Between Foreigners and Shiis Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority [Hardcover]

Based on archival and primary sources in Persian, Hebrew, Judeo-Persian, Arabic, and European languages,Between Foreigners and Shi'isexamines the Jews' religious, social, and political status in nineteenth-century Iran. This book, which focuses on Nasir al-Din Shah's reign (1848-1896), is the first comprehensive scholarly attempt to weave all these threads into a single tapestry. This case study of the Jewish minority illuminates broader processes pertaining to other religious minorities and Iranian society in general, and the interaction among intervening foreigners, the Shi'i majority, and local Jews helps us understand Iranian dilemmas that have persisted well beyond the second half of the nineteenth century.

Tsadik recaptures the history of their everyday life, along with that of the Muslim majority and other minority communities. This approach makes significant departure from the existing scholarship and is thus praiseworthy. Tsadik skillfully integrates a wide range of sources, written in Persian, English, Hebrew, and French. Between Foreigners and Shi'isis an important addition to the library of those interested in Iranian or Jewish history. Hopefully, Tsadik will produce a sequel continuing his narrative through the twentieth century to the present day. Daniel Tsadik's thorough, essential, and ground-breaking study enriches significantly our knowledge of Iran's Jewry in the nineteenth century. It sheds critical light on the tensions between the Shiite hierocracy and the secularizing pressures without which it is impossible to understand contemporary Iran. Focusing on the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1848-1896) in Iran, Daniel Tsadik examines developments in the position of Jews as a minority in Iran during the nineteenth century. This thorough study is an important contribution to our knowledge of Iranian Jews as well as for the study of Middle Eastern Jews, Iran, the Middle East, minorities, and relations between the Middle East andl“S