Manuscript - The Diwan of the Persian Poet Saib Tabrizi - Hebrew Characters - with an Eye-Witness Account in Hebrew ...

Manuscript - The Diwan of the Persian Poet Saib Tabrizi - Hebrew Characters - with an Eye-Witness Account in Hebrew (!) of the Anti-Jewish Riots in Mashad - 1839
The manuscript
122 leaves (many bound out of order and some leaves missing). Paper 18x12.5 cm. Persian Hebrew Script. 18th century.
An incomplete copy of th ediwan (collection of poems) by Saib Tabrizi (Mirza Muhammad ali Saib, 1601-1677), one of the greatest masters of Persian poetry in the 17th century. This work, when written in Persian in Hebrew characters, is very rare. In the catalogue of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts only one other incomplete copy is listed (Jerusalem National Library MS 3128).

At the end of the manuscript later hands added various texts in Judeo-Persian and in Persian in Arabic scripts. Among them, on folio 99r a Persian version by Benjamin ben Mishael (Amina) of the piyyut "Et Sha'arei Shamayim Le'Hepateach" on the Bindinf of Isaac. On a blank page at the end of the manuscript, a later hand added a report on the anti-Jewish riots and pogrom in the Persian city of Mashad in 1839.

In 1839, the Jewish community was attacked by Muslims and forced to convert. This incident happened during the Shia holy month of Muharram. The Shias were marching in the streets in memory of Hussein Ibn Ali when a Jewish woman was throwing away the dog she had killed for medical reasons. She was accused of deliberately offending the Shias. There are a number of narratives describing this pogrom, almost all of them related years after the incident. In his research on the pogroms in Persia during the 19th century, Yitzchak Ben Zvi bemoans the fact that almost all the reports are second-hand and not written by eye-witnesses. One very brief description in Judeo-Persian was written by a contemporary witness a few months after the pogrom but it includes few details other than the date, 12 Nissan 1839, the number of victims killed (about 32) and the fact that the survivors were forced to convert to the Moslem faith. Other reports compiled a few years after the pogrom for hearsay describe different numbers of victims and contrasting versions of the event.

On the blank page at the end of the manuscript, an eye-witness to the pogrom wrote an account in Hebrew soon after it occurred. Many of the details match the other descriptions; but others vary or were not previously reported at all. The number of victims is 24 and not 32 or 52 as reported by other sources. The writer describes the destruction of homes and synagogues as well as the ripping apart of books that were then tossed into the garbage. He reports that many Jews were forced to covert and others managed to flee from Mashad. He describes in detail the events that led to the riot, including the killing of the dog for supposed medical reasons. In addition, he provides a theological reason for the pogroms not found in other reports, claiming that the Jews brought it upon themselves for a variety of reasons: for not properly observing the Sabbath, for not relating to other honorably, for being obsequious to the wealthy but offending the poor and neglecting the aged and similar offences. He writes that the Jews tried to bribe the Moslems to refrain from their punitive action, but to no avail.
This unique document is the only surviving contemporary report of the Mashad riots in Hebrew by an eye-witness and is far more detailed than the only other report by a witness in Judeo-Persian published by Ben Zvi.
Benjamin Richler, Jerusalem, March 2015

The Mashad Converso (Anusim)
The Moslems, subsequent to the aforementioned pogrom, forced the Jews of Mashad to convert to Islam. The Mashad Converso, from then on, took it upon themselves to lead a double life - Moslems on the outside; yet Jews in their homes. The women of the community used the Moslem laws regarding women for many purposes: they served as couriers of ritual articles, they organized secret prayers for men, they handed out kosher meat and more. The men of the community received two names: a Hebrew name which was given to them during the secret ceremony of Brit Milah and a Moslem name for everyday use. The women did not need an additional name since they did not have daily contact with Moslems. When girls were born, their ears were immediately pierced and it was announced "the daughter of so and so is the intended of so and so". When a Moslem came to ask the girl's hand in marriage, he found it she was already engaged. Thus, the Moslems eventually learned that the girls of the Jewish community were engaged since their birth and mixed marriages were prevented.
In order to form the impression that they were true Moslems, the members of the Jewish community were instructed by the rabbis to purchase non-kosher meat at a Moslem butcher shop; yet throw it to the cats and dogs. In addition, they were instructed to open their shops on Sabbath yet leave a small boy in the shop who said: "Father is not here; he will soon come back" until the Moslem will be tired of waiting and will leave the shop. The members of the community built Mikva'ot in closed cellars, with no heating, which constituted a big challenge for those who immersed themselves in the ritual bath during days of winter. The members of the community recalled that the greatest danger was during Passover. The Moslems, who took advantage of children's innocence, used to ask them whether their parents have already baked Matzah. Therefore, the Matzah was baked in cellars, after midnight, when the children have long gone to bed.

On the other hand, the Moslem leaders of the city instructed their followers to keep away from "Jadid al Islam" - "The New Moslems". Thus, the members of the Jewish community could go on with their lives as a group inside the Jewish ghetto and separate, for example, the graves of Jews from the graves of the non-Jewish citizens of the city. The Mashad Converso returned openly to the Jewish religion in Israel and the USA. They include about 12,000 people.
The story of the Mashad Converso is well-known. Many have studied it. It adds to other stories of Converso in Spain, Portugal and additional countries; however, first-hand descriptions of the Converso's lives were scarce. The leaf before us constitutes a turning point in the study of the event.
For additional reading: "Deyukana shel Kehilat Ha'Anusim Be'Mashad She'Be'Iran", Ben Zion Yehoshua.

Attached material:
Complete translation of the leaf on the pogrom.
A certificate of the "Institute for Computerized Bibliography and for the Study of the Hebrew Book" regarding the historical significance of the manuscript.

The significance of the manuscript is double since it contains both the Diwan in Judeo-Persian and the Hebrew account of the pogrom.

Condition: Fair. Wear and tear, stains. Worn binding and detached leaves. The back binding is made of remnants of manuscripts. In a matching new case.