The Jewish Community of Mashhad
Mashhad
Farsi: مشهد ; Turkish: Meshed
A city in Iran
Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran, and the capital of the Razavi Khorasan Province. The city is located near Iran’s borders with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The eighth imam of the Shi’ites, Ali-Reza, is buried in Mashhad.
After Nadir Shah Afshar’s war with India, he brought a number of spoils back to Iran and stored them near Mashhad. As a Sunni Muslim, Nadir Shah did not trust the Shi’ites of Mashhad to guard his treasures. As a result, in 1740 he ordered that 40 Jewish families be relocated to the city of Kazvin to Mashhad and the areas surrounding. Though Jews were prohibited from living in the holy city itself, they established a community outside of the wall. Under his protection the small community began to flourish, and attracted increasing numbers of Jews from other communities in Persia. With the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747, however, the Jews of Mashhad were exposed to violence and persecution, and their situation became more precarious.
On March 27, 1839 anti-Jewish riots broke out. The Muslim population entered the Jewish Quarter and burned the synagogue. Thirty-five people were killed, and scores more were injured. The rioters and their leaders insisted that the Jews convert to Islam.
The new converts were known as Jadid al-Islam, New Muslims. These new converts were ordered to close the synagogues and schools, to abandon Jewish practices, to change their Jewish names to Muslim ones, and to participate regularly in Muslim ritual and worship.
Many of those who had been forced to convert continued practicing Judaism secretly. Others left Herat, in Afghanistan, or other nearby cities in Persia. Still more emigrated to more distant locations, including India, South Africa, London, New York, or Jerusalem.
Tensions between the Jadid al-Islam and their Muslim neighbors were high, particularly after World War II (1939-1945). The Jadid al-Islam who remained in Mashhad were the victims of riots that broke out when their neighbors suspected them of continuing to practice Judaism. Even during the Pahlavi Regime (1925-1979), when they were no longer officially required to remain Muslims, the local expectation was that they would continue to remain loyal to Islam. Nonetheless, this group of forced converts built a synagogue in Mashhad.
In 1948 there were 2,500 Jews living in Mashhad. By 1973, after waves of immigration abroad, there were only 30 Jews remaining in the city. Synagogues established by emigres from Mashhad were founded in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Milan, London, and New York.
Notable figures from Mashhad include the scholar, poet, and philosopher Siman Tov Melamed.
MASHHADI
(Family Name)MASHHADI
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birthplace, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
This name is derived from Mashhad, a city and the capital of the Razavi Khorasan Province in northeast Iran. First Jewish presence in Mashhad is documented in 1740.
Places, regions and countries of origin or residence are some of the sources of Jewish family names. But, unless the family has reliable records, names based on toponymics cannot prove the exact origin of the family.
Mashhadi is documented as a Jewish family name with Simi Mashhadi (1902 -1980), a former resident of Netanya, Israel.
Rachel Betsalely Tells About the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, 2018
(Video)Rachel Betsalely was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1940. In this testimony she tells the story of the crypto-Jewish community of Mashhad and recounts her childhood in Mashhad and then her life in Teheran from 1948 to 1963, when she immigrated to Israel.
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This testimony was produced as part of Seeing the Voices – the Israeli national project for the documentation of the heritage of Jews of Arab lands and Iran. The project was initiated by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality, in cooperation with The Heritage Wing of the Israeli Ministry of Education, The Yad Ben Zvi Institute, and The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People. The film was produced as part of the Seeing the Voices project, 2019
Yochi Sharvit Recounts Her Life in Iran and Israel, 2018
(Video)Yochi Sharvit was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1951. Her family moved to Teheran when she was four years old, and then immigrated to Israel, when she was seven. In this testimony she tells about way of life of her family in Iran and in Israel.
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This testimony was produced as part of Seeing the Voices – the Israeli national project for the documentation of the heritage of Jews of Arab lands and Iran. The project was initiated by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality, in cooperation with The Heritage Wing of the Israeli Ministry of Education, The Yad Ben Zvi Institute, and The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People. The film was produced as part of the Seeing the Voices project, 2019
Sarah Lipkin Details the Customs of the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, 2018
(Video)Sarah Lipkin was born in Tel Aviv in 1949 to parents who came from Mashhad, Iran. In this testimony, she tells about customs that she only in retrospect understood that were created to hide the religion of family members, such as a Hanukkah menorah that is made of cups filled with oil and cotton wool from which a wick is pulled, so that you can quickly get rid of the lit cotton wool if someone comes and might catch you lighting a Hanukkah menorah. She tells of a difficult life full of fear and terror, and yet that is a community that has managed to maintain its Judaism for more than a hundred years, since the middle of the 19th century, when a blood libel aroused by the Shiite Muslims living in Mashhad. The "impure" Jews are not supposed to live in this holy city, they were brought there by a Suni Shah who ruled Iran for a short time, he was afraid of the Shiites and therefore brought Jewish families to the holy city of Mashhad. After his death the Jews were exposed to threats, fear and terror. After they converted to Islam they were called Jadid al Islam.
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This testimony was produced as part of Seeing the Voices – the Israeli national project for the documentation of the heritage of Jews of Arab lands and Iran. The project was initiated by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality, in cooperation with The Heritage Wing of the Israeli Ministry of Education, The Yad Ben Zvi Institute, and The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People. The film was produced as part of the Seeing the Voices project, 2019
Rosa Nasir Recounts Her Life in Abadan, Iran, 2018
(Video)Rosa Nasir was born in Abadan, Iran, close to the border of Iraq, in 1934. Rosa's father's family originated from Iraq. She was born into a very rich family, a family of merchants. Her father and grandfather owned shops and her mother was a housewife, taking care of the family and children. Rosa attended a Muslim elementary school, and did not continue to study beyond that. When she was a teenager, from the age of 15-16, she took part in secret activities for the Jews who fled Iraq. Iran was the escape hatch for Iraqi Jews who wanted to immigrate to Israel. Rosa and her friends would wait for the escapees in the middle of the night on the shore of a lake that separated Iran and Iraq, and take them to Jewish homes of Abadan. A day or two later they would provide them with food and clothes and accompany them to the train to Tehran, from there they continued by plane to Israel. Life in Iran was good and comfortable, and the relations with the Muslims neighbors were also pleasant and fraternal. Rosa's parents, because they had a good life, did not think of immigrating to Israel. She married in Iran, and raised her family there. When the children grew up a little, they began to pressure Rosa and her husband to immigrate to Israel. In 1970 they immigrated, and their absorption in Israel was smooth. She still remembers the beauty of Iran, its culture, the respect for adults, but also thinks that she was very lucky to come to the State of Israel.
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This testimony was produced as part of Seeing the Voices – the Israeli national project for the documentation of the heritage of Jews of Arab lands and Iran. The project was initiated by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality, in cooperation with The Heritage Wing of the Israeli Ministry of Education, The Yad Ben Zvi Institute, and The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People. The film was produced as part of the Seeing the Voices project, 2019