HISTORY - The Position of the Jews in Persia - JTA 1931

---------------------------------------- HISTORIC ---------------------------------------- JEWISH TELEGRAPH AGENCY ARCHIVE http://www.jta.org/1931/12/31/archive/jewish-member-of-persian-parliament-executed-after-being-kept-in-prison-for-five-years-on-charge-of Jewish Member of Persian Parliament Executed After Being Kept in Prison for Five Years December 31, 1931    Teheran (Dec. 30) After being kept in prison for more than five years, Dr. Shmuel Yeheskel Haim, who was the Jewish representative in the (Medjlis) Persian Parliament, (The Jews are entitled under the Persian Constitution to have one Deputy in Parliament) has been executed this week, it is learned to-day, on a charge of having been implicated in a conspiracy against the life of the Shah. [ ...] LEAGUE OF NATIONS COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN COGNISANCE OF ANY COMPLAINT FROM DEPUTY HAIM It has been stated that Mr. Haim’s real offence was that as a member of the Persian Parliament he had addressed a letter to the League of Nations complaining bitterly of the treatment of the Jews in Persia. The League of Nations, it was said, had addressed an enquiry on the subject to the Persian Government, whereupon the Shah sent for Deputy Haim and demanded that he should write to the League of Nations and state that everything had been put right. Deputy Haim agreed to do this on two conditions. The first was that the Chief of Police should be dismissed, and the second that the oppression of the Jews in Persia should really be stopped. The Shah resented these demands, especially, it was stated, as the Chief of Police is a close relative of His Majesty, and Deputy Haim was thrown into prison and sentenced to death for conspiracy. Deputy Shmuel Yeheskel Haim was then a young man of about 35, so that he was now at the time of his execution about 40 years of age. He was a native of Kermanshah, near the frontier of Iraq, and was educated in the schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. During the war he worked for the British Political Office in Persia, and he came to Teheran when the British forces left Persia. He was put into Parliament by the Jews of Persia in place of Dr. Loghman, a Teheran physician, who was the first Jewish representative in the Medjlis, after the proclamation of the Constitution. One Jew among 120 Moslem Deputies, it was complained, he sat down and made no attempt to raise the Jewish question, to protest against the unlawful taxation imposed upon the Jews in the Provinces, to demand that murderers of Jews who are time and again allowed to go free should be punished, that the laws which have at various times been passed in favour of Jews should not be allowed to remain a dead letters. Finally, the Jews deposed him and put Deputy Haim into his place, and Deputy Haim started a vigorous reorganisation campaign of the Jewish Communities, school committees, relief committees and the Zionist Committee. After his arrest, a prominent Persian Jew wrote of the position of his fellow-Jews in Persia – “oppressed, persecuted, treated with contempt and ignored in their own country, the Jews of Persia have been almost forgotten by the Jewries of the world, and left to their fate. No one knows of them, or cares for them, and they themselves have lost the power and the energy to do anything for themselves. Persian Jewry has become a backwater in Jewish life”. The League of Nations Office in London discredits, on enquiry by the J.T.A., the suggestion that Deputy Haim’s arrest was brought about as a result of the League of Nations addressing an enquiry to the Persian Government on the subject of a letter sent by him to the League complaining bitterly of the treatment of the Jews in Persia. The League of Nations Office states that it has no record of the League receiving any communication from Deputy Haim, and in any case the League could not have taken any cognisance of such a communication from him, had it been received, since Persia is neither a mandated territory, nor bound by the provisions of the Minorities Treaties. If it is true that his arrest was on account of a communication which he sent to the League of Nations, it is suggested that the communication might have been intercepted by the authorities in the post, but the League of Nations could not have taken up the matter of his complaint. THE POSITION OF THE JEWS IN PERSIA Persia, once in the forefront of Jewish life, with a Jewish Queen, who figures among the heroines of Jewish history, and the happy deliverance of its Jewish population as the result of her intervention, aided by the wise Jewish statesman, Mordecai, forming the subject of world-wide annual Jewish rejoicing, is to-day a country where the condition of the Jewish population is deplorable a Jewish observer in Persia wrote recently.   [Purim] Numbering all told about 60,000 souls, the Jewish community in Persia leads a life of continual harassment and affliction, he wrote. Surrounded by a vast ocean of Mohamedanism, the Jews are looked down upon as something inferior and second rate. The standard of Jewish education is low. There are no Jewish religious schools and no Midrashim in Persia. The only Jewish religious knowledge is what is taught in the elementary schools – a little reading of the Torah and the study of Rashi for a few hours in the week, including oral translation into Persian, he continued.  [Midrashim:  are ancient Rabbinical commentaries on the Hebrew Scriptures compiled between ad 200 and 1200 & based on parables etc] [Rashi - Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, b. France 1040-1105, Biblical commentator of the Middle Ages - even today, his guidance & inspiration is sought.  Undisputed father of all commentators - more:  here] The only Jewish schools in Persia are those of the Alliance Israelite Universelle – all elementary schools, existing in Teheran, Hamadan, Shiraz, Isfahan and one or two other large cities. At first they were almost entirely supported by the Alliance, the local Jewish communities contributing a small sum annually. The Alliance fed and clothed the children and supplied them with books. The Alliance has done a great deal of important work on behalf of the Jews of Persia. Its schools have instilled a certain amount of education among them, which they would otherwise not have had. And it has prepared the way for those who wish to follow up their studies by enrolling in non-Jewish secondary schools, where they have to pay heavy fees, but afterwards, when they have graduated, they are able to take up important and highly paid positions. The Jews of Persia have lived in the country for over two thousand years. The majority of them are the descendants of those Jews who were content with conditions in Persia at the time of the restoration of the Second Temple by Ezra and stayed in the country, or of those who were taken to Persia after the destruction of the Second Temple. But for centuries their condition has been pitiable, and for centuries they have been looking forward with yearning to a return to Palestine. They are constantly subjected to persecution and ill-treatment by their Moslem fellow-citizens, and massacres have been frequent in the past. In the army the Jews are not allowed to serve in any except the lowest ranks, and in many of the higher schools only Moslems are admitted. In Meshed, there are also a large number of Marranos, Jews, who, because of the persecution have outwardly adopted Islam, he concluded. In 1929, however, a report was published in Paris, which said that the legal, political and economic condition of the Jews in Persia had greatly improved since the inauguration of the new regime. The Jews, who before the new constitutional era were treated like helots, being oppressed and maltreated, and barred from all but the lowest types of occupation, it said, are now under the new Constitution and with the advantages of the big economic progress which Persia has made since the war, able to engage in more honourable professions. Jewish merchants have erected big modern business houses in the main streets of Teheran, and act as middlemen in promoting trade with Europe. Jews are establishing printing presses. Large numbers of Jews are doctors and apothecaries. There are many Jews who are engaged in artisanship, especially in tailoring, and Government positions are also open to Jews. The wealthier Jews are leaving the ghetto of Teheran and settling in the European quarters. Jewish children attend the Persian and foreign secondary and high schools. Under the Constitution, the Persian Jew enjoys the same rights and privileges as any other Persian citizen, with the sole exception, that like every non-Moslem, he cannot become a member of the Government. Since conscription was introduced, young Jews serve in the army, which was previously closed to Jews.  [The helots - were a subjugated population group that formed the main population of Laconia and Messenia (areas ruled by Sparta).  Helot, a state-owned serf of the ancient Spartans.  Reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians. / wikipedia & britannica] Rabbi Kornfeld, who was United States Minister to Persia until 1924, told the J.T.A. in New York when he returned at the end of his period of office that with regard to the economic condition of the Jews of Persia, they were neither better nor worse off than the non-Jews. The majority of the 80,000 Jews in Persia, he said, earn their livelihood by peddling, merchandise of all sorts from house to house, or working as artisans at trades such as carpet-weaving, woodwork, etc. But the country suffers from lack of industrial development, so that, the Jews as well as the non-Jews are necessarily confined to a limited number of occupations. Conversion to Mohamedanism, which was greatly in vogue in past years, had of late been decreasing steadily, and occurs to-day very rarely, Rabbi Kornfeld said, attributing this to the influence of the Alliance Israelite, which he said was doing a wonderful work for the Persian Jews. The Persian Jews, he added, are enthusiastic believers in Palestine. The work of the Zionist Federation in Persia, which had been interrupted for several years since the arrest of Deputy Haim, was resumed in January 1929, following a visit paid to the country by Mr. J. Mopelowitz, of Palestine. http://www.jta.org/1931/12/31/archive/jewish-member-of-persian-parliament-executed-after-being-kept-in-prison-for-five-years-on-charge-of ---------------------------------------- COMMENT Discovered this old article when I was surfing for information on a Czechoslovakian family of industrialists that was mentioned in yet another repository of information that caught my attention. I think this is relevant to lots of things that are happening today, in terms of immigration, humanitarianism, international law, human rights and a host of related topics.  Plus I like checking out history.  It doesn't look as though anybody has created a Wikipedia page for Dr. Shmuel Yeheskel Haim, although I think he might deserve one.  His story sounds intriguing. Was he really just a member of the Jewish community that was appointed as a Jewish representative to Persian parliament, in the hope of improving conditions; was he perhaps an agent for outside forces (for example, perhaps the British, for whom he had previously worked), or was he really involved in a plot against the Shah? Right now, I've got gazillions of windows open, and no more workspace and (or mental capacity ... lol) to keep track of additional search windows on the Dr Shmuel Yeheskel Haim story. What I've looked at so far has been really exciting. Apart from feeling like I could look at archived news forever because it's fascinating, it's a small slice of being there -- almost in time and in history, as if you've taken a time capsule back to 1931.  Find that so amazing.  It's like almost -- but not quite -- touching the past. Being an archived newspaper story,  it's probably a piece of persuasion of its day; it's a slice of history in itself; it is also history from the perspective at the time, as it looks back on history in the article; it's politics of the day, and much more. It's an interesting article also because it is about being strangers in a strange land, although there is a 2,000 year connection with that land; it's about being an out-group as well an in-group; about migration and about conditions for those that belong to a non-ethnic group; it's conditions in Persia during the time of the biblical Queen Esther (a fable, perhaps?) -- which are conditions almost echoed in Europe from perhaps the 10th Century (if not earlier), that reverberate in Persia of the 1930s and in the Europe of the 1930s. In Persia of the early 1930s, the British forces have pulled out following a war (unfamiliar with the history). A new constitution was in place.  A 1929 report published in Paris indicated that conditions had greatly improved. Previous negative conditions for Persian Jews are described as follows: -- barred from all except the lowest of occupations -- unlawfully taxed (in provinces) -- murdered (no punishment) -- an absence of Jewish schools -- not permitted to serve in anything but lowest ranks of army -- reports of ill treatment -- previous massacres -- conversions to Islam to avoid persecution -- not admitted to higher schools -- heavy fees for secondary schools However, as at 1924, Rabbi Kornfeld US Minister to Persia, made the following points: -- the economic condition of the Jews in Persia was neither better nor worse off than that of non-Jews  -- majority of 80,000 Jews in Persia sold merchandise, worked as artisans at trades  -- but there's an absence of industrial development, so occupations are limited for all The Paris report 1929 indicated: -- improved conditions -- able to engage in professions -- act as middlemen in trade with Europe -- establishing Persian printing presses -- large numbers of Jewish doctors & chemists -- many Jewish artisans, esp. tailors -- same rights as non-Jews pursuant constitution -- children attend Persian & foreign secondary & high schools -- sole sole exception (like all non-Muslim):  cannot enter govt -- contradiction about army:  now can serve where previously closed   (note: army was previously open, but at lowly rank) NOTE:  contradiction 60,000 or 80,000 Jewish community in Persia     {probably bad document scan} Difficult to make out what is going on, without knowing the historical particulars of that time and of the Jewish time in Persia generally. Jews had lived in Persia for over 2,000 years, but it's unclear if this is continuous, unbroken residence -- but I'm guessing it was, unless there were expulsions. Conditions were good enough at the time of restoration of the Second Temple for a community to remain in Persia, but the conditions may not have been so good around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple (I think that was around 70 AD ... when the Romans destroyed the temple, but it doesn't make sense being taken to Persia (I don't think Persia was under Roman control ... look up job)). It's interesting how circumstances and fortunes change over time.  There must have been ups and downs over that 2,000 years, and it's the presumably more recent (to 1930s) disadvantages that are discussed in the article. Without background knowledge, it's hard to say how bad the conditions may have been, or whether this article may have been written for political purposes of the time:  ie to further the Zionist cause. Purpose?  Perhaps:  benefactors, outreach workers, education etc; political pressure, lobbying; furtherance of Zionist cause?  Hard to say. Alliance Israelite Universelle sounds interesting.  I'd recently read a little about the Chabad movement, and it almost sounds like that same outreach movement happening out there in Persia in the early 1930s ... only that's a couple of decades ahead of the Chabad rabbi. No.  The Chabad outreach was/is religious & welfare outreach, with an emphasis on the religious I think (& getting Jews back into the fold).  The AIU was more about education in preparation for a secular world of professions, I think, although it would have the side benefit, I guess, of keeping people within the fold of the community and religion:  hence the fewer conversions as conditions improved in Persia. ---------------------------------------- Alliance Israélite Universelle (ie World Israelite Alliance) -- Paris-based international Jewish organization -- founded in 1860 -- French statesman Adolphe Crémieux -- to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world -- for Jewish self-defence & self-sufficiency -- through education & professional development -- motto:  Jewish rabbinic injunction Kol yisrael arevim ze laze -- motto:  'All Jews bear responsibility for one another' -- ie:  כל ישראל ערבים זה לאיזה / All Israel Responsible For Each Other -- 1860s, commenced make-overs in Middle East, thru French education + culture -- emancipation of Jews from oppressive & discriminating laws, political disabilities -- campaign of education through the press / re history and life of the Jews --  1867:  France, Italy, Belgium + Netherlands made the renewal of existing treaties with SWITZERLAND conditional upon granting full civil & political rights to the Jews -- 1878:  Congress of Berlin / Treaty of Berlin, Alliance stipulates that Romania, Serbia & Bulgaria not to discriminate restrict civil rights on basis of religion -- 1870: Charles Netter, founding member Alliance Israélite Universelle -- receives tract of land from Ottoman Empire as gift -- Charles Netter opens Mikveh Israel agricultural school, first in a network of Jewish schools in Palestine -- many teachers educated at Alliance training schools in Turkey & France -- 1900:  100 AIU schools / 26k students -- AIU still kicking on in Israel *French & Ottomans seem good Jewish allies.   *Guessing that there was a successful Jewish community in France, Italy, Belgium & in Netherlands by the 1860s:  hence pressure on Switzerland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Isra%C3%A9lite_Universelle Isaac Adolphe Crémieux (aka Isaac Moïse) -- French-Jewish lawyer and statesman -- defender of the human rights of the Jews of France -- freemason -- b. Nîmes, France -- wealthy Jewish family -- originally:  Carpentras, commune in Southern France     -- Papal states possession until French Revolution     -- commercial site used by Greek merchants in ancient times     -- known to Romans at first as Carpentoracte Meminorum     -- renamed Forum Neronis ("Forum of Nero")     -- important centre of French Judaism     -- home to the oldest synagogue in France (1367) -- after Revolution of 1830 went to Paris -- networked, even w. King Louis Philippe -- defender of Liberal ideas, law courts & press -- eloquence --> success -- VP of Central Consistory of the Jews of France -- admin agency for all French Jews /  could transact w/ govt in name of Jews -- ref:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consistory_%28Judaism%29 -- secured decrees abolishing death penalty for political offences -- "  "  office of judge immovable --  instrumental in declaring end to slavery all French Colonies -- resigned but continued to sit in assembly after conflict w/ Republicans and Socialists breaks out in France -- 1866 Crémieux traveled to Saint Petersburg / successful defence of Jews of Saratov who had been accused in a case of blood libel -- advocated repeal of the More judaico from pre-Revolutionary France -- 'More judaico' is:   Latin for "on/by the Jewish custom" -- special form of oath, anti-Semitism / certain ceremonies -- see:  Kol Nidre prayer, recited by Jews on Yom Kippur -- note:  disabilty imposed on Jew vs Christian in court -- neither Jews nor heretics to be witnesses against Christians -- secular courts did not recognise this disability -- exceptions to disability {involved history} -- 'super Rodal' (by the Torah) accepted in civil cases -- list of mocking / humiliating rituals for oath: -- Swabia (13th Century): Jew to stand on hide of a sow or a bloody lamb -- Breslau (c. 1455): Jew to stand bareheaded & pronounce name of Yahweh -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_More_Judaico -- Crémieux decree:  secured full citizenship for Jews in French-ruled Algeria -- native Jews to become French citizens -- Muslim Arabs and Berbers were excluded -- remain under the second-class ‘indigenous’ status -- set scene for deteriorating relations b/w Muslim and Jewish -- Algerian War of Independence:  majority of Algerian Jews move to France Freemasonry -- 1818:  initiated freemason at at 'Bienfait Anonyme' (translates:  something like 'Good Deed Anonymous'  ... I'd say) -- Grand Orient de France lodge in Nîmes -- 1830:  Aide-toi le Ciel taidera (ie Help Yourself & Heaven Will Help You) lodge Paris -- 1866:  joined Suprême Conseil de France -- 1868:  33rd degree and Great Commander -- masonic career, 'managed' republicans & monarchists into working together -- died in Paris in 1880 and was buried at Montparnasse cemetery -- streets named after him:  Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa [source re above:  wikipedia] more here:  http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4747-cremieux-isaac-adolphe ---------------------------------------- Wow, that was unexpected and very interesting. 'Bienfait Anonyme' was translated to 'Good Deed Anonymous' with help of Google Translate, but it may not be exact. Had me wondering if present-day Anonymous are Freemasons or something. I think there's a whole world of undiscovered conspiracy theory about Freemans, but I don't really get it. Quick look: -- Islamic anti-masonic arguments:  anti-Semitism & anti-Zionism -- argue that Freemasonry promotes interests of Jews around world -- Masonic lodges existed in Iraq as early as 1917 -- Saddam Hussein:  death penalty for promoters re Zionist principles -- see:   financial scandals nearly bankrupted the Vatican Bank "Conspiracy theorists have long associated Freemasonry with the New World Order and the Illuminati, and state that Freemasonry as an organisation is either bent on world domination or already secretly in control of world politics." [wikipedia] -- 2009 by Justice Secretary Jack Straw, UK, ends policy disclosure judges + magistrates -- symbol:  post WWII forget-me-not flower -- first used by the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne, 1926 -- chosen for NSDAP annual charity drive, Winterhilfswerk source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry ---------------------------------------- Now I've gone completely off track. Getting back to the JTA article and the subject of mixed populations generally, what is experienced and described as oppression and persecution may well be just that. But it may also be, in part, a dominant group exercising discrimination in order to preserve or protect their group's political and other interests: eg by exclusion of 'outsider groups' from government posts, rank or certain professions. Egalitarianism means opening an 'in group' (or whoever is the dominant group) to potential domination by an 'out group' (minority or other group). Whereas discrimination between groups means society in which there is, I'm guessing, first-class and second-class citizens (ie full rights versus partial rights).  Need to read more about this, as I really don't know whether this was prevalent anywhere in history. Historically, I think, the Muslim conquest societies had a kind of first and second class system, where outsiders had to pay protection, and where foreign, conquered converts weren't exactly fully-fledged members of the 'tribe' they are adopted into, but I think they eventually came to be considered fully-fledged members over generations (but these were Muslim converts, rather than those that identify outside the main group). Might have to give this a rest, because I can't refocus on the article after all that surfing I've done.  Excuse any typos.  I've had it.  Got to ditch this & run. PS  Wonder what's inspirational about (Rashi) Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki?  That's a look-up job, if I remember. ---------------------------------------- Europa-Evropa ᛞ ᛞ