Deborah (Eliyahu's mother) Kashi, Mashhad, Iran, 1928
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, Courtesy of Yitzchak Kashi
Mashhad
(Place)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.