Judeo-Persian-The Daily Ledger

Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish communities throughout the formerly extensive Persian Empire, including the Mountain and Bukharan Jewish communities.

The speakers refer to their language as Fārsi. Some non-Jews refer to it as "dzhidi" (also written as "zidi", "judi" or "jidi"), which means "Jewish" in a derogatory sense.

Judeo-Persian

Literature

There is an extensive Judeo-Persian poetic religious literature, closely modeled on classical Persian poetry. The most famous poet was Mowlānā Shāhin-i Shirāzi (14th century CE), who composed epic versifications of parts of the Bible, such as the Musā-nāmah (an epic poem recounting the story of Moses); later poets composed lyric poetry of a Sufi cast. Much of this literature was collected around the beginning of the twentieth century by the ּּBukharian rabbi Shimon Hakham, who founded a printing press in Israel.

Judeo-Persian

Earliest Judeo-Persian writings

The earliest evidence of Judeo-Persian writing dates back to the 8th century CE. These documents written in Hebrew script document the existence of Jewish communities writing in Judeo-Persian across historical Persia. Archaeologists working in the 20th century discovered Judeo-Persian writings in locations as far-spread as southern India, Xinjiang Province, Cairo, and present-day Iran and Afghanistan. They include court documents, trade documents, headstones, stone inscriptions, and works on religious matters. Linguists have studied these sources since they preserve certain archaic elements of Persian.

Judeo-Persian

Biblical epics

Mowlānā Shāhin-i Shirāzi

The most famous Judeo-Persian poet is the 14th century Shahin-i Shirazi who composed two versified Biblical epics: the first based on the Pentateuch and the second centered on the Book of Esther and the Book of Ezra. In his writing, Shahin uses a language typical of his era’s Classical Persian and does not employ the level of Hebrew words as other Judeo-Persian writers.

Pentateuchal epic

Shahin's Pentateuchal epic cycle consists of 10,000 metered couplet (distich) versification of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy written in 1327, and a 8,700 couplet length versification of Genesis composed in 1358. He focuses on narratives from the Pentateuch that are also prominent in Islamic literature such as the fall of Satan, Joseph (Yusuf) and Zulaykha, and Jacob’s mourning of the lost Joseph. Shahin fashions his biblical epics off of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the most renowned Persian epic. This includes styling Moses after heroes from Persian epic heroes, contributing to a glorification of Moses prevalent in Judeo-Persian literature. Shahin omits certain elements of the Pentateuch such as the legal sections. In a short adaptation of the Book of Job appended to his versification of Genesis, Shahin leaves out the speeches from Job’s friends and God’s response while including the less-central insults from Job’s wife.

Ardarshir-nameh

Shahin’s Ardashir-namah consists of 9,000 metered couplets that adapt narratives from the Books of Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra. He also includes non-biblical storylines that parallel the Shahnameh and Nizami’s Khamsa. It recounts the biblical narrative of Ardashir (Xerxes) and Esther; and a love story between Ardashir and a Chinese princess. The Ezra-nameh is shorter and often grouped with the Ardashir-nameh.

Emrani

Emrani was a 15th century Persian poet who like Shahin, wrote Persian in Hebrew script. Born in Isfahan, he moved to Kashan in his twenties and lived there until his death. The 10,000-verse Fath-nameh adapts the Books of Joshua, Ruth, and Samuel 1 and 2. Like Shahin’s biblical epics, it displays a strong Shahnameh influence. His Hanuka-nameh is a shorter (1,800 verses) versification of the Maccabees’ rebellion against the Greeks. This work, authored in 1524, relies heavily on the apocryphal First Book of Maccabees. Emrani employs more Hebrew vocabulary than Shahin and relies more on narratives from the Bible and rabbinic literature.