The Jewish Community of Shiraz
Shiraz
In Persian: شیراز
Capital of the former province of Fars, south Iran.
The existence of a Jewish community in Shiraz is attested by Persian and Arab geographers from the tenth century. The funeral of a great Sufi leader in Shiraz (981) was attended by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The Jerusalem-born medieval Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi (tenth century) states that there was a smaller number of Jews than Christians in the province. The Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (c.1162) described Shiraz as a large city with a Jewish population of about 10,000. With the rise in 1288 of Sad al-Dawla, the Jewish physician and vizier of Arghun Khan, the Jews of Shiraz shared in the considerable freedom enjoyed by all the communities in Persia, and likewise were affected by the persecution which swept over Mesopotamian and Persian Jewry after the death of Arghun Khan. Shiraz was the birthplace of Shahin (14th century), the pioneer of Judeo- Persian poetry, and of his successor Imrani (16th century). The persecutions of the Jews in Shiraz under the Safavids are detailed in the Judeo-Persian chronicles of Babay Ibn Lutf and Babay Ibn Farchad.
Coja Jacob Aaron, a Jewish banker and broker of the English East India Company of Basra, Iraq, went to Shiraz during the Persian occupation of Basra in 1777. In the nineteenth century most of the Jews of Shiraz were goldsmiths or storekeepers. Based on reports by European travelers and missioners, the Jewish population was estimated in the early years of the 19th century ar 400 families. In 1830 the number of Jews in Shiraz was estimated at some 3,000, but this number declined to only 500 in 1850 as at least 2,500 Jews converted to Islam because of terrible persecutions. However, the Jews of Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. In 1850 there were nine synagogues in Shiraz, and the Chief Rabbi was Mulley Israel.
During the 19th century Christian missionary activities and the Bahai movement made inroads in the Jewish community which were countered by the establishment of an Alliance Israelite Universelle school in 1904 (closed in the 1960s). Toward the end of the 19th century, many Jews from Shiraz immigrated to Eretz Israel, including the families of Rachamim Reuven Melamed and Raphael Chaim Ha-Cohen.
During the Constitutional years (1906-1911) the legal status of the Jews and some other religious minorities of Iran improved, even if only to a limited extent, however the persecutions continued for many years into the 20th century. On October 30, 1910, the Jewish quarter of Shiraz was attacked following false accusations that the Jews had ritually killed a Muslim girl. As a result 12 Jews were killed and another 50 were injured, while almost the entire quarter was robbed by the attacking mob.
Approximately 12,000-15,000 Jews lived in Shiraz in 1948.
According to the 1956 Iranian census, 8,304 Jews remained in Shiraz, which was then the second largest Jewish community in Iran. Approximately 2,000 Jews left for Israel between 1956 and 1968. Most were artisans and peddlers, but there were also merchants and moneylenders. About half the Jews received financial assistance until they left the city. Those who remained belonged to the middle classes and in the 1960s Jews began to leave their quiarter. A yeshivah with 18 pupils, a teacher's seminary with 20 pupils, and schools were run by Otzar Ha-Torah and by ORT. The former had 1,100 pupils in 1949 and 2,020 in 1961. In 1960 about 1,000 Jewish children attended government schools. The city had a branch of the Iranian Jewish women's association and the young people's association, Kanun Javanan. In 1967 the community numbered 7,000 Jews.
In 1979, on the eve of the Islamic revolution, there were 8,000 Jews living in Shiraz.
On April 2000, 13 Jews were brought to trial in Shiraz on the charge of spying for Israel. Following international outrage and pressure the last of them were eventually released in 2003. In late 2000s the number of Jews in Shiraz was estimated at about 5,000. Although there was no residing rabbi, there were over 15 active synagogues.
Nissan Cohen Melamed
(Personality)Nissan Cohen Melamed (1906-1983),cantor and composer, born in Shiraz, Iran, Cohen-Melamed immigrated to Eretz Israel with his family at the age of two. Although he was familiar with the Ashkenazi Bible cantillation and sang with the choir of cantor Shelomo Zalman Rivlin, he adopted the Jerusalem-Sephardi cantorial style from an early age. Upon settling in Tel Aviv, Cohen-Melamed was appointed cantor at the Ohel Mo’ed synagogue. In addition he taught singing in many schools in Tel Aviv and also worked for many years reading the Bible on radio broadcasts at the Kol Yerushalayim radio station, later known as Kol Israel. He was later appointed emissary to Mexico and Iran, where he was responsible for Jewish educational institutions. On his return he became head of the Academy of Sephardic Cantorial Music in Tel Aviv and teacher of Biblical cantillation and Oriental music at the Bar-Ilan Teacher’s Academy as well as at the Rubin Music Academy in Tel Aviv.
Cohen-Melamed is author of a book entitled The Maqama in Oriental Music (still unpublished). He also composed some 300 prayers and numerous songs, many of which became popular. He died in Tel Aviv.
Nasrin Cohen Pur Recounts Her Life in Shiraz, Iran, and Her Immigration to Israel, 2018
(Video)Nasrin Cohen Pur was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1954 and immigrated to Israel in 1989. Nasrin was born in a Jewish neighborhood and attended a Jewish school. She does not remember anti-Semitism or discriminatory treatment towards Jews. The community fasted once a week for a few hours for Israel. Nasrin worked as a nurse. Her husband wanted to immigrate to Israel, she didn't want to because she had a good life there and also because when she visited Israel she was shocked by the bare clothing of the women and she didn't want her daughters to dress like that when they grow up, but in the end she agreed to immigrate. The journey to Israel lasted about five months. They sold their property at a very low price and set off. From Shiraz to Teheran, from there to a border city, and from there with the help of various smugglers to Pakistan. They made the journey with their three daughters and several other young men who immigrated to Israel. They camped for two months in Pakistan, and from there they flew with the help of fake passports to Switzerland, from where they boarded a plane to Israel. On the way to Israel, a local contact of the Jewish Agency stole all the gold they brought with them. They arrived at a reception center in Ashkelon. They experienced absorption difficulties, and want to return to Iran, but it is not possible.
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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
Robert Siman Tov Recounts His Life in Shiraz, Iran, 2018
(Video)Robert Siman Tov was born in Shiraz, Iran, and immigrated to Israel in 1987 at the age of 20 along with his twin brother. The rest of the family followed them. His parents were not religious. The boys learned to read and write in Hebrew, the girls did not. Robert attended a Jewish elementary school, and then studied electronics and electricity at a vocational high school. Anti-Semitism - felt a lot of manifestations of anti-Semitism in Iran. As a teenager in high school he was called "unclean". He says that before the Islamic revolution everything in Iran was freer. They spoke a Persian language called "Judi". Robert remembers how in the central synagogue of Rabbi Baal Hanes it was forbidden to make too much noise during the reading of the Book of Esther on Purim, but he and his friends made noise anyway.
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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
Avraham Shamas Recounts His Life in Shiraz, Iran, and in Israel, 2018
(Video)Dr. Avraham Shamas was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1943. At the time this testimony was shot, he was busy writing a book about the Jews of Shiraz. He is well-versed in Iranian history and culture. Avraham is a member of a family with ten children. The family immigrated to Israel in the 1950s, but a year or two later they decided to return to Iran. They lived in a transit camp (maabara), and were not properly absorbed either in employment or in schools. In Iran, they did not return to their old home, but returned to the community and studies and a familiar environment. The parents told the children that when they reach the age of 18 can immigrate to Israel. Avraham was an excellent student, in general all Jews were the best students in schools. When he finished his studies, he was able to receive a scholarship from a benefactor in the community to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He had offers to come study in America with an excellent scholarship, but he missed Israel, and wanted to live in this country. The studies (mathematics and physics) were very demanding, and there was no Hebrew-Persian dictionary, but Avraham succeeded in his studies, and enlisted in the IDF as a mathematician, and later was an employee of the Defense Ministry.
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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
Shahnaz Azmitay Recounts Her Life in Shiraz, Iran, and in Israel, 2018
(Video)Shahnaz Azmitay was born in Shiraz, Iran. In this testimony, she tells about her life in Iran, about immigrating to Israel through Pakistan, about the difficulties of assimilation in Israel and about the customs of her family and community.
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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
Boys study Gemara at the Kowsar Jewish school, Shiraz, Iran, 1973
(Photos)Jewish school, Shiraz, Iran, 1973.
Photo: Leni Sonnenfeld
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, Sonnenfeld collection)
On the wall one can see a picture of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife, Empress Farah Pahlavi.