فارسیJewish Presence in Bushehr
Historical Presence in Southern Iran
Shiraz, being the second most populous city of Iranian Jews after Tehran indicates that the Jewish community has had a continuous and significant presence in southern Iran. Currently, out of 136 synagogues in Iran, more than 19 are located in Shiraz.
Bushehr
The historical proximity and link between Shiraz and Bushehr made Bushehr, a business seaport, a prime destination for Jewish settlement too, hosting a sizable community of Iranian Jews. However, this dynamic has shifted. Today, only one family remains in Bushehr out of an estimated 25 to 30 thousand Iranian Jews that used to live there (according to Aftab magazine, 26 June 2016). The family’s head works as a draper in the local market.
Occupations
Traditionally, Jews in Bushehr engaged in diverse occupations such as goldsmithing, cloth trading, hospitality, liquor sales, and pharmacy. Following Israel’s establishment in 1948, a wave of Jewish migration ensued, drawing individuals from various corners of the globe, including Iran. A notable contingent hailed from Bushehr, with Manuchehr Atashi, a revered poet from the city, attributing their departure to heightened anti-Semitic sentiments that appeared after the arrival of Palestinian refugees around September 1941.
Population
According to statistics from 1951, the Jewish population of Bushehr had dwindled to around 400 individuals. This marked a significant decline from their estimated numbers in 1913, when British Consul Lorimer reported a Jewish community of approximately 600 people in the city (Bita، Persian Gulf Guide: 168-169). Following the Iranian Revolution, the Jewish population in Bushehr experienced a further decline, with many younger members immigrating to the United States or relocating to Shiraz (Poursabagh, 2010: 138).
Integration
Tolerance
Lord Curzon’s accounts sheds light on the comparatively milder treatment of Jews in cities like Bushehr, Kashan, and Tehran during the Qajar era. Jews living in Isfahan and Shiraz were prohibited from wearing headgear, in order to distinguish them from the rest. Additionally, they faced restrictions such as prohibition from riding horses in city streets or building houses as tall as Muslims. Jews who lived in Tehran, Bushehr, and Kashan, however, faced less persecution compared to other locales (John Louis Esposito, 1984: 167).
Geographical integration
In contrast to the typical layout seen in most Iranian cities, where neighborhoods of religious minorities were segregated and Jewish homes often situated at lower elevations, Bushehr presented a slightly different scenario. In the city’s historical fabric, Jews predominantly inhabited the northern reaches of the Kuti neighborhood, in addition to scattered residences extending into the Behbahani and Dehdashti neighborhoods. This Jewish enclave was, in fact, a piece of the northern Kuti area, having several alleys integrated seamlessly into the neighborhood.
Synagogues
The Dehdashti synagogue
Bushehr’s Jewish community had two synagogues. One synagogue was in the Dehdashti neighborhood near Haji Rais Mansion. This synagogue met its demise during the expansion project of Bushehr’s port and customs in 1984, leaving no remnants behind.
The Kuti synagogue
The second synagogue, positioned on the border of Behbahani and Kuti, now lies in ruins. Apart from the wooden entrance doors flanking its eastern and western sides, remnants of the surrounding walls, and a few arched niches on the southern facade, little evidence of its past glory remains. This synagogue faced the main thoroughfare after the expansion of the Kuti axis in the 1990s.
According to accounts from longtime residents, the synagogue remained intact even years after the departure of most Jewish individuals from Bushehr. The last surviving Jewish cleric, a man named Abdullah Tamim, took care of it. The synagogue building is clearly visible in an aerial photograph taken in 1964. According to Mr. Yahoudan, the head of the only Jewish family currently residing in Bushehr, the synagogue structure remained standing even for a few years after the 1979 Revolution. However, unfortunately, no physical documentation of the building’s structure exists now.
Based on information gathered from interviews with local residents, the synagogue’s construction involved the acquisition and merger of two houses in the Kuti neighborhood. It is likely that the two remaining doors on the east and west sides of the synagogue belonged to these two originally separate residential structures. The interior walls were plastered with gypsum. The main hall of the synagogue had wooden benches, and the Torah ark was also made of wood. Unlike most buildings in Bushehr, the synagogue had a deep basement that served as a mikveh (ritual bath). The basement was probably 15 to 25 steps below the ground level. The steps leading to the mikveh were located in front of the western entrance.
Based on Bakhtiar Lotfi’s notes in the Bushehr Historical Texture Studies project
Synagogue of Bushehr, Autumn 2010
Synagogue of Bushehr, Autumn 2010
Synagogue of Bushehr, Autumn 2010
Synagogue of Bushehr, Autumn 2010
Synagogue of Bushehr
Synagogue of Bushehr, Autumn 2010
Synagogue of Bushehr-Study and Review of Bushehr’s Old Texture, Volume 5, Page 17
Synagogue of the Jews in the Kuti Neighborhood-Technical Office of Preservation and Restoration Unit; Photography date unknown
Synagogue of Bushehr, 1964
Location of the Jewish synagogue in the Kuti neighborhood in the aerial photograph
Source of aerial photograph: Archive of the General Department of Cultural Heritage of Bushehr Province
Synagogue of Bushehr, 1964
Location of the Jewish synagogue in the Kuti neighborhood in the aerial photograph
Source of aerial photograph: Archive of the General Department of Cultural Heritage of Bushehr Province
Synagogue of Bushehr, 1964
Location of the Jewish synagogue in the Kuti neighborhood in the aerial photograph
Source of aerial photograph: Archive of the General Department of Cultural Heritage of Bushehr Province