Encyclopaedia Judaica, v. 10 (Inz- Iz)

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  • 1. ENCYCLOPAEDIAJUDAICA

2. ENCYCLOPAEDIAJUDAICAS E C O N D E D I T I O NVOLUME 10InzIzFred Skolnik, Editor in ChiefMichael Berenbaum, Executive EditorIN ASSOCIATION WITHKETER PUBLISHING HOUSE LtD., JERUSALEM 3. ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second EditionFred Skolnik, Editor in ChiefMichael Berenbaum, Executive EditorShlomo S. (Yosh) Gafni, Editorial Project ManagerRachel Gilon, Editorial Project Planning and ControlThomson GaleGordon Macomber, PresidentFrank Menchaca, Senior Vice President and PublisherJay Flynn, PublisherHlne Potter, Publishing DirectorKeter Publishing HouseYiphtach Dekel, Chief Executive OfficerPeter Tomkins, Executive Project DirectorComplete staff listings appear in Volume 12007 Keter Publishing House Ltd.Thomson Gale is a part of The ThomsonCorporation. Thomson, Star Logo and MacmillanReference USA are trademarks and Gale is aregistered trademark used herein under license.For more information, contactMacmillan Reference USAAn imprint of Thomson Gale27500 Drake Rd.Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535Or you can visit our internet site athttp://www.gale.comALL RIGHTS RESERVEDNo part of this work covered by the copyrighthereon may be reproduced or used in any formor by any means graphic, electronic, ormechanical, including photocopying, recording,taping, web distribution, or information storageretrieval systems without the writtenpermission of the publisher.For permission to use material from thisproduct, submit your request via Web athttp://www.gale-edit.com/permissions, or youmay download our Permissions Request formand submit your request by fax or mail to:Permissions DepartmentThomson Gale27500 Drake RoadFarmington Hills, MI 48331-3535Permissions Hotline:(+1) 248-699-8006 or800-877-4253 ext. 8006Fax:(+1) 248-699-8074 or 800-762-4058Since this page cannot legibly accommodate allcopyright notices, the acknowledgments consti-tutean extension of the copyright notice.While every effort has been made to ensure thereliability of the information presented in thispublication, Thomson Gale does not guaranteethe accuracy of the data contained herein.Thomson Gale accepts no payment for listing;and inclusion in the publication of any organi-zation,agency, institution, publication, service,or individual does not imply endorsement of theeditors or publisher. Errors brought to theattention of the publisher and verified to thesatisfaction of the publisher will be corrected infuture editions.LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATAEncyclopaedia Judaica / Fred Skolnik, editor-in-chief ; Michael Berenbaum, executive editor. -- 2nd ed.v. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.Contents: v.1. Aa-Alp.ISBN 0-02-865928-7 (set hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865929-5 (vol. 1 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865930-9 (vol. 2 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865931-7 (vol. 3 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865932-5 (vol.4 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865933-3 (vol. 5 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865934-1 (vol. 6 hardcover :alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865935-X (vol. 7 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865936-8 (vol. 8 hardcover : alk. paper) --ISBN 0-02-865937-6 (vol. 9 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865938-4 (vol. 10 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865939-2 (vol. 11 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865940-6 (vol. 12 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865941-4(vol. 13 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865942-2 (vol. 14 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865943-0 (vol. 15: alk.paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865944-9 (vol. 16: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865945-7 (vol. 17: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865946-5 (vol.18: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865947-3 (vol. 19: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865948-1 (vol. 20: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865949-X (vol. 21: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865950-3 (vol. 22: alk. paper)1. Jews -- Encyclopedias. I. Skolnik, Fred. II. Berenbaum, Michael, 1945-DS102.8.E496 2007909.04924 -- dc222006020426978-0-02-865928-2 (set)978-0-02-865929-9 (vol. 1)978-0-02-865930-5 (vol. 2)978-0-02-865931-2 (vol. 3)978-0-02-865932-9 (vol. 4)978-0-02-865933-6 (vol. 5)978-0-02-865934-3 (vol. 6)978-0-02-865935-0 (vol. 7)978-0-02-865936-7 (vol. 8)978-0-02-865937-4 (vol. 9)ISBN-13:978-0-02-865938-1 (vol. 10)978-0-02-865939-8 (vol. 11)978-0-02-865940-4 (vol. 12)978-0-02-865941-1 (vol. 13)978-0-02-865942-8 (vol. 14)978-0-02-865943-5 (vol. 15)978-0-02-865944-2 (vol. 16)978-0-02-865945-9 (vol. 17)978-0-02-865946-6 (vol. 18)978-0-02-865947-3 (vol. 19)978-0-02-865948-0 (vol. 20)978-0-02-865949-7 (vol. 21)978-0-02-865950-3 (vol. 22)This title is also available as an e-bookISBN-10: 0-02-866097-8ISBN-13: 978-0-02-866097-4Contact your Thomson Gale representative for ordering information.Printed in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 4. TABLE OF CONTENTSEntries InzIz5AbbreviationsGeneral Abbreviations833Abbreviations used in Rabbinical Literature834Bibliographical Abbreviations840Transliteration Rules853Glossary856 5. INZIKH, the Introspectivist movement in American Yid-dishpoetry, arose in 1919 and centered on the literary organIn Zikh (In the Self, 192040). The founders of the move-mentincluded A. *Glanz-Leyeles, Jacob *Glatstein, and N.B.*Minkoff, who in their first volume declared: The world ex-istsand we are part of it. But for us, the world exists only as itis mirrored in us, as it touches us. The world is a nonexistentcategory, a lie, if it is not related to us. It becomes an actualityonly in and through us. In contrast to *Di Yunge, the Inzikh-istsespoused all themes, rhythms, and vocabulary, so long asthe poetry reflected the poets individuality. They declared thatfree verse and social realities must be combined, that poetryrequired the poet to look into the self (in zikh) and thus pres-enta truer image of the psyche and the world. Urbane mod-ernists,the Inzikhists considered associations and allusions asthe two most important elements of poetic expression. Dedi-catingthemselves to the Yiddish language and poetry, theypublished some of the most important poets and prose writ-ersof the 20th century.Initial letter I of the phrase In diebusunius iudicis at the beginning of theBook of Ruth from the Latin Bibleof Charles the Bald, Rheims, ninthcentury. The illumination shows Ruthand Boaz above the letter and Naomiseated in the middle of it. Paris, Bib-liothqueNationale, Ms. Lat. 1-88v. InzIzBibliography: B. Rivkin, Grunt-Tendentsn fun der YidisherLiteratur in Amerike (1948); N.B. Minkoff, Literarishe Vegn (1955); A.Glanz-Leyeles, Velt un Vort (1958); N.B. Minkof-Bukh (1959); C. Madi-son,Yiddish Literature (1968), 30611; S. Liptzin, Maturing of YiddishLiterature (1970), 4065. Add. Bibliography: B. Harshav, Ameri-can-Yiddish Poetry (1986).[Sol Liptzin / Anita Norich (2nd ed.)]IOANNINA (Janina), name of town and region in Greece,N.W. of Athens. According to an old tradition, there was aJewish community in Ioannina as early as the ninth century;the archaic Greek spoken by the Jewish inhabitants suggeststhat this may be true. During the first half of the 13th centurythe town was part of the despotate of *Epirus and the Jewishcommunity suffered from persecutions. Jewish serfs are men-tionedin two bulls, dated 1319 and 1321 respectively, issuedby Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus (12821328). Duringhis reign the emperor placed the Jews under his direct pro-tection.In 1431 when the town was taken by the Turks, thereENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 5 6. ionesco, eugnewas a sizable Jewish community, which continued to grow insucceeding generations. When Jewish refugees from Spainsettled there, they assimilated into the local Romaniot popu-lationand adopted their Greek dialect. There were two syna-gogues,one known as the old community, the other as thenew. Apulian and Sicilian Jews also settled in Ioannina andretained special circumcision and Purim customs. In 1612the Jews were falsely accused of having handed Bishop Di-onysios,the leader of a revolt, over to the Turkish authori-ties,who executed him. Ali Pasha, who was governor of thearea from 1788 to 1822, imposed a heavy tax burden on thewealthy Jews. In 1821 when the Greek rebellion broke out,some Jews found refuge in Ioannina. In 1851, the commu-nitysuffered a major blood libel. The 1869 fire ruined half theJewish shops in the market. In 1872 there were anti-Jewish ri-otsin the town. The local wealthy banker Effendi DavitchonLevy was one of four Jews in the Ottoman Empire electedto the first national assembly in 1876. The Hebron emissaryRabbi Hayyim Shemuel Halevy (Ha-Hasmal) remained inIoannina for more than three decades (184881) and proph-esiedthat the redemption of Israel would take place in theyear 5708 (1948). Ioannina Jews maintained trade relationswith Europe and the East, and also engaged in silk weav-ingand the manufacture of scarves, veils, and silver belts forsale to the Albanians; there were also goldsmiths, dyers, gla-ziers,tinsmiths, fishermen, and coachmen among them. Thewealthy merchant Meir Gani moved to Jerusalem in 1880 andinitiated Jewish settlement in the Christian Quarter of theOld City of Jerusalem owing to his close connections to theGreek Orthodox Church, and he also purchased much landfrom the latter for the Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem inthe Rehavia neighborhood as well the site of the present-dayIsrael Museum and land in the Dead Sea region (where Kib-butzBet ha-Aravah was located). At the beginning of the20th century, there were 7,000 Jews in Ioannina, but due tofear of political instability, compulsory military service, andeconomic decline, several thousand Jews began emigrating,heading to New York City. In 1910 the Jewish population was3,000 and on the eve of the Holocaust it was 1,950. In the De-pressionof the early 1930s, many Ioanniote Jews migrated toAthens for economic betterment. The local Jewish poet, phi-lologist,and teacher Joseph *Eliyia (19011931) is rememberedand highly revered in contemporary Greece for his prose andpoetry. On March 24, 1944, 1,860 Jews were seized by the Nazisand deported to Auschwitz. In 1948 there were 170 Jews liv-ingin the town, and by 1967 their number had dwindled to92. The Ioannina community has continued to maintain theRomaniot prayer rite. A Ioannina synagogue, Bet Avrahamve-Ohel Sarah, exists in Jerusalem in the Mahaneh Yehudahquarter.Bibliography: J.M. Toledano, Sarid u-Falit (1945), 3235;Bees, in: Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbuecher, 2 (1921), 15977.Add. Bibliography: R. Dalven, The Jews of Ioannina (1990); B.Rivlin, Ioannina, in: Pinkas Kehillot Yavan (1999), 13143.[Simon Marcus / Yitzchak Kerem (2nd ed.)]IONESCO, EUGNE (19121994), Romanian-born Frenchplaywright. Ionescos mother, Thrse Icard, was a FrenchJewess who, while teaching in Romania, married a non-Jew-ishlawyer, Eugne Ionesco. In 1913 the family moved to Paris,returning to Romania in 1925, and a few years later the fatherabandoned his wife and two children. The young Eugne spe-cializedin French studies. He became a teacher and literarycritic, studying in Paris (193840). When he returned to Ro-maniahe encountered the Fascism which he was later to at-tackin the bitterest terms, and in 1942 he fled back to Francewith his wife.Ionescos first two books, written in Romanian and pub-lishedin 1934, were a volume of lyrical poems, Elegii pentrufiintele mici (Elegies for Little Souls), and Nu (No), a col-lectionof essays criticizing established Romanian authors. Io-nescosplays, which reveal the influence of *Kafka and of theimportant Romanian dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, are mostlyone-act caricatures of middle-class smugness and philistinism.A mixture of comedy and tragedy, surrealistic and grotesque,they attack what Ionesco terms the universal petty bourgeoi-sie the personification of accepted ideas and slogans, theubiquitous conformist. This Theater of the Absurd (Ionescohimself preferred the designation Theater of Derision) had itsbirth in the highly successful play La Cantatrice chauve (1949;The Bald Soprano, 1958). The best known of the many plays thathelped to consolidate Ionescos reputation were La Lyon (1950;The Lesson, 1958), Les Chaises (1951; The Chairs, 1958), Victimesdu devoir (1952; Victims of Duty, 1958), Le Nouveau Locataire(1953; The New Tenant, 1958), Tueur sans gages (1957; The Killer,1960), Rhinoceros (1959), which appeared in an English trans-lationin 1960, and Le Roi se meurt (1962; Exit the King, 1963).Ionescos plays were collected in four volumes (195466) andhave been translated into nearly 30 languages. A series of essaysappeared in book form as Notes et Contrenotes (1962; Notes andCounternotes, 1964), and he also wrote the scripts for severaldistinguished films. Later plays included Macbeth (1973), Manwith Bags (1975), and Journey Among the Dead (1980).He visited Israel and made declarations in favor of thestate on the eve of the Six-Day War. After it was over he wroteabout his family history for the first time in the second volumeof his memoirs, Prsent Pass, Pass Prsent (1968), a sequel toLe Journal en Miettes (1957, Fragments of a Journal, 1968), ex-pressinga new awareness of his Jewish origin. Ionesco, whosequalities of wit and mordant satire had led to his being referredto as the Molire of the Twentieth Century, was elected tothe French Academy in 1970.Bibliography: R.N. Coe, Ionesco (Eng., 1961); P. Snart, Io-nesco(Fr., 1964); F. Bradesco, Le monde trange de Ionesco (1967); C.Bonnefoy, Entretiens avec Eugne Ionesco (1966); Ben-Jacob, in: Amer-icanZionist, 59:3 (1968), 1921; Le Figaro Littraire (July 29, Aug. 5, 12,1968); Davidowitz, in: Ariel, 4 (1963), 1821. Add. Bibliography:R.J. North, Eugene Ionesco: an inaugural lecture delivered at the Uni-versityof Birmingham (1970); R. Hayman, Eugene Ionesco (1972); R.N.Coe, Ionesco: A Study of His Plays (1971); A. Lewis, Ionesco (1972); R.Lamont (ed.), Ionesco: A Collection of Critical Essays (1973); E. Kern,The Works of Ionesco (1974); S. Cavarra, Ionesco: de labsurde la qute6 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 7. (1976); A. Kamyabi Mask, Ionesco et son thtre (1987); M.C. Hubert,Eugene Ionesco (Fr., 1990); A. Hayman, Ionesco avant Ionesco: portraitde l artiste en jeune homme (1993); G. Plazy, Eugene Ionesco: le rireet lesprance: une biographie (1994); N. Lane, Understanding EugeneIonesco (1994); D.B. Gaensbauer, Eugene Ionesco Revisited (1996); H.Bloom (ed.), Eugene Ionesco (2003).[Claude Gandelman / Rohan Saxena andDror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)]IOSIFESCU, SILVIAN (1917 ), Romanian literary historianand critic. A former illegal Communist, he decided in favorof an academic career and was, from 1948, professor of Liter-aryTheory at the Bucharest University. He wrote on the Ro-manianclassics and problems of aesthetics, and, after a shortperiod of dogmatic Marxist esthetic, Iosifescu became aneminent literary analyst of modern prose. His works includeDrumuri literare (Literary Paths, 1957), In jurul romanului(On the Novel, 1959), Literatura de frontier (The FrontierLiterature, 1969), Mobilitatea privirii (The Mobility of Sight,1976), Trepte (Steps, 1988). Iosifescu translated (partiallyin collaboration with Vera Clin) from Romain Rolland, H.Taine, John Steinbeck, Robert Graves, and published antholo-giesof French and English humor.Add. Bibliography: Dicionarul scriitorilor romni, D-L(1998), 62931; M. Martin and N. Rata-Dumitriu, in: Observator cul-tural,157 (2003).IOWA, state in midwestern U.S. In 2005 Iowa had a Jewishpopulation of 6,100 out of a total of 2,944,000. The largestJewish community was in Des Moines (3,500), the state capi-tal,where there were four synagogues Orthodox, Conser-vative,Reform and Chabad a Jewish Federation which issituated on the community campus and includes Iowa Jew-ishSenior Life Center, a synagogue, and the Community He-brewSchool. There were also organized Jewish communitieswith one or more synagogues in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Water-loo,Council Bluffs; Davenport (450); Dubuque (105); IowaCity (200), Sioux City (300), and Postville, now home to 450Jews, most associated with the kosher meat processing plant,AgriProcessors.The first mention of Jews in connection with Iowa ap-pearedin a memoir published in London in 1819 by WilliamRobinson, a non-Jewish adventurer and land speculator, whoproposed mass colonization of European Jews in Iowa andMissouri. The first known Jewish settler was Alexander Levi,a native of France who arrived from New Orleans in 1833 andestablished himself in Dubuque in the year the town was laidout. Credited with being the first foreigner naturalized inIowa (1837), Levi helped develop the lead mines first workedby Julien Dubuque, for whom the town was named. One ofDubuques leading citizens for 60 years, Levi was elected jus-ticeof the peace in 1846. In the late 1830s and early 1840s Jew-ishpeddlers from Germany and Poland reached Dubuqueand McGregor, key points for traffic across the Mississippi, ineastern Iowa, as the immigrant tide began pushing westward.Solomon Fine and Nathan Louis were doing business at FortMadison in 1842. In that year Joseph Newmark opened a storeat Dubuque. Among the early settlers in McGregor were theparents of Leo S. Rowe (18711946), director-general of thePan-American Union (192046), who was born there. SamuelJacobs was surveyor of Jefferson County in 1845. In the 1850sJews were also settled at Davenport, Burlington, and Keokuk.William Krause, the first Jew in Des Moines, arrived withhis wife in 1846, when it was still known as Raccoon Forks.His brother Robert came to Davenport about the same time.Krause opened Des Moines first store in 1848, a year beforeJoseph and Isaac Kuhn arrived there. Krause was one of theincorporators of Des Moines, helped found the towns firstpublic school, contributed toward the building of Christianchurches, and was a leading figure in having the state capitalmoved from Iowa City to Des Moines. Other pioneer Jewswere Michael Raphael, paymaster of the Northwestern Rail-roadwhile it was building west from Davenport; AbrahamKuhn, who went to Council Bluffs in 1853; Leopold Sheuer-man,who had a store at Muscatine in 1858; and Solomon Hess,who represented Johnson City at the 1856 convention at whichthe Iowa Republican Party was organized.The first organized Jewish community was formed atKeokuk in 1855 in the home of S. Gerstle under the name ofthe Benevolent Children of Israel. This society maintained acemetery from 1859 on and four years later was incorporatedas Congregation Bnai Israel. In 1877 it erected Iowas first syn-agogue.Other communities grew up in Dubuque and Burl-ingtonin 1857 and in Davenport in 1861. There was a hand-fulof Jews in Sioux City on the banks of the Missouri Riverin the 1860s, but no congregation was formed until 1884. TheCouncil Bluffs community dates from the late 1870s and thatin Ottumwa from 1876. Davenports Temple Emanuel is theoldest existing congregation (the one in Keokuk went out ofexistence in the 1920s). Des Moines pioneer congregation,Bnai Jeshurun, was founded in 1870 and erected the statessecond synagogue in 1878.The best-known Jews in Iowa in the 1880s were AbrahamSlimmer, of Waverly, and Moses Bloom, of Iowa City. Slim-mer,a recluse, endowed hospitals, schools, and orphanagesthroughout Iowa and other states and was a generous contrib-utorto synagogues. Bloom was elected mayor of Iowa City in1869 and 1874 and served in both houses of the state legisla-turein the 1880s. Benjamin Salinger served on the Iowa StateSupreme Court from 1915 to 1921. Joe Katelman was electedmayor of Council Bluffs in 1966. David Henstein was mayorof Glenwood (1892) and Sam Polonetzky was mayor of Val-leyJunction (1934).[Bernard Postal]Des Moines remains the largest center of Jewish life inIowa. Its Federation, located on a community campus whichincludes the Jewish Community Relations Commission, theGreater Des Moines Jewish Press, Jewish Family Services, theIowa Jewish Senior Life Center, and Tifereth Israel, the Con-servativesynagogue which houses the Federation-run com-iowaENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 7 8. 5PUBM+FXJTIQPQVMBUJPOPGMPXB PG+FXTJOHFOFSBMQPQVMBUJPOPGMPXBiowa4JPVY$JUZ 8BUFSMPP$FEBS3BQJET%FT.PJOFT$PVODJM#MVGGT%BWFOQPSUPGMPXB+FXTJO+FXJTIQPQVMBUJPOPG64@ @*08@Jewish communities in Iowa, with dates of establishment of first synagogue.Population figures for 2001.munity Hebrew School, is very active and influential. The DesMoines Jewish Academy, a day school started in 1977 by threefamilies, merged in 2004 with a secular private school to be-comeThe Academy, Des Moines only secular private school.The Academy offers an after-school Jewish curriculum. Anadditional Federation facility for social, cultural, and recre-ationalactivities, the Caspe Terrace, located in nearby Wau-kee,Iowa, is the site of the childrens camp, Camp Shalom, aswell as the museum of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society, acommittee of the Federation founded in 1989.Des Moines boasts four synagogues, and ritual practicein most has become more traditional over time. The ReformTemple, Bnai Jeshurun, has the largest membership withShabbat services now held on both Friday night and Satur-daymorning. Ritual at the Conservative synagogue, TiferethIsrael, has remained largely unchanged. Beth El Jacob, theOrthodox synagogue which allowed mixed seating beginningin the 1950s, now has a mehizah in both its small chapel andits main sanctuary. Lubavitch of Iowa/Jewish Resource Cen-ter,operating with its current rabbi since 1992, holds Shabbatservices and publishes a monthly magazine, The Jewish Spark,and contains a mikveh, as does Beth El Jacob synagogue, lessthan half a mile away. Beth El Jacob synagogue and Lubavitchof Iowa clashed over a bequest, which resulted in a civil lawsuit. The resulting settlement led to the establishment of aChabad-run kosher deli, Maccabee. The Jewish population inDes Moines has moved westward. With the purchase of landwest of Des Moines, plans are under discussion for movingthe campus that contains both the Federation and TiferethIsrael synagogue.Perhaps the most interesting development in Iowa hasbeen the growth of an ultra-Orthodox community in ru-ralPostville, where once there were only Christians. HeshyRubashkin moved to this town of 2300 in 1989 to set upAgriProcessors, a kosher meat processing plant. Five yearslater, when they opened a Jewish school, more hasidic fami-liesfollowed. Today 75 hasidic families live in Postville, whichoffers K-8 Jewish education for girls and K-11 Jewish educa-tionfor boys. The Postville Jewish community boasts a Jewishdoctor, a family-run kosher cheese manufacturing business,Mitzvah Farms, and a kosher grocery store and adjacent res-taurant.Tensions developed between the hasidic newcom-ersand their Christian neighbors. The cross cultural conflictbecame the subject of much national press coverage, a best-sellingbook, and a PBS movie. Though tensions still persist,Jews and non-Jews are learning to live with each other. Onemember of the hasidic community was elected to a term onthe Postville City Council. Recently the Lubavitch commu-nity,which houses Postvilles only synagogue where all typesof Hasidim pray together, including those of Ger and Bobov,opened a Jewish Resource Center. The JRC, open to all comersincluding non-Jews, contains a Jewish library, meeting room,gift shop and offers Jewish tutorials for the few non-observantJews in Postville.One Postville resident, observing the harmony amongdiverse Hasidim described life in Jewish Postville as mos-chiahtime.Sioux City, which was at one time Iowas second largestJewish community, now numbers only 300. To address thecrisis of a Jewish population decreasing through death andnot replenishing with new families, the Conservative and Re-formsynagogues merged in 1994, maintaining in congrega-tionBeth Shalom affiliation with both the Conservative andReform movements. Ritual observance at Beth Shalom gen-erallyfollows the Reform tradition, though Conservative tra-ditionsapply to both Shabbat morning and second day holi-dayprayer. Beth Shalom maintains a K-12 religious schooland employs a full-time rabbi, ordained at a trans-denomi-nationalseminary.In Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, the Reformand Conservative synagogues also merged, and congregationAgudas Achim, with a membership of 200 families, is affiliatedwith both the Reform and Conservative movements. Services,led by a Conservative-ordained Rabbi, generally follow theConservative ritual, though once each month Reform servicesare held. The University of Iowa with a Jewish population ofroughly 600 undergraduates and 200 graduate students runsa Hillel in which about 10 of the students are active.Nearby, Temple Judah of Cedar Rapids, a Reform Con-gregation,has maintained a stable Jewish community with 125families and a school enrollment of 53 students.Davenport, one of the Quad Cities, has a Jewish pop-ulationof about 450 people, most affiliated with either theReform Congregation, Temple Emanuel, or a Conservativesynagogue across the river in Rock Island, Illinois. An Israelishaliah sent to Davenports Federation for one year, has helpedrevitalize Jewish life and promote outreach to the non-Jew-ishcommunity.Ames, the home of Iowa State University, maintains theAmes Jewish Congregation, a community of 62 families, affili-atedwith the Reform Movement since 1962.Bibliography: J.S. Wolfe, A Century with Iowa Jewry (1941);S. Glazer, Jews of Iowa (1904); B. Postal and L. Koppman, A JewishTourists Guide to the U.S. (1954), 17177. Steven Bloom, Postville: AClash of Cultures in Heartland America (2001); Yiddl in Middle: Grow-ingUp Jewish in Iowa, a film by Marlene Booth.[Marlene Booth (2nd ed.)]8 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 9. IPSWICH, town in southeastern England. A medieval com-munityexisted there until 1290 with its own *archa. However,relatively little is known about it. Jews began to resettle in themid-18th century. A synagogue was built in 1792 and a ceme-teryacquired in 1796. During the French Revolution, the Jewswere suspected of Jacobin sympathies and the magistrates hadto intervene to save them from attack. The community ceasedto exist during the 19th century. At the outset of the 21st cen-tury,no Jewish institutions existed in Ipswich.Bibliography: Abrahams, in: JHSET, 2 (189495), index; Da-vis,in: East Anglian, 3 (188990), 8993, 105f., 1237; C. Roth, Rise ofProvincial Jewry (1950), 714; Roth, England, index. Add Bibliog-raphy:M. Brown, The Jews of Norfolk and Sufflok Before 1840,in: JHSET, 32 (199092), 21936; idem, An Ipswich Worthy Portrayedby John Constable, in: JHSET, 33 (19924), 13740.[Cecil Roth]IQUITOS, city in Peru. Surrounded by the Amazon Riverand two of its tributaries, and separated from other cities bythe vast tropical rain forest and the high Andean summits,Iquitos, located 1,200 miles from Lima, was the most iso-latedcity in South America until the coming of the airplane.Nevertheless, like Manaus and Beln do Par, it was the hubfrom which representatives of foreign industries administeredtheir businesses during the rubber boom of the 19th century.Hence, starting in 1870, around 150 Sephardi Jews, mainlyfrom Morocco but also from places such as Gibraltar, Malta,Alsace, and the city of Manchester, made their way to Iquitosin search of quick fortunes working as traders and owners ofcommercial houses that provided services to the people whoexploited rubber in the jungle. In a few years the little townfounded by Jesuits became a cosmopolitan city that boastedthe only organized Jewish community in Peru besides the onein the capital city of Lima.In 1905 the Jewish immigrants, who initially had nointention of staying long in the city, built a cemetery to ac-commodatethe inevitable loss of life in a frontier area whilerefraining from building such permanent structures as a syn-agogueor a school. By 1909, they had founded and formallyregistered with the local authorities of the city the Israelite So-cietyof Beneficence of Iquitos in order to provide assistance tofellow Jews, although, they only met for the Jewish high holi-daysand scarcely developed a Jewish life. Most of the Jews,like all the immigrants, married or had children with localAmazonian women. During the 1910s, with the decline of rub-berprices, most of the Jews left the city. The few who stayed,together with the first generation of their descendants, metoccasionally for Sabbath services in private homes. Thoughthey continued to intermarry with local Christian natives, thedescendants of Jews preserved a strong sense of Jewishness,kept up some Jewish traditions, and made several attempts tosustain a fragile community, which made its first contacts withLimas Jews during the 1950s, especially after the visit of theJewish Peruvian geologist Alfredo Rosenzweig, who in 1948got to know the first generation of Jewish descendants duringIrana trip to the Amazon region. In an article published in 1967Rosenzweig provided the first detailed account of the presenceof Jews in Iquitos, telling about the economic contributionof the big and famous Kahn, Israel, and Cohen commercialhouses, among others, and obtaining a copy of the statutes ofthe Israelite Society and a list with 29 documents concerningcommunity members buried at the Israelite cemetery, whereIsraelite, Hebrew, or Jewish is explicitly written as thefaith of the deceased.In 1995 Dr. Ariel Segal visited Iquitos in order to researchthe syncretic identity of the Jewish descendants of the city af-terlearning that there was still an organized community ofself-proclaimed Jews who celebrated the main Jewish holi-days.These had been visited twice by Rabbi Guillermo Bron-steinof the Conservative Jewish congregation of Lima andby officials of the Jewish Agency who helped those memberswho expressed an interest in learning about Judaism and im-migratingto the State of Israel and whose cases fell under theLaw of Return, to make aliyah. Their Judaism has been alsodebated in Orthodox circles after they were visited by a mem-berof Israels Rabbinate.Iquitos descendants of Jews still bury members of theircongregation in the Israelite cemetery, they celebrate Kab-balatShabbat services although some of them also attendchurches and speak proudly of their Jewish heritage whilea few of them practice some local Amazonian and Christianrituals. They define themselves as members of the chosenpeople with Jewish blood. This sense of lineage and identityis part of the fascinating historical consciousness that Dr. Se-gal,in the book Jews of the Amazon, categorized as Marranic,claiming that the identity of the Jewish Mestizos Mestizajeis understood as biological and cultural miscegenation re-semblesthe identity of many descendants of Jews forced toconvert to Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula, and of othercommunities that combined Judaism and another religion,such the *Bene Israel of Bombay.Defining Marranism also as an identity, a product of iso-lationrather than exclusively a result of compulsory conver-sionto another religion, is, however controversial, useful inunderstanding the sense of peoplehood of the Iquitos com-munityafter living almost 100 years without a rabbi, a syna-gogue,or a Jewish school.Bibliography: A. Rosenzweig, Judos en la Amazona Pe-ruana,18701949, in: MajShavot 12 (June 1967); A. Segal, Jews of theAmazon: Self-Exile in Earthly Paradise (1999); M. Freund, Exodusfrom the Amazon, in The Jerusalem Post (Sept. 12, 2003).[Ariel Segal (2nd ed.)]IRAN (official name: Islamic Republic of Iran), country inS.W. Asia, before 1935 known as Persia. Iran covers an area of1,648,195 square km and includes 28 provinces, 714 districts,718 towns, and 2,258 villages. Up to 1948 Jews were scatteredin about 100 towns and villages, their number was then esti-matedat between 100,000 and 120,000.The name Iran for the entire Iranian plateau has been inENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 9 10. iranusage since the Sasanian period (224650 C.E.) and also inclassical literature, e.g., in the Shhnmeh of Ferdawsi (about10th century). Persia as a name for the country was used byforeigners; geographically it referred to the Province of Frsin the south from which the Achaemenian kingdom of Cyrusthe Great emerged. It was officially changed to Iran in 1935,most probably under the influence of strong German-Iranianrelations during the 1930s. The many German agents in Iranemphasized the so-called Aryan origin of the Iranians, whichappealed to the nationalist mood of the time. This type of na-tionalismin Iran did not allow any social and political activi-tieswith ties to foreign countries, and thus Communist andZionist activities were forbidden in Iran during Reza Shahsreign (192541). There were also difficulties faced by Jews whowanted to immigrate to the Land of Israel. However, it mustbe said that Reza Shahs reign proved to be the beginning ofan era of relative freedom and socioeconomic opportunitiesfor Jews and other non-Muslim communities. In this period,Jews were active in trade, industry, and tourism. Several Jewsreached the highest levels of fame and prosperity in the mod-ernhistory of Iran. Among them were Haim Moreh, MortezaMoallem, and Soleiman Haim in education and scholarship;Iraj Llehzri and Shemooil Rahbar in science; Morteza Ney-Dvoud and Yonah Dardashti in music; Mord Ariyeh, HabibElghanaian, Ebrhim Rd, and many others in economics.With the occupation of Iran by Russia and Britain in Au-gust1941 and the abdication of Reza Shah in September, Iranexperienced a new era of relative democracy and freedom suchas it had never had before. Jews began to take advantage of thesituation and from 1942 on they started to renew their Zionistand social activities. During the 1940s, a dozen Jewish organi-zationsemerged in *Teheran and in other major cities, suchas *Shiraz, *Isfahan, *Hamadan, *Kermanshah, and Sanan-daj.Among these organizations were the following: severalyouth organizations named Knun-e Javnn; Ha-Histadrutha-Ziyyonit; the Halutz Movement; the Jewish Hospital; theOzar ha-Torah Educational Schools; the Womens Organiza-tion;ORT Schools; newspapers, such as lam-e Yahud, Yisrel,Sin, and so on. State universities, colleges, elementary andhigh schools became more accessible to Jewish students andteachers. Jews were able to find employment in governmentaloffices with less difficulty than before. This relative freedomalso gave rise to fascist parties such as the Pan-Iranism Partythat regarded the Jews as an undesirable Semitic foreign ele-mentin Iran. The Tudeh Party favored the Jews, whose intel-lectuals,in general, were sympathetic to it, and a few hundredof them became active members of the party.PopulationThe earliest report of a Jewish population in Iran goes back tothe 12th century. It was *Benjamin of Tudela who claimed thatthere was a population of about 600,000 Jews. This numberwas later reduced to 100,000 in the Safavid period (15011736),and it further diminished to 50,000 at the beginning of the20th century, as reported by the *Alliance Isralite Universelle563,./*45/'()/*45/563,:4BOBOEBK)BNBEBO 5FIFSBO,FSNBOTIBI *3/*32/FIBWFOE#PSVKFSE,BSVO 3,IVSSBNTIBIS*TGBIBOCBEBO 4IJSB[134*/(6-'46%*3#*1,*45/$41*/4,FSNBO3#*/4@ @ PWFS@Jewish settlements in Iran, 1967 and 2001. 1967 data based on E. Spicehan-dler,Yahadut Iran, Jerusalem, 1970.(AIU) emissaries in Iran. The drastic decrease in number wasthe result of persecution, forced conversions, Muslim laws ofinheritance (which encouraged conversion and allowed theconvert to inherit the properties of his Jewish family), andmassacres. These problems continued at least up to the Con-stitutionalRevolution in Iran (190509). According to unoffi-cialstatistics released by the Jewish Agency in Teheran, therewere between 100,000 to 120,000 Jews living in Iran in 1948.The following numbers, with some variation, were reported forthe Jews of major cities: Teheran, about 50,000 Jews; all IranianKurdistan, between 15,000 to 20,000; Shiraz, 17,000; Isfahan,10,000; Hamadan, 3,000; Kashan, 1,200; *Meshed, 2,500; Ker-manshah,2,864; Yazd/Yezd, 2,000 (uncertain). There are no re-liablestatistics for other communities scattered in many smalltowns and villages, such as Borujerd, Drb, Fas, Golpygn,Gorgn, Kzrun, Khunsr, Lahijn, Malyer, Nowbandegn,Rasht, and many more. There were also censuses carried outonce every 10 years by the government, beginning in 1956.These censuses usually were not reliable as far as the Jewishcommunities were concerned, since Jews were not enthusiasticabout being identified as such. For example, the official censusof 1966 cites 60,683 Jews in Iran, but the Jewish sources put thenumber much higher than 70,000. The data provided by differ-entsources, especially by those involved or interested in IransJewish community affairs, differ greatly from one another.OccupationWe do not possess a reliable source regarding the occupationsof the Jews in different towns and settlements in Iran. The datavaries in time and place, but one may nevertheless find simi-laritiesin the reports. We have more reliable statistics concern-ingthe second largest community in Iran, the Jews of Shiraz10 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 11. which may, to some degree, represent the Jewish occupationsin other major cities with the exception of the goldsmithsand musicians who made Shirazi Jews famous. The followingwas reported by Dr. Laurence Loeb, who resided in Shirazfrom August 1967 through December 1968, as investigatedand reported on the distribution of occupations. (See table:Occupations in Shiraz.)Table 1. Occupations in Shiraz, 19671968Occupation Number PercentagePeddler 49 12.10Cloth store 42 10.37Goldsmith 27 6.67Haberdasher 25 6.17Doctor 19 4.69Nurse, hospital worker 17 4.17Teacher, principal 16 3.95Engineer 12 3.46Musician 12 2.96Liquor seller 12 2.96Moneylender 12 2.96Spinner 12 2.96Merchant of gum tragacanth 11 2.72Druggist 9 2.22Grocer 9 2.22Fruit and vegetables 9 2.22Smith 8 1.98Mason 7 1.73Carter 6 1.48Office worker 6 1.48Real estate 6 1.48Butcher 4 0.99Technician 4 0.99Tailor 4 0.99JDC worker 4 0.99Industrial worker 4 0.99Household goods shop 4 0.99School janitor 4 0.99In addition to what was reported above, Loeb found in Shiraz41 persons who were dentists, cooks, carpenters, barbers, seedmerchants, laborers, librarians, mullas, restaurant workers,bath attendants, leather tanners, photographers, beauty par-lorattendants, appliance store clerks, lambswool merchantsor dairy store attendants. They constituted 10.12 percent of thework force of the community. There were also 8 unemployedpersons (1.98).EducationModern Jewish education in Iran was in general in the handsof the Alliance Isralite Universelle (AIU) from 1898. The aiuwas active only in major cities such as Teheran (from 1898),Hamadan (1900), Isfahan (1901), Shiraz (1903), Sanandaj(1903), and Kermanshah (1904). In the second decade of the20th century it opened schools in Kashan and Yazd, and alsoin some small towns close to Hamadan, such as Tuyserkn,Borujerd, and Nehvand. Parallel to the aiu schools, commu-nityschools were established in a few towns, such as Koreshiranin Teheran and Koresh in Rasht. During the Pahlavi regime,some Jews also studied in non-Jewish schools.In 1946/47, the Ozar ha-Torah schools were opened inTeheran and other cities. Rabbi Isaac Meir Levi, a Polish Jewwho had come to Iran in 1941 to organize the dispatch of par-celsto rabbis and synagogues in Russia, was appointed by theOzar ha-Torah center in New York to establish a network ofschools in Iran.Given the great wave of immigration to Israel whichswept the Jews of Iran in the 1950s, most immigrants beingpoor and unskilled, the economic prosperity which Iran en-joyedin the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise to wealth of a largesegment of the remaining Jewish community, more attentionwas devoted to education. In 1977/78 there were in Teheran11 Ozar ha-Torah schools, 7 AIU schools, and 6 communityschools, including one ORT vocational school and the Ettefqschool belonging to Iraqi Jews resident in Teheran. This pic-turechanged drastically with the mass exodus of Jews result-ingfrom the Islamic revolution. Prior to the Islamic Republicof Iran (= IRI) there were three Jewish schools in Shiraz andone Jewish school in each major city. By the end of the 20thcentury there were generally three Jewish schools in Teheran,one in Shiraz, and one in Isfahan. Most of these schools werefunded and sponsored by Ozar ha-Torah (Netzer, 1996).AliyahImmigration to Israel was facilitated and accelerated throughthe Zionist Association in Teheran (founded in 1918) and itsbranches in 18 major cities. The following official statisticspublished by the Government of Israel show the rate of Ira-nianJewish immigration to Israel (the number 3,536 below forthe years 19191948 does not accurately reflect reality, sincethousands of Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel illegally andwere consequently not registered by the British Mandate or theJewish Agency). It is believed that on the eve of independencethere were about 20,000 Iranian Jews living in Israel.Table 2. Immigration of Iranian Jews to Israel, 19192001Period Number of Immigrants19191948 3,53619481951 21,91019521960 15,69919611964 8,85719651971 10,64519721979 9,55019801989 8,48719902001 257Total 78,941In the past, the majority of Iranian Jews lived in Jerusalem,while at the beginning of the 21st century they were to be foundprimarily in Tel Aviv, Holon, Bat-Yam, Rishon le-Zion, KefarSaba, Nes Ziyyonah, and Rehovot. A smaller number chose toreside in Jerusalem, Netanyah, Haifa, Ashkelon, Ashdod, andBeersheba. Since 1948, the Jews of Iran have founded severalmoshavim: Agur, Amishav (now a quarter in Petah Tikvah),ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 11 12. iranAvdon, Dovev, Eshbol, Givati, Givolim, Hodayah, Margali-yyot,Maslul, Melilot, Nes-Harim, Netiv ha-Shayarah, NevehYamin, Nogah, Pamei TaShaZ, Patish, Kadimah, Talmei Bilu,Zerufah, and others.With the change of the regime and *Khomeinis rise topower, about three-quarters of Irans 80,000 Jews left. Manyimmigrated to Israel and the United States, but a part preferredto settle in European countries. The official statistics of Israelshow that in 2001 there were 135,200 Jews who were consideredIranian either as olim or as individuals one of whose parentswas Iranian-Jewish. The above figure includes 51,300 who wereborn in Iran and 83,900 who were born in Israel. Iranian Jewsin Israel became active and reached high ranks in academiclife, in the socioeconomic realm, politics, and the military.Since 1955, they have had about a score of university teachers;Rabbi Ezra Zion *Melamed, professor of Talmud at the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem was granted the Israel Prize. Therehave been several Knesset members, two chief commandersof the Air Force (General Eitan Ben-Eliyahu and General DanHaluz), two army chiefs of staff (Major-General Shaul *Mofazand Major-General Dan Haluz); one defense minister, ShaulMofaz; one Sephardi chief rabbi (Rabbi *Bakshi Doron); andthe president of the State of Israel, Moshe *Katzav.Jewish Representation in the MajlesThe Jewish representatives in the Iranian Parliament (Majles)since its inception (1907) were the following: Azizollah Simni,a merchant (replaced by Ayatollah Behbhni after only a fewmonths); Dr. Loqmn Nehoray, a physician (190923); ShemuelHaim, a journalist (192326); Dr. Loqmn Nehoray (192643),Mord Ariyeh, a merchant (194556); Dr. Mussa Berl, a phar-macologist(19561960), Mord Ariyeh, (196064), JamshidKashfi, a merchant (196468), Lotfollah Hay, a merchant(196875), and Yosef Cohen, a lawyer (197579).Iran-Israel RelationsRelations between the Yishuv and Iran began in 1942, whenthe Jewish Agency opened a Palestine Office in Teheran, withthe aim of assisting the Jewish-Polish refugees from Russia andarranging for their immigration to the Land of Israel. This of-ficecontinued to function until 1979. Iran voted, together withthe Muslim and Arab states in the UN against the partition ofPalestine (November 29, 1947). In the Israel-Arab conflict, Iransided with the Arabs. However, Irans need for socioeconomicreforms drove it to establish closer relations with the West, es-peciallywith the U.S. Consequently, after the Shahs trip to theU.S. in 1949, Iran recognized Israel de-facto in March 1950. Therelations between the two countries remained discreetly un-official,even though diplomatic missions were operating inTeheran and Tel Aviv. These continued to function until early1979. Practical relations between the two states existed in avariety of fields such as trade, export-import, regular El-Alflights to Teheran, supply of Iranian oil to Israel, and studentexchanges. They developed especially strong relations in threemajor fields: agriculture, medicine, and the military. Israeli ex-pertsassisted Iran in various development projects such as theQazvin project in the 1960s. The Six-Day War is regarded asthe high point of friendly Israel-Iran relations, particularly inthe area of the Intelligence Service. The Shah and his militarywere surprised by the swift Israeli victory over *Syria, *Jordan,and *Egypt. Likewise, the Israeli setback in the Yom KippurWar (1973) induced the Shahs pragmatic diplomacy to developamicable relations with Anwar *Sadat of Egypt. It has beensaid that it was this policy of the Shah that encouraged Sadatto make peace with Israel. With the coming to power of Kho-meiniin February 1979, the friendly relations between the twostates changed into strong enmity. In 2006 the growing Iraniannuclear threat and President Ahmadinejads declaration thatIsrael should be wiped off the face of the earth led to increas-ingtalk of a preemptive military strike against Iran.Jews in the Last Year of the Pahlavi RegimeThe economic boom of the 1960s and the 1970s in Iran bene-fitedthe Jews too. Many Jews became rich, which enabled themto provide higher education for their children. In 1978 therewere about 80,000 Jews in the country, constituting one-quar-terof one percent of the general population. Of these Jews, 10percent were very rich, the same percentage were poor (aidedby the Joint Distribution Committee) and the rest were classi-fiedas from middle class to rich. Approximately, 70 out of 4,000academicians teaching at Irans universities were Jews; 600 Jew-ishphysicians constituted six percent of the countrys medicaldoctors. There were 4,000 Jewish students studying in all theuniversities, representing four percent of the total number ofstudents. Never in their history were the Jews of Iran elevated tosuch a degree of affluence, education, and professionally as theywere in the last decade of the Shahs regime. All this changedwith the emergence of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).Iranian Jews in the IRIOn January 16, 1979, the Shah was forced to leave Iran. Twoweeks later Ayatollah Khomeini entered Teheran to assumepower, after having lived in exile for almost 15 years. On Feb-ruary11, 1979, for the first time in the history of Iran, the gov-ernmentof the Ayatollahs came into being, and the kingdomof Iran turned into the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Thispolitical phenomenon has significantly changed the demo-graphicmap of the Jewish community of Iran. By the end of20th century that is to say, at the end of 20 years of the Islamicregime in Iran taking into consideration the birthrate, therewere about 30,000 Jews in Iran, of which 25,000 lived in Tehe-ran,3,000 in Shiraz, 1,500 in Isfahan, while the rest were scat-teredin other cities and settlements. In the IRI, Jews as wellas other religious minorities were regarded as the supportersof the royal regime, because it was under the Pahlavi dynastythat they had enjoyed prosperity and some measure of relativefreedom. When the revolution broke out, Israel-Iran relationsand the diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation be-tweenthe countries were markedly strong. Consequently thesituation of the Jews became precarious, because of the anti-Zionist attitude and character of the revolution. The Jews ofIran were accused of being the supporters of the Shah, Israel,12 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 13. the Mossad, the CIA and the U.S. All were defined as Satan.A few wealthy Jews, among them the former head of the Jew-ishCommunity of Teheran, Habib Elghanian, were tried bythe revolutionary courts and sentenced to death (May 9, 1979).Jewish-owned property worth at least one billion dollars wasconfiscated by the regime. This alarming situation causedmany Jews to leave Iran.Under the Islamic Republic of Iran, the following per-sonsrepresented the Jewish community in the Majles: EshqFarahmandpour, a teacher (a few months in 1979 and thenJews had no representative until 1982); Khosrow Nqi, a law-yer(198284); Dr. Manouchehr Nikruz (198492); Dr. KurosKeyvni (199296); Dr. Manouchehr Elysi (19962000); Mo-risMotamed, an engineer (2000 ).Iranian Jews AbroadIt is estimated that during the first 10 years of the Islamic re-gimeabout 60,000 Jews left Iran; the rest, some 20,000, re-mainedin Teheran, Shiraz, Isfahan, and other provincial cit-ies.Of the 60,000 Jews who emigrated, about 35,000 preferredto immigrate to the U.S.; some 20,000 left for Israel, and theremaining 5,000 chose to live in Europe, mainly in England,France, Germany, Italy, or Switzerland. The spread of the Ira-nianJews in the U.S. provides us with the following demo-graphicmap: of the total 35,000, some 25,000 live in Califor-nia,of whom about 20,000 prefer to dwell in Los Angeles;8,000 Iranian Jews live in the city of New York and on LongIsland; the remaining 2,000 live in other cities, mainly in Bos-ton,Baltimore, Washington, Detroit, or Chicago.In every city abroad, the Jews of Iran tried to establishthemselves in their own newly founded organizations andsynagogues. In Los Angeles alone, they set up more than 40organizations, 10 synagogues, about 6 magazines, and one tele-visionstation. The Iranian Jewish community in the U.S. is,for the most part, well-educated and financially stable. Educa-tionis one of the strongest values stressed by the Iranian Jew-ishcommunity, which considers itself the cream of all immi-grantgroups in the U.S. The Iranian Jews brought with themmoney, doctors, engineers, upper-class educated businessmen,and professionals in almost all fields. Many of them becamewealthy in their new homes in the U.S., Europe, and Israel.[Amnon Netzer (2nd ed.)]Musical TraditionThe musical patrimony of the Iranian Jews contains severaldifferent styles. The nature of their non-synagogal music, andthe general approach to music and the way it is performed,are identical with those of their non-Jewish neighbors. The at-tachmentto poetry and music which has been characteristicof Iranian culture from its earliest days is also found amongthe Jews, with similar attention devoted to the cultivation ofthese arts, the special connection of music with the expres-sionsof sorrow, meditation, and mystical exaltation, and thesame ideal of voice color and voice production. Some of thesecharacteristics have of course been transposed in order to suitthe specific conditions of a Jewish culture. The tendency to-wardiranmysticism finds its fullest expression in a predilectionfor the *Zohar, which is recited with a special musical intona-tion.The great importance attached to lamentations for thedead, which constitute a rich and interesting repertoire, maybe analogous with the taziya-t of the Persian Shiites, whichare a kind of vernacular religious drama commemorating thetragedies which marked the birth of the Shia sect.Notwithstanding some analogies in style and form, the Ira-nianinfluence is, however, hardly traceable in the Iranian syna-gogaltradition. In the structure of the melodies of free rhyth-micalor recitative character, A.Z. *Idelsohn found a strongresemblance to the synagogal tradition of the Yemenite Jews.Their tradition of Pentateuch cantillation is among the morearchaic ones, being centered almost exclusively on the major di-visiveaccents (see *Masoretic Accents, Musical Rendition). Onthe other hand, most of the metrical *piyyutim, mainly those ofthe High Holidays, are sung to melodies common to all NearEastern, i.e. Eastern Sephardi, communities.In the paraliturgical and secular domain, the poetry andmusic of the Iranian Jews are simply a part of the general cul-ture,with a few exceptions. Among these are the works ofnon-Persian Jewish poets, such as Israel *Najara, of which aJudeo-Persian translation is in wide use, and which are sungon such occasions as seudah shlishit and *bakkashot (amongPersians Jews, contrary to other communities, these are per-formedat home and not in the synagogue).The most impressive production was in the domain ofepic songs. Here, the Persian Jews closely followed the Persianmodel in language, meter, and musical rendition, though theJewish poets and musicians naturally sang of the achievementsand history of their own people. The chief representative ofepic poetry is *Shahin, a Persian Jewish poet of the 14th cen-tury.His poetic paraphrase of the narrative parts of the Pen-tateuch,called in brief Shhn, is sung in public on Sabbathafternoons and at festive gatherings by specialized epic sing-ers.The public, although knowing every word by memory,expresses its enthusiasm anew each time. The Shahn also be-camea favorite in Bukhara, which was considered a culturalprovince of Persian Jewry. Shahin himself and after him otherpoets, especially Amrani, wrote other epic songs on Jewishtopics which also attained great popularity.Another branch of poetry, but one of a more folkloristicnature, consists of the songs which are improvised in an im-promptucompetition of poets. These are performed at fam-ilycelebrations, after wine-drinking bouts, and the competi-tionbetween the two singer-poets adds to the atmosphere ofgood cheer. (For the music of the Kurdistan region of Iransee *Kurdistan.) [Amnon Shiloah]Bibliography: E. Abrahamian, Iran Between the Two Rev-olutions(1982); P. Avery, Modern Iran (1965); Bulletin de lAllianceIsralite Universelle, Paris; I. Ben-Zvi (1935), Nidhei Yisrael (1935,1965); Sh. Bakhash, The Reign of the Ayatollas: Iran and the IslamicRevolution (1984); A. Banani, The Modernization of Iran: 19211941(1961); U. Bialer, The Iranian Connection in Israels Foreign Policy,in: The Middle East Journal, 39 (Spring 1985), 292315; G.N. Curzon,ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 13 14. iraqPersia and the Persian Question, 12 (1892), index; R. Graham, Iran:The Illusion of Power (1979); F. Halliday, Iran: Dictatorship and De-velopment(1979); Sh. Hillel, Ruah Qadim (1985); S. Landshut, Jew-ishCommunities in the Muslim Countries of the Middle East (1950),616; G. Lenczowski, Russia and the West in Iran, 19181948 (1949);idem, Iran under the Pahlavis (1978); H. Levy, History of the Jews ofIran, vol.3, (1960); A. Netzer, Beayot ha-Integrazya ha-Tarbutit, ha-Hevratit ve-ha-Politit shel Yehudei Iran, in: Gesher, 25:12 (1979),6983; idem, Yehudei Iran, Israel, ve-ha-Republikah ha-Islamit shelIran; in: ibid., 26:12 (1980), 4557; idem, Iran ve-Yehudeha be-Para-shatDerakhim Historit, in: ibid., 1/106 (1982), 96111; idem, Tekufotu-Shelavim be-Mazav ha-Yehudim ve-ha-Peilut ha-Ziyyonit be-Iran,in: Yahdut Zemanenu, I (1983), 13962; idem, Yehudei Iran be-Arzotha-Berit, in: Gesher, 1/110 (1984), 7990; idem, Anti-Semitism be-Iran, 19251950, in: Peamim, 29 (1986), 531; idem, Jewish Educa-tionin Iran, in: H.S. Himmelfarb and S. DellaPergola (eds.), JewishEducation Worldwide, (1989), 44761; idem, Immigration, Iranian,in: J. Fischel and S. Pinsker (eds.), Jewish-American History and Cul-ture(1992), 26567; idem, Persian Jewry and Literature: A Socio-culturalView, in: H.E. Goldberg (ed.), Sephardi and Middle EasternJewries (1996), 24055; J. Nimrodi, Massa Hayyay, 12 (2003); ThePalestine Year Book, 3 (19471948), 77; R.K. Ramazani, Revolution-aryIran (1986), 2825; idem, The Foreign Policy of Iran: 15001941(1966); Sh. Segev, Ha-Meshullash ha-Irani (1981); Ha-Shenaton ha-Statisti le-Israel (2002); Shofar (Jewish monthly in Persian publishedon Long Island), 243 (May 2001), 22ff.; B. Souresrafil, Khomeini andIsrael (1988); J. Upton, The History of Modern Iran: An Interpretation(1968); D.N. Wilbur, Iran, Past and Present (1948); M. Yazdani, Re-cordson Iranian Jews Immigration to Palestine (19211951) (1996), 61,67, 110; Idelson, Melodien, 3 (1922).IRAQ, country in S.W. Asia (for period prior to 634 C.E. see*Mesopotamia and *Babylonia).The Diaspora of Iraq was one of the most ancient of theJewish people. The Jews came to Babylon after the destruc-tionof the First Temple (586 B.C.E.), or even 10 years earlier,with the exile of Jehoiachin. They integrated into their landof captivity and took part in its economic and cultural de-velopment.The contribution of Babylonian Jewry to molding thespirit and character of the Jewish people in the Diaspora waschanneled through its famous academies (yeshivot) of *Suraand *Pumpedita. There, the Babylonian Talmud was com-posedand sealed. The heads of those academies functionedas the leaders of Babylonian Jewry and of other Jews. Theycontinued to do so until the conquest of the country by the*Mongols in 1258 C.E. The decline of the Jewish communitiesof *Baghdad and *Basra continued for many generations. Onlyat the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuriesdid Baghdad begin to recover economically and culturally andstart to function again as a religious center for the Jewish com-munitiesof *Kurdistan, *Persia, *India, and *Aden.Under Islamic RuleThe Jews of Babylonia, who had suffered from persecutionsat the end of the rule of the Persian Sasanid dynasty, wel-comedthe Arab conquest of the land, which became knownas Iraq.The legal status of the Jews, as *dhimms, was defined bythe Sharia (the Islamic Law), under which they had certainrights including the right to worship and to administer theirown religious law. On the other hand they were required topay the jizya (poll tax) in exchange for protection by the Is-lamicrulers. They were also exempted from serving in theMuslim armies.UNDER THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE (661750). The extantinformation on the attitude of the caliphs of the *Umayyaddynasty (661750) toward the Jews is very limited. During thisperiod the Jews suffered from the political disputes and con-troversieswhich took place in Iraq. In the times of the caliphOmar II ibn Abd al-Azz (717720) the Jews suffered, withother dhimms, intolerance toward their religion. He forbadethe governors to appoint members of non-Muslims as taxcollectors and scribes; he also prohibited the dhimms fromdressing like Muslims and sought to degrade them socially(The Covenant of *Omar).UNDER THE ABBASID CALIPHATE (7501258). The situationof the Jews during the *Abbasid period was not stable. Some ofthe rulers were tolerant to them while others oppressed themvariously. The caliph Hrn al-Rashd (786809) persecutedthe Jews and sought to humiliate them. He imposed heavytaxes and discriminated against them in regard to their dress,commerce, and other matters. The attitude changed under hisson, the caliph al-Mamn (813833), who was a devotee of thesciences. At the beginning of his rule he revealed a tolerantattitude toward the Jews, but at its end he changed this policyfor the worse as a result of his advisers influence. During thereign of the caliph al-Mutawakkil (847861) the Jewish situ-ationwas severely aggravated. This caliph issued, in 850, de-creeswhich degraded the Jews and other non-Muslims. Heinstituted a yellow head covering and, for the servants and thepoor, a yellow patch to be prominently worn on their clothes,on the chest or on the back. Four years later he added somenew decrees on the color of clothes and on womens clothing.Various restrictions concerned with living quarters, taxes,and other matters are also attributed to him (see Covenant of*Omar). It may be assumed that not all these decrees were ap-plied.In spite of all the restrictions, many Jews adapted them-selvesto the values of the Muslim culture. They distinguishedthemselves as physicians and writers, played important rolesin the economic life and held government positions. The factthat it was necessary from time to time to renew the decreeson clothing proves that they were not generally enforced.During the terms of office of the gaon *Aharon b. Josephha-Cohen Sargado, Baghdad was conquered by the Buway-hidemirs who ruled Iraq for more than a century (9451055).This Persian Shiite dynasty was extremely fanatic and cruellypersecuted the Sunni Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians.They abolished the former rights of the exilarch to collect thepoll tax, and the Jews were compelled to pay it to Muslim col-lectorswho oppressed them severely. The situation of the Jewsimproved during the rule of the *Seljuks (10551150). After the14 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 15. Seljuks the Abbasid caliphs restored their power, and a changefor the worse occurred during the reign of caliph al-Muqtad(10751094), who adopted a harsh attitude toward both the Jewsand the Christians. He imposed heavy taxes upon them andcompelled them to live according the discriminatory decreesissued by the caliph al-Mutwwakil. After him the situation ofthe Jews improved and their former autonomy was restored.*Baghdad was founded by the caliph al-Mansr (754775) and became the capital of the Abbasids. The Jewish com-munitybegin to expand until it became the largest one in Iraqand the seat of the *exilarch.Under Muslim rule the academies of *Sura and *Pumbe-ditabegan to prosper. The heads of these academies wereknown, from then on, as *geonim. The golden age of the geonimparallels the days of splendor of the Abbasid caliphate.According to the traveler *Benjamin of Tudela, who vis-itedIraq in about 1170, the caliph was most favorable to theJews; there were many Jewish officials in his service. The trav-elerR. *Pethahiah of Regensburg, who visited Iraq at the be-ginningof the reign of the caliph al-Nsir (11801225) greatlyadmired the erudition of the Jews of Babylonia: Babyloniais an entirely different world, their occupation consisting ofTorah study and the fear of heaven, even the Ishmaelites aretrustworthy in Babylon there are 30 synagogues in additionto that of Daniel (Sibbuv Rabbi Petahyah (1905), 8, 24).After the death of R. Hai the offices of the head of theacademy (rosh yeshivah) and the exilarch (resh galuta) wereboth held by *Hezekiah b. David (10381058).The academies of Sura and Pumbedita had been trans-ferredto Baghdad during the 9th and the 10th century. In themiddle of the 11th century they ceased to exist and were re-placedby the Academy of Baghdad.Under Mongol Rule (12581335)Following *Mongols occupation of Iraq in 1258, which causedtotal destruction and disaster all over the south and the cen-terof the land, the Jewish communities of Baghdad and Basradid not recover for many generations. The attitude of thenew rulers toward the Jews at the beginning of their reignchanged for the better. Some of them advanced to high posi-tionsof state. The first of these was *Sad al-Dawla who wasappointed a physician of the sultan Arghun Khan (128491)and then as a finance minister of the Il-khan kingdom. How-ever,in 1291, when the sultan was in his sickbed, Sad al-Dawlawas executed. The same fate was met 27 years later by anotherJewish personality, *Rashid al-Dawla (12471318), who was aphysician, capable financier, historian, and philosopher. He at-tainedhigh rank and was appointed as physician of the khanand the chief minister (vizir); his enemies accused him of hav-ingpoisoned the khan and had him executed. The situationof the Jews began to worsen when Ghazan Khan (12951304)converted to Islam. At that time a number of Jews were com-pelledto follow suit. In 1333 and 1334 the synagogues of Bagh-dadwere destroyed, Jewish property was looted and, again, anumber of Jews converted to Islam.iraqThe occupation of the country by Tamerlane in 1393caused destruction of a large part of Baghdad and other towns.The Baghdad community did not recover until the end of the18th and the beginning of the 19th century.Under Ottoman RuleThe Ottomans occupied Baghdad in 1534; their rule continueduntil 1917, except for 15 years (162338) when the Persians ruledthe country and dealt very harshly with the Jews.The sharia (the Islamic Code) was the law of the *Otto-manEmpire, so the dhimms were treated according to thisreligious code. Jews suffered from minor discrimination un-derthe Ottomans, and the Iraqi Jews, in general, lived undera tolerant regime. They paid a moderate poll tax and enjoyedrelative freedom. Nevertheless, anti-Jewish crime or agitationon a petty scale was ready to appear. At times the Turkish gov-ernorsoppressed the Jews and the poll tax was collected withmany abuses by the highest bidder.From 1830 to 1917, 42 Turkish valis governed Iraq. Mus-tafaNuri Pasha (186061) tried to confiscate the shrine of theprophet *Ezekiel (traditionally considered buried in the vil-lageof Kifil) from the Jews; and Mustafa Asim Pasha (188789)made false accusations against the Jews. In the time of the lastvali, Khalil Pasha, 17 Jewish notables of Baghdad were accusedof having engaged in illegal commerce. They were cruellytortured and then executed. Conversely, there were some en-lightenedofficials who restored order and brought peace tothe country. The most prominent of these were Midhat Pasha(186972) and Hseyin Nazim Pasha (191011). During theirrule the Jews enjoyed security and tranquility.DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES. The Jewish population of Baghdadin 1824 was estimated at about 1,500 Jewish families. In 1831 itwas reported that about 7,000 Jews were dwelling in a specialquarter of the city and that they were employed in various gov-ernmentaljobs. In 1845 the population of Baghdad was esti-matedat about 16,000 Jews, 40,000 Muslims, and 4,000 Chris-tians.The traveler R. *Benjamin II (1848) put the number of theJewish families in Baghdad at 3,000 with nine synagogues.Scores of small Jewish communities were scatteredthroughout northern Iraq. The largest was in Mosul, whichin 1848 had about 450 Jewish families. The figure of 3,000 Jewsin this city remained stable until approximately the begin-ningthe 20th century. The decline of the economic standing ofMosul seems to have contributed to the departure of Jews forBaghdad. According to official figures, there were in 1919 in allthe northern districts (Mosul, Arbil, Suleimania, and Kirkuk)13,835 Jews. According to the census of 1947 there were in thenorthern districts 19,767 Jews.The main demographic changes occurred from the mid-19th century on. A considerable internal emigration from northto south followed the opening of the Suez-Canal (1869), whichshifted the commercial pathway from the overland route (fromEurope to India via *Aleppo in *Syria and Mosul in northernIraq) to the naval route, thus favoring the Iraqi port of Basra.Economic conditions in the north begin to deteriorate. TheENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 15 16. iraqJews, like others, started to move southward. North to southemigration was also encouraged by changes introduced duringthe reign of the Vali Midhat Pasha (186972), who succeededin pacifying the tribes of central and southern Iraq and pro-tectingthe cities from their attacks. The two small Jewish com-munitiesin southern Iraq (Basra and Hilla) had grown larger,and additional communities settled in Amara, Qalat Salih. Alial-Gharbi, and Musyab. The Jewish movement to the south,however, declined after World War I, except for Basra.The Jewish community of Baghdad continued to in-crease.In the year 1860 there lived in Baghdad about 20,000Jews among 70,000 non-Jews. In 1889, they were estimatedat about 25,000 among a population of 100,000 Muslims and5,000 Christians. An account by the British Consul in Baghdad,in February 1910 stated, The Jewish community at Baghdadis, after that of Salonica, the most numerous, important, andprosperous in Turkey. At the beginning of the 20th century theJewish community of Baghdad numbered about 45,000, In 1919the British put the figures of Iraqi Jews at 87,488 among a totalpopulation of 2,849,283; that is to say 3.1. In the Baghdad dis-trictthere were about 50,000 Jews in a total of 250,000 inhabit-ants.Official Iraqi statistics, based on the 1947 census, put thetotal number of Iraqi Jews at 118,000 or 2.6 of the total popu-lationof 4.5 million. In spite of this official census, some stud-iessuggest that the real number of Jews in the late 1940s washigher. During the years 194851, 123,500 Jews immigrated toIsrael, with several thousand others leaving during this periodfor other countries. About 6,000 Jews remained in Iraq afterthe mass immigration. This led to the conclusion that the totalnumber of Jews in Iraq in the late 1940s was about 135,000.Major Jewish Settlements in Iraq, based on the official census of1947Provinces 1920 1932 1947Amara 3,000 2,540 2,145Baghdad 50,300 42,799 76,825Basra 6,928 7,260 9,388Diyala 1,689 2,252 2,850Diwaniya 6,530 531 809Dulaym 2,600 897 1,661Hilla 1,065 1,000 1,893Irbil 4,800 3,090 c. 4,226Karbala Kirkuk 1,400 2,633 c. 4,025Kut 381 346 359Mosul 7,635 7,537 c. 8,696Muntafiq 160 555 644Sulaimaniya 1,000 1,343 c. 2,256Total 87,488 72,783 115,777SOCIAL CHANGE. The reforms in the Ottoman Empire thattook place in the second half of the 19th century (Tanzimat)improved the legal status of the Jews. Theoretically they be-cameequal in rights and obligations. The traditional poll tax(jizya), which symbolized the inferiority of the dhimmis andtheir subject status, was rescinded. The fiscal change was,however, cosmetic in a sense, since the jizya was replaced in1855 by a new levy, Bedel-i Askari or military substitution tax,which exempted the non-Muslims from military service, forwhich they had become technically liable with the grantingof civil equality. In 1909, shortly after the Young Turks coup,this tax was canceled, and about 100 young Baghdadi Jews ap-pliedfor admission to officers training school.When World War I broke out, several thousands of IraqiJews were drafted into the Ottoman Army and sent to distantfronts, from which many of them did not return.The most far-reaching of the reforms came in the reor-ganizationof the millet all over the Empire. In Baghdad thepost of the Nasi (the leader of the Jewish community) wassuppressed in 1849, and the community was recognized asa millet. Its leadership was vested in a religious personality(the hakham bashi), the chief rabbi. Later on, in 1931, un-derthe British Mandate a new law was enacted to replace theOttoman one. This law permitted the vesting of the leader-shipof Baghdads Jewish community in a secular personality.Relying upon this law, it was possible in 1949 to replace ChiefRabbi *Sassoon Kadoorie with Heskel Shemtov.As a result of the improvement in their civil status deriv-ingfrom the reforms, the Jews were appointed to positions ofjudges, lecturers in the universities, officials in governmentalservice, and police officers. They also were appointed as mem-bersof city councils.In 1869, when Midhat Pasha carried out the vilayet system,he appointed a leading Jewish notable, Menahem *Daniel, ascouncil member of the Baghdad vilayet (Majlis al-Idra). Dan-ielwas also elected to parliament, which was opened in 1877in Istanbul. This was a precedent which was followed in 1908by the election of Heskel *Sassoon (18601932) to parliament.The changes in the status of the dhimmis did not sit wellwith the traditionally minded Muslims. Anti-Christian vio-lenceerupted in many places in the Middle East, but not inIraq. However, when the Young Turks tried to bring into forcetheir notions of liberty, equality, and justice in Iraq, the Mus-limsgreeted them with shock and dismay. They reacted onOctober 15, 1908, with violence against the Jews of Baghdad,which resulted in 40 wounded Jews. This event disabused theJews of Baghdad of any illusions of equality.Education and LiteratureRELIGIOUS EDUCATION. In 1832 Midrash Talmud Torah wasfounded in Baghdad, which continued its activity until themass immigration in the mid-20th century. In 1840 a religiousacademy, Yeshivat Bet Zilkha, was founded after 100 yearsduring which there was no such institution. This yeshivaheducated rabbis for the Iraqi communities and those of itsneighboring countries.The founding of modern schools accelerated the seculartrend in education among Iraqi Jews. The role of the bet mi-drashand the yeshivah was steadily undermined and becameinsignificant by the 1940s.SECULAR EDUCATION. The first school of the *Alliance16 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 17. Isralite Universelle for boys was founded in Baghdad in1865 and for girls in 1883. More elementary schools were lateropened in the provincial towns of Iraq. Those schools intro-ducedmodern methods of teaching and included foreign lan-guagesin the curriculum alongside Arabic, French, English,and Turkish. It created a real gap between the educational levelof the Jews and that of the non-Jews. It qualified the Jews tobe businessmen, clerks, and employees in the governmentaloffices and banks. This gap prevailed until the mass emigra-tionand aroused the jealousy of the non-Jews in the country,causing friction between the Jews and their neighbors.By the 1920s numerous schools had been established,mostly by Jewish philanthropists, and maintained by bothJewish community funds and regular contributions by theIraqi government.The number of the schools supervised by the Jewishcommunity in Baghdad continued to rise, reaching 20 at thetime of the mass exodus of 195051. In addition to the regularschools, a number of other institutes were established, includ-inga school for the blind, orphanages, a music school, voca-tionalcenters, and charitable organizations.Jewish students began attending universities in Iraq andabroad after World War I, and government schools were opento Jews as well as to other religious and ethnic minorities. Inthe 1930s there was no restriction on the number of Jewishstudents in governmental schools and colleges. Later, in the1940s, a preferential quota introduced for scientific and medi-calcolleges affected Jews chances of entering these colleges.The liberal and secular trend brought about a strongerassociation of Iraqi Jews and Arab culture and led Jews totake a more active role in public and cultural life. A consider-ablenumber of prominent Jewish writers and poets emerged,whose works in Arabic were both well known and well re-garded;among them were the poet and historian Meir *Basri(1911 ) and the poet Anwar *Shaul (19041984). Jewish jour-nalistsfounded a number of newspapers and magazines in Ar-abic,such as al-Misbah (19241929) and al-Hasid (19291937).Jewish journalists contributed to the Iraqi press and occasion-allywrote for the Arabic press outside Iraq.From the 1920s a number of Jews were also prominent inthe Iraqi theater and performed in Arabic. Many Jews in Iraqdistinguished themselves in music as singers, composers, andplayers of traditional instruments.Some works by the Jewish intelligentsia were Arabic inessence and expressed the cultural life of the country.[Abraham Ben-Yaacob and Hayyim J. Cohen /Nissim Kazzaz (2nd ed.)]British Occupation and Mandate (19171932)The Jews under the British occupation (191721) enjoyed fullrights of equality and freedom as well as a feeling of security.The majority of the Jews considered themselves as British citi-zens.Some grew rich, others were employed in the British ad-ministration,especially in Baghdad and Basra. They were in-terestedin the continuation of British rule, and they expressediraqthis in 1918, only a week after the armistice went into effect,when the Jewish community of Baghdad presented a petitionto the civil commissioner of Baghdad, asking him to makethem British subjects. Twice again, in 1919 and 1920, the Jewsof Iraq appealed to the British high commissioner and askedhim not to allow an Arab government to come to power or atleast to grant British citizenship to the Jewish community enmasse. The British authorities rejected this request, and theJews were eventually appeased by personal assurances thatample guaranties would be afforded. However, when in April1930 the League of Nations decided to adopt the mandate, theJewish leaders decided to support the establishment of an Iraqistate under the British Mandate.The Jews were given further assurances by Amir Faysal(18831933), who was the leading British candidate for the Iraqithrone. The new monarch-to-be made numerous speeches, in-cludingone before the Jewish community of Baghdad on July18, 1921, one month before his coronation, in which he empha-sizedthe equality of all Iraqis, irrespective of religion.King Faysal continued to maintain cordial personal re-lationswith individual members of the Jewish elite throughhis 12-year reign. As his first finance minister, he appointedSir Sasson *Heskel, the only Jew who ever held cabinet rankin Iraq. Four members represented the Jews in the Iraqi par-liament.In 1946 their number increased to six. In the SenateMenahem Salih *Daniel represented them and after him hisson, Ezra *Daniel.Because of their generally superior educational qualifica-tions,Jews and Christians could be found in the civil serviceduring the first decade of the kingdom while it was still underthe British Mandate. However, as early as 1921, a strong Arabnationalist element rejected the employment of foreignersand non-Muslims. This opposition intensified after Iraq hadgained full independence in 1932 and became even strongerafter the death of Faysal the following year.ZIONIST ACTIVITY DURING THE BRITISH MANDATE. Zi-onistactivity resumed in Iraq about a year after World War Iended; though still unorganized, serious fundraising was un-dertakenthrough the initiatives of a few individuals. Despitethe substantial sums donated by a few wealthy philanthropistsfor development projects in the Holy Land, most of the Jewishmercantile elite of Iraq remained unattracted by Zionism. Thefirst organized Zionist group in the postwar period included aschoolteacher, a law student, and a police officer. In 1920 theyfounded an association in Baghdad with the innocuous nameof Jamiyya Adabiyya Isriliyya (Jewish Literary Society),which published a short-lived journal in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic, Yeshurun. In early 1921, a group within the Jewish Liter-arySociety founded a separate Zionist society, Al-Jamiyya al-Sahyuniyya li-Bild al-Rfidayn (The Mesopotamian ZionistSociety) under the presidency of Aaron Sassoon b. Eliahu *Na-hum,who was also known as ha-Moreh (the teacher). Thesociety received a permit from the government. Ha-Moreh wasvery active together with his deputy, the lawyer Joseph EliasENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 17 18. Gabbai, and others. The organizations headquarters were inBaghdad and branches existed in Basra, Khanaqin, Amara andArbil. Fundraising was the principal object of the Zionists inIraq during the 1920s. Emissaries from the Holy Land were wellreceived and helped by the authorities of the British Mandateand senior Iraqi officials. The Zionists enjoyed considerablesympathy from the poorer Jewish masses, who demonstratedtheir support in vocal public gatherings, which offended Arabpublic opinion, but failed to attract any influential communityfigures. The unrestrained behavior of the Zionists caused anxi-etyamong members of the upper class such as Menahem SalihDaniel, a leading Baghdadi Jewish notable and later, as notedabove, a senator in the Iraqi Senate. In reacting to the requestfor help in promoting Zionist activities in Iraq, he foresawthe danger to the community because of the political style theZionists endorsed. Zionist ideology was attacked by anotherprominent figure, Joseph al-*Kabir, a Baghdadi Jewish lawyer,in a letter published in the Iraq Times in November 1938.British officials and the native Arab authorities alsowarned both the Zionists and the visiting representative ofthe movement against public activities and indiscreet state-ments.The nationalist press was more emphatic in this regard.Therefore, even though no actual ban was imposed upon theiractivities in Iraq until 1929, the need to maintain a low pro-fileincreased when the Zionist committee found it could notrenew its permit in 1922, although it was allowed to continueoperating unofficially until 1929.In 1923 a Keren Hayesod committee was founded inBaghdad; contributions to the national funds passed throughthis committee. The size of contributions increased during theearly years of British rule (19201924), but declined steadilyafterwards, and Iraqi Jews were not represented at any inter-nationalZionist Congress after 1927. Evidence also shows thatCongress representatives of the community before that datewere actually foreigners who had succeeded in selling in Iraqthe number of shekels required for representation by ZionistCongress rulers.Short-lived Zionist societies were established at the endof the British Mandate, such as Agudat Ahiever (1929),whose aim was to spread the Hebrew book; the Maccabisport society (19291930); Histadrut ha-Noar ha-Ivri (1929)and others. Hebrew teachers from the Holy Land were invitedto teach Hebrew and Jewish history.The visit of Sir Alfred Mond (a well-known Zionist) toBaghdad, in February 1928, marked the first anti-Zionist dem-onstrationin the city. Some Jews who passed by were beaten.The Palestine disturbances, which erupted in August 1929,aroused a widespread and highly vocal reaction in Iraq. Thepress published exaggerated reports placing the Arab casual-tiesin the thousands. A leading national paper claimed that theJews had thrown a bomb into a mosque, killing 70 worshipersat Friday prayers. On August 30 some 10,000 Arabs gathered ina Baghdad mosque, where prayers were recited for the victimsof British and Zionist aggression. After the speeches, the crowdpoured out into the streets for a demonstration march, whichturned into violent clashes with the police. Some of the speakersdid not differentiate between Zionists and other Iraqi Jews.From that time the Iraqi government began to persecuteZionism, Palestinian Jewish teachers were expelled. In 1935ha-Moreh was arrested and forced to leave Iraq for Palestine.After that there was no legal Zionist activity in Iraq.Fascism and Antisemitism (19331941)Iraqi Jews did not know the kind of *antisemitism that prevailedin some Christian states of Europe. The first attempt to copymodern European antisemitic libels was made in 1924 by SdiqRasl al-Qdir, a former officer in the White Russian Army.He published his views, particularly that of worldwide conspir-acy,in a Baghdadi newspaper. The Jewish response in its ownweekly newspaper, al-Misbah, compelled al-Qdir to apolo-gize,although he later published his antisemitic memoirs.At that time the press drew a clear dividing line betweenJudaism and Zionism. This line became blurred in the 1930s,along with the demand to remove Jews from the genealogicaltree of the Semitic peoples. This anti-Jewish trend coincidedwith Faysals death in 1933, which brought about a noticeablechange for the Jewish community. His death also came at thesame time as the Assyrian massacre, which created a climateof insecurity among the minorities. Iraqi Jewry at that timehad been subject to threats and invectives emanating not onlyfrom extremist elements, but also from official state institu-tionsas well. Dr. Sm Shawkat, a high official in the Ministryof Education in the pre-war years and for a while its directorgeneral, was the head of al-Futuwwa, an imitation of Hit-lersYouth. In one of his addresses, The Profession of Death,he called on Iraqi youth to adopt the way of life of Nazi Fas-cists.In another speech he branded the Jews as the enemyfrom within, who should be treated accordingly. In another,he praised Hitler and Mussolini for eradicating their internalenemies (the Jews). Syrian and Palestinian teachers often sup-portedShawkat in his preaching.The German ambassador, Dr. F. Grobba, distributedfunds and Nazi films, books, and pamphlets in the capital ofIraq, mostly sponsoring the anti-British and the nationalists.Grobba also serialized Hitlers book Mein Kampf in a dailynewspaper. He and his German cadre maintained a greatinfluence upon the leadership of the state and upon manyclasses of the Iraqi people, especially through the directors ofthe Ministry of Education.The first anti-Jewish act occurred in September 1934,when 10 Jews were dismissed from their posts in the Ministryof Economics and Communications. From then on an unof-ficialquota was fixed for the number of Jews to be appointedto the civil service.Pro-Palestinian, anti-British, anti-Jewish, and anti-Zionist sentiments rose to new heights in Iraq in 1936. TheArab general strike and the revolt, which erupted in Pales-tinethat year, gave the conflict a new centrality in Arab pol-itics.The atmosphere in Baghdad became highly charged.The Committee for the Defense of Palestine circulated anti-iraq18 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10 19. Jewish pamphlets. Over a four-week period, extending frommid-September to mid-October, three Jews were murdered inBaghdad and in Basra. A bomb, which however failed to ex-plode,was thrown into a Baghdadi synagogue on Yom Kippur(September 27). Several other bombs were thrown at Jewishclubs, and street gangs roughed up a number of Jews.The president of the Baghdadi Jewish community, RabbiSassoon *Kadoorie, who was himself a staunch anti-Zionist,issued a public statement, in response to a demand from thenational press, affirming loyalty to the Arab cause in Palestineand dissociating Iraqi Jewry from Zionism. This did not bringabout any real improvement in the situation and, in August1937, incidents against the Jews were renewed, fostered then andlater by Syrians and Palestinians who had settled in Iraq.THE ANTI-JEWISH POGROM ON JUNE 12, 1941 AL-FARHUD.On June 1, the first day of Shavuot, which in Iraqwas traditionally marked by joyous pilgrimages to the tombof holy men and visits of friends and relatives, the Hashem-iteregent, Abd al-Ilh, returned to the capital from his exilein Transjordan. A festive crowd of Jews crossed over the westbank of the Tigris River to welcome the returning prince. Onthe way back, a group of soldiers, who were soon joined bycivilians, turned on the Jews and attacked them, killing oneand injuring others. Anti-Jewish riots soon spread through-outthe city, especially on the east bank of the Tigris, wheremost of the Jews lived. By nightfall, a major pogrom was underway, led by soldiers and paramilitary youth gangs, followedby a mob. The rampage of murder and plunder in the Jewishneighborhoods and business districts continued until the af-ternoonof the following day, when the regent finally gave or-dersfor the police to fire upon the rioters and Kurdish troopswere brought in to maintain order.In the Farhud, 179 Jews of both sexes and all ages werekilled, 242 children were left orphans, and 586 businesses werelooted, 911 buildings housing more than 12,000 people werepillaged. The total property loss was estimated by the Jew-ishcommunitys own investigating committee to be approxi-mately680,000 pounds.The Farhud dramatically undermined the confidenceof all Iraqi Jewry and, like the Assyrian massacres of 1933, hada highly unsettling effect upon all the Iraqi minorities. Never-theless,many Jews tried to convince themselves that the worstwas over. A factor in this was the commercial boom duringthe war, of which the Jewish business community was theprime beneficiary. Another factor was the tranquility whichprevailed during the next years of the war. But the shadow ofthe Farhud continued to hover for years.The pogrom caused a split between the youth of the Jew-ishcommunity and its traditional leadership. The new genera-tionturned to two separate directions: the Communist and theZionist movements, the activity of both being underground.The Jewish Youth Between Zionism and CommunismIN THE COMMUNIST PARTY. The Communist undergroundwas joined by some young Jewish intellectuals who believediraqthat by changing the regime of the state salvation would cometo them as a minority. During the 1940s they played an impor-tantpart in organizing demonstrations and anti-governmentactivities. Two of them reached the top ranks of the party andwere hanged in 1949. In 1946 Usbat Mukfahat al-Sahyniyya(the Anti-Zionist League) was authorized by the Iraqi govern-ment.This League succeeded in attracting many intellectuals.Its meetings were well attended and its daily newspaper, al-Usba, was widely read. The League soon established itself asan outspoken representative of the Iraqi Jewish communityon the issue of Palestine. It distinguished between Judaismand Zionism, terming the latter a colonialist phenomenon.In June 1946 the League organized a large demonstration inBaghdad against the injustice in Palestine. Three months af-tergranting permission, the authorities banned al-Usba andclosed it. Its leaders were arrested and sentenced to variousterms of imprisonment.The role of Jewish communists was visible in the dailydemonstrations of February 1948, which erupted against thePortsmouth Agreement, endangered the regime, and broughtdown the government. The Jewish communists succeeded inconvincing many Jews, including the leadership of the Jew-ishcommunity, to participate in the demonstrations. By theirbehavior they stirred the anger of the government, which re-movedits protection from its Jewish subjects and began todisplay an official antisemitic policy.THE ZIONIST UNDERGROUND. The Zionist Movement re-newedits activity in March 1942 by forming the youth orga-nizationcalled Tenuat he-Halutz (the Pioneer Movement)and paramilitary youth, Haganah, among Iraqi Jews. Con-tra