Jewish Population of Persia in the XlXth Century / גודלה של האוכלוסיה היהודית בפרס במאה הי"ט

Several sources which speak of the Jews of Persia in the 19th century estimate their number as between 40 to 50 thousand at the end of that century. Some, like Walter Fischel ("The Jews of Kurdistan a hundred years ago", Jewish Social Studies, New York 1950, p. 111) and Habib Levi (Tarikh-e Yahud-e Iran, vol. III, Tehran 1960, p. 1051), rely heavily upon the reports given by the members of Alliance who functioned in the field of education in Persia, and by travelers and "Shlihim" who visited a number of towns and villages in Persia. The latter visited or heard of no more than 20 centers with Jewish populations. The former, who were in Persia from the last quarter of the century on, speak of a great number of settlements, though they obviously did not visit all of them. The locations for which numbers of Jewish population are mentioned in the reports of these two sources can alphabetically be arranged as follows: Bane, Barforush (Babol), Bukan, Burazjan, Bushahr, Damavand, Garus (Bijar), Golpaygan, Hamadan, Isfahan, Kashan, Kaslan, Kermanshah, Khunsar, Koni, Mashhad, Miyanduab, Nahavand, Naqde, Peshkalan, Salmas (Shahpur), Saqez, Savojbolagh, Sayinqale, Sene (Sanandaj), Shiraz, Tazeqale, Tehran, Tuysarkan, Urmiye (Rezaiye), Yazd, Zohab. In the reports of Alliance of the beginning of the 20th century there appear names of additional Jewish settlements, some with population numbers and some without. The immigration to Israel in the years 1948–51 revealed that there were numerous settlements of Jewish populations all over Persia even before ths 19th century that were not known to the outside world. Certainly the population numbers given by the sources are far from accurate. The only possible way to come to some reliable estimate is to extend the research to the many Jewish families from those "unknown" settlements — some living in Israel and others in major cities in Iran.