Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-07
THE JEWS IN PERSIA.
How They Are Tortured and Robbed
Tombs of Esther and Mordecaf.

The position of the Jews in Persia il
q very painful one. They are under
no protection. They are merely the
perquisite of some subordinate officer
of the local Governor. The principle
Is very simple. The Jews Of a province
are assessed at a tax of q certain
amount. Some one pays this amount
to the local Governor, together with a
bride; and the wretched Jews are inn
mediately placed under his authority
for the financial year. 1t is a simple
speculation. If times are good, the
farmer of the Jews makes a good
profit; if they are bad, he gains moth
ing, or may fail to extract from them
as much as he has paid out of pocket
i'm that case, woe betide them! During
the Persian famine the Jews suffered
great straits before the receipss of the
subsidies sent from Europe by their CO.
.religionists. The farmer of the, Jew
rish colony in a great Persian city (of
course, a Persian Mohammedan) hay
ing seized their goods and clothes, pro-
ceeded, in the cold of a Persian winner,
to remove the doors and windows, of
their novels and to wantonly bum
them. The farmer was losing mones.
and sought thus to enforce what liz
considered his rights. No Persian
pitied the unfortunates; they werd
Jews, and so beyond the pale of pity.
Every street boy raises his hand
against the wretched Hebrew; he is
beaten and butfeted in the streets, spat
upon in the bazaar. The only person
he can appeal to is the farmer of the
Jews. From him he will obtain a GER
tain amount of protection if he be act
ually robbed of money or goods, not
from the farmers n of Justice, but
because the complainant, were his
wrong unredressed, might be unable
to pay his share of the tax. At every
public festival-even at the royal
salaam. before the Kings face-the
Jews are collected, and a number of
them are flung into the hauz or tank,
that King and mob may be amused by
seeing them crawl out half drowned
and covered with mud. The same
kindly ceremony is witnessed when
ever a provincial Governor holds high
festival; there are fireworks and Jews.
At every arrival of a new provincial
Governor the Jews are compelled to
sacrifice an OK in his honor upon the
high road at some distance from the
town. The head man of the Hebrew
community has to run with the bleed
ing head of the animal, imploring the
Governors countenance and protec-
ton, until he is beaten off by the far
rashcs. No child is missing for a few
hours but the Jews are accused Of
stealing it for sacrifice, and on such oc-
casions they are shamefully beaten and
robbed. No respect is paid to their
wives and daughters. They are COM
PEELED to live in a ''Ghetto," crowded
together, where the houses resemble
the dens of animals rather than the
h%abitations of men. When a jew mar
ries a rabble of the Mohammedan rrA-
fans of the town invite themselves tc
the ceremony, and, after a scene Of
riot and intoxication, not un%frequently
beat their host and his relations and in.
suit the women of the community, only
leaving the Jewish quarter when they
have slept off the drink they have swal-
lowed at their unwilling hosts ex'
pense. Huddled together as they are,
and living on the poorest food, is it tc
be wondered at that the Jews of Persia
are a pale and sickly race? The won
der rather is that they exist at all.
There are supposed to be nineteen
thousand Jews in Persia. There is a
Aaham-bashs, or priest, to each large
community. AS a rule, this man alone,
of all the Jews, is not prosecuted by
the Persians, though he is subject to ill
treatment in the bazaars. Education is
absolutely denied to the Jews. Oh
course, from their religion, the numer'
Gus colleges of Persia are closed tc
them, as are the ordinary schools,
Even the school of the Church Mission.
airy Society in Julia is to them u%navail'
able, for they would not dare to senc
their children there any more thar
would the Mohammedans. Converts
to Mohammedanism from the Persian
Jews are very few. Generally they are
women or girls who have been decoyet
from their homes OF married to Mussul
mans under threats of violence. Sucl
conversion is of little worth, but thu
fear of death would, even after it, pre-
vent a relapse. The children of thes'
marriages dlC UCl1uCu OCuCOOo' Inv.
are not looked down on by the Per
SLAMS, but rather favored than other
wise.
The trades open to the Jews are
brokerage; working in the preciou:
metals, in which they are very expert
dealing in precious stones; peddling
the selling Of leeches, for which Their
is a large demand; the making ant
sale on their premises of wine ane
arrack; music, singing and dancing
(three professions only practised fo1
hire in the East by the lowest OF tn
low; the manufacture Of spurious an
Gent coins; the practice of midwifer,
by the women; and the cleaning Q
drains, cesspools ETC., by the men Ito
when any unclean or filthy job is to b
done Jews are sent for to do it,
With all the disadvantages that the,
labor under in Persia, the Jews ar
fairly honorable. A Jew will neve
take a false oath. A few of them ca
read and write, and some possess
knowledge of Hebrew. Like the res
of their nation all over the world, the
are very intelligent. Even in Persia
stupid Jew does not exist; they ma,
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