This magnificent volume makes available for the first time a comprehensive history of the Jews of Iran from their earliest documented settlement in 722 B.C.E. (2 Kings 18:9-19) through the end of the twentieth century. Lavishly illustrated in full colour with more than five hundred images collected from international private and public archives, the 480 pages of this unique book comprise twenty-five articles by distinguished authors and scholars in the field of Judeo-Iranian studies. Six of the articles are historical essays that examine the status of Jews in various periods of Iran’s history from the Achæmenid Empire to the advent of the Islamic Republic. Against this historical panorama, the volume presents nineteen other articles, focusing on a variety of cultural and socio-political subjects pertinent to each historical period. The book ends with a comprehensive bibliography of Judeo-Iranian scholarship that contains over six hundred English, French, German, Hebrew and Persian books and journal articles.

To open the pages of Esther’s Children is to embark on a journey through time with this ancient family of Jews, starting with their liberation from Babylonian captivity by Cyprus the Great (539 B.C.E.) and ending with their adjustment to life in new lands after the mass exodus from Iran that was the consequence of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In the informative articles and stunning photographs of monuments, manuscripts, objects, ketubbot, and individual and family portraits that map this extraordinary odyssey, historical and cultural perspectives come together to offer new insights into the heritage and legacy of this people.

Covering a span of topics that range from the influence of Iranian Jews  in government, law, and the military to the hardship of centuries of marginalization, persecution, and forced conversions, contributors to the volume examine the tomb of Esther in Hamadan, the life of Prophet Daniel and his tomb, the contribution of Iranian Jews to Jewish theology, law, and thought in the Babylonian Talmud, Judeo-Persian literature, the notion of nejasat (religious impurity), clothing, makeup, Judeo-Persian dialects, Jewish Persian carpets, and the life cycle of birth, Bar Mitzvah, wedding, and burial customs. The forced conversion of the Jews in Mashhad, the history of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Iran, the involvement of Iranian Jews in the Zionist movement, leftist politics, and sports, and the role of women in the family are also examined in detail. The book also includes two breathtaking photo-essays: one on the mahallehs (Jewish quarters) and another on synagogues in towns throughout Iran.

Unique in its scope, Esther’s Children sheds new light on the history, culture, and heritage of Iranian Jews, and greatly enhances our understanding of their ancient culture.

 
HOUMAN SARSHAR, editor and contributor, earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University and is the director of publications at The Centre for Iranian Jewish Oral History. He is the co-editor of three volumes of The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City.

 
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction: Dissimulation and the Legacy of Esther's Children
HOUMAN SARSHAR

The Achæmenid Period
MAYER I. GRUBER

The Prophet Daniel
AMNON NETZER AND PARVIZ VARJAVAND

Esther’s Tomb
ELIAS YASSI GABBAY

The Status of Jews in the Sasanian Empire
gEO wIDENGREN

The Babylonian Talmud
RABBI OZER GLICKMAN

Toward a History of Jewish-Muslim Interaction in Medieval Iran
NEGUIN YAVARI

The Safavid Era
VERA B. MOREEN

Judeo-Persian Literature
DAVID YEROUSHALMI

The Impure Jew
HOOSHANG EBRAMI

Mahalleh
HOUMAN SARSHAR

The Anusim of Mashhad
JALEH PIRNAZAR

From Outcastes to Citizens: Jews in Qajar Iran
JANET AFARY

Clothing and Makeup
HAIDEH SAHIM

As With Moses in Egypt: Alliance Israelite Universelle Schools in Iran
FARYAR NIKBAKHT

Zionist Activities in Twentieth-Century Iran
AVI DAVIDI

Political Life: Jewish Iranian Intellectuals in Twentieth-Century Iran
SHIRIN D. DAGHIGHIAN

Iraqi Jews in Iran
ARLENE DALLALFAR

Languages and Dialects of the Jews of Iran and Afghanistan
HAIDEH SAHIM

Jewish Persian Carpets
ANTON FELTON

Life’s Events: Birth, Bar Mitzvah, Wedding, and Burial Customs
LEAH BAE

Travels through Iran: A Photo Journal
LAWRENCE D. LOEB

Sports
H.E. CHEHABI

The Pahlavi Monarchy and the Islamic Revolution
DAVID MENASHRI

Worlds Apart: Mothers, Daughters, and Family Life
ARLENE DALLALFAR

Eminent Jews of Iran: The Contributions to the History and Culture of Iran
NEIL KADISHA

Appendix: Detailed description and notes on the photographs

Bibliography

Index