Mahaleh (Jewish Quarter), Shiraz, Iran

Mahalleh: As the provincial capital of the Persian empire, Shiraz was home to many powerful and rich Jews. Around the beginning of the 18th century the
Jews of Shiraz were moved to their own area, called the mahalleh, for which they paid a heavy tax. Due to having their own separate quarter, Jews were not allowed to own or buy any other property outside of the Jewish quarter. While the Jews enjoyed being surrounded by their religious family, they were isolated in their situation. For example, Jews were considered unclean by the Muslim majority, and during times of rain the Jews were not allowed to leave
the quarter because they could contaminate the water and “infect” their Muslim neighbors [1]. Shirazi Jews were excluded from international trade and the
agriculture and pasture business [2]. Some of the discriminatory laws against Jews forced them to wear special clothing, banned the riding of an animal, and prohibited asking Muslims to repay their debts [3].

Community life: Due to codified restrictions, most Jews in the quarter worked as goldsmiths and silversmiths, opium dealers, and shop owners [4]. During the 17th century Jews also producedaround half of the wine in Shiraz. The wine was then exported to Europe [5]. The organization of the quarter was headed by a community leader. He was the one who collected taxes paid to the government and stepped in on any matters regarding the ruling powers. Usually the head was one of the richest men in the quarter [6].At that time, the quarter contained around eight or nine synagogues which served as valuable community gathering places [7]. The synagogues functioned as places for social, political, and religious events. They also allowed people demonstrate their social standing. For example, one could donate generously in the public synagogues in order to gain better reputation. Families usually attended the same synagogue, however sons could change the synagogue they attended. There was great competition between synagogues to attract the richest families, since richer members meant better-kept and funded synagogues.

Before the arrival of Alliance schools, the synagogue also functioned as a school for the children of the mahalleh. The school was called a maktab or koto. The schools did not teach any math, reading, or language, but focused on religious instruction and Torah study so that the children would become
valuable religious members of the community [8]. As a result none of the children could speak Persian, and instead communicated with a Hebrew-Persian dialect [9]. 

By 1893 there were around 5,000 Shirazi Jews living in 430 homes in the mahalleh. The quarter had ten synagogues, two head Rabbis, and five Jewish schools [10]. In the 18th and 19th century, harsh restrictions, high taxes, and maltreatment codified by the Persian government led to most Jews in the quarter having impoverished and difficult lives [11]. The mahalleh itself was dirty, especially noticeable during the rain when all of the dirt and trash was swept into the street. Houses always looked broken down [12]. The 19th century saw a lot of persecution in the mahalleh: in 1892, 1897, the famous blood libel of 1910, and the attacks of 1920 [13].

On October 30, 1910 the Shirazi mahalleh was mobbed by angry rioters. They were convinced that the Shirazi Jews had committed blood libel by murdering a Muslim girl for the sacrificial ritual. The mob also believed that the Jews had destroyed their sacred Koran after finding a ruined one near a Jewish home. Several days before, an unidentified dead body of a young girl was discovered who the Muslim community assumed to be the sacrificed body. It was later found out that the body belonged to a young Jewish girl [14]. Workers at the Alliance schools in Shiraz tried to intervene, but their efforts failed. The police pushed the riot along into the quarter, looting and destroying Jewish homes.  Following the attack twelve Jews were murdered and around fifty were injured. As AIU representative A. Nataf describes, “In the space of a few hours, in less time it would have taken to describe it, 6,000 men, women, children, and the elderly were stripped of everything they possessed” [15].

After the opening of the quarter in 1925 from the westernization brought by the Phalevi Dynasty, most of the Jews moved out to more modern and expensive areas [16]. The quarter became associated with poverty as only the poor Jews remained in the mahalleh. Many poor Muslims moved into the quarter as well. For the Jewish community the departure caused some friction as the rich Jews that moved out stopped recognizing the authority of the traditional Jewish council and instead followed the laws of the Persian government [17]. The majority of the Jewish population left Shiraz after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.