return openly to their religion.

[New persecution of the Jews under the Shahs Suleiman and Husein - Nadir Shah saving the Jews from annihilation]

When J. Fryer visited Persia a decade later (1672-81), he found the Jews "congregated on their Sabbaths, new moons, and feast days in synagogues without disturbance". Under the successors of Shah Abbas II, Shah Suleiman (d. 1694) and Shah Husein (d. 1722), the persecution and oppression of the Jews were, however, renewed, and it was only with the rise of a new and remarkable ruler, *Nadir Shah (1736-47), that the Jews of Persia were saved from complete annihilation.

COMMUNAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE.

[since 1502: Jewish communal independence from Baghdad since the Safawid government]

The establishment of Persia as a national state under the Safawid dynasty had far-reaching repercussions on Jewish community life in Persia. During the Abbasid period, the exilarch or the gaon, from his central seat in Baghdad, exerted supreme authority in all religious and cultural matters over all the Jewish communities in the far-flung Diaspora of Asia, including Persia, which then formed a part of the Eastern caliphate.

With the rise of the Safawids, the official bonds which the Persian Jewish communities might still have maintained formally with Jewish authorities outside the borders of the country were completely severed. The official representative of the Jews in Persia, the chief rabbi of Isfahan, was no longer appointed by the gaon of Baghdad as in preceding centuries, nor were Persian Jews expected or willing to support the Jewish academies in Baghdad. Persian Jews ceased to be responsible to any central Jewish leadership and their communal life was put on a purely territorial basis.

[The Jews in the Safawid capital of Isfahan]

Due to their geographic proximity to the central government and their numerical strength the Jews of Isfahan, the new capital of the Safawid dynasty, assumed the religious and cultural leadership and functioned as representatives and spokesmen for all Persian Jewry. At the head of the community of Isfahan was a nasi, who was assisted by the rabbi, mullah, or dayyan.

The nasi, who was highly respected, was responsible for the prompt payment of taxes to the local authorities. If the taxes were not paid in due time or in the due amount requested, he could be dismissed by the authorities or even imprisoned.

On the other hand, if the authorities were satisfied, the nasi would receive a sign of distinction and honor. It seems that in the time of the Safawids there existed in Isfahan, as part of the general administration, a special divan which regulated the financial affairs of the non-Muslims and examined petitions of protest, grievances, requests, or complaints from the Jews against officials of the administration.

At the head of the divans stood a high official appointed by the grand (col. 314)

vizier, sometimes assisted by a Jewish apostate who acted as adviser or spy for the authorities.

The frequent mention of a "Jewish quarter" indicates the geographical separation of the Jews from the Christian and Muslim population. The Jewish quarter housed the residences of the Jewish population, their synagogues, and schools, the mikveh, and other religious institutions.

[Synagogues in Safawid Persia - rabbinical and Karaite tradition - pilgrimages to "holy places"]

In the time of the Safawids Isfahan had at least three synagogues, while *Kashan is said to have had ten; it can be assumed that at least one synagogue existed in every Jewish settlement in Persia.

The religious life of the Jews in Safawid Persia was established on a rigid, rabbinical, traditional basis. There were also some Karaite communities, especially in Kazerun.

A typical feature in the religious life of the Persian Jews at this, and indeed at all times, was the custom of making pilgrimages to some of the Jewish "holy places" in Persia, in particular to the mausoleum of Mordecai and Esther in Hamadan, to the tomb of the prophet Daniel in Susa, and to the burial places of other biblical heroes believed to be interred on Persian soil. At this period another "holy place" came into prominence, the alleged tomb of Sarach (Serah) bat Asher in the vicinity of Isfahan at Pir Bakran.

Despite the territorial limitation, the Jews of Persia had contacts with the outside Jewish world, particularly with Erez Israel through "messengers from Zion" who toured the Jewish communities in that period, fostering the love for Zion and collecting funds for the charitable institutions in the Holy Land. Among these early shelihim were R. Moses *Alshekh (c. 1593) from Safed, Baruch Gad of Jerusalem, and above all, R. Yahuda Amram Divan (d. 1752) who repeatedly visited the Jewish communities in Persia.

[Jewish messianic movement under Shabbetai Zevi]

The messianic movement of *Shabbetai Zevi made an impact on Persian Jewry. It was in this period that the Jews began to migrate to territories outside the border of Persia to neighboring regions such as Afghanistan, Turkestan, Samarkand, and Bukhara in the east, and to Kurdistan, the Caucasus, and Egypt in the west. Persian Jews also moved (col. 315)

to India; most famous of them was *Sarmad, the Jew of Kashan, who became a fakri and a Sufi dervish.> (col. 316)

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