Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The Outset of the Diaspora [Hardcover]

Habib Lavi (Author), Hooshang Ebrami (Author, Editor), George W. Maschke (Translator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 597 pages
• Publisher: Mazda Pub (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568590865
• ISBN-13: 978-1568590868
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of oldest Jewish community in diaspora, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The Outset of the Diaspora (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating history of the oldest Jewish community in the Diaspora. In an initial chapter,the author makes a credible case that the ten lost tribes of Israel are really the Jews of Kurdistan and other northern provinces of ancient Persia. Since Babylon was a Persian province for a thousamd years, the Babylonia talmud was really a product of Persia's Jewish community and Persia was the center of Jewish thought for a thousand years. The book also chronicles what life was really like for Jews under Islam and completely undercuts the myth that Jews were protected from persecution, mass murder and forced conversions in Islamic countries. The Jewish experience in Persia is put in the context of general Persian history in each chapter. The role of the clerics in state rule is amply illustrated and makes understandable the current Islamic regime in Iran and why the populace has accepted the rule of the Islamicists. This is an important book for those who want to understand Jewish history and for those who want to know how religious minorities are treated in Islamic countries.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read about Jewish History, October 30, 2002

By 

Bea Gresh "careful reader" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The Outset of the Diaspora (Hardcover)

Until I read this book, I thought I knew a lot about Jewish history. Was I wrong! This book is highly readable and totally fascinating. The author was an Iranian Jew who used original sources--Jewish, Iranian/Persian, and Arabic---in compiling the three-volume work from which this book grew. Written with no European bias, before political correctness took its toll of honesty, this book is a real eye-opener. I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to understand Jewish history, the present Israel-Arab situation, and the roots of the terror war now engulfing the world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Baffled by the Reviews, November 26, 2011

By 

Kevin Stern (Apple Valley, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The Outset of the Diaspora (Hardcover)

Baffled by the Reviews

I must first start by saying that this is an ongoing review that will be edited. I am doing this book for a book report in my Ancient Iran class. It was recommended to me after doing the topic of "the treatment of the Jews by the Achaemenids." To give you an idea where I am coming from I am a student at the University of Minnesota where I am majoring in History (Ancient period,) Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and Religious Studies (Religions of the Ancient Near East, Christianity, Islam and Judaism,) with a minor in Jewish Studies.

I must admit that if I was not required to read this book I would have put it down after the first chapter. Even if the rest of the book is outstanding it cannot get all 5 stars. But because of the start of it I question the entire book and I question it for this reason...

In the introduction (page xvi) it says "The research methodology used by Dr. Levy is in his unique endeavor was scientific and unbiased." I'll call B.S. The first chapter at least is neither scientific nor unbiased. In history, scientific research would be basing conclusions on archeological evidence and ancient texts. While he does use the Hebrew Bible and mentions Josephus, his conclusions are far from what the evidence suggests. He is also HIGHLY biased towards the Jewish religion and the history found in the Hebrew Bible.

The book starts with Levy summarizing the Hebrew Bible as if it is history. He starts with Abraham and explains the history of Abraham. First, there is no "scientific" evidence to suggest that Abraham was an actual person plus the features of the Abraham story (camel domestication, Philistines, Chaldeans) do not match the timeline. He is similar to Naqsh-i Rustam in the Mazdian and Zoroastrian traditions found in the Shahname of Firdowsi. No actual scholar regards Abraham as an actual person.

Next he talks about the Exodus from Egypt. We have no actual evidence to suggest this ever happened other than the Hebrew Bible, which the unbiased Levy seems very familiar with. All other evidence actually points to the opposite of the Biblical claims. He then continues on with his history of the Jews and he finally reaches the point in which we might have actual history recorded. Arguments are made in the scholarly world that King David was a real person but just as many are made to say the opposite. After King David and Solomon the Bible starts to talk about what many would consider "real" history.

You don't have to take my word for it, here are a few books that support my case in addition to my professors...

Brettler, Marc Zvi. How to Read the Bible. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2005. Print.

Coogan, Michael David., ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

Berlin, Adele, Marc Zvi. Brettler, and Michael A. Fishbane. The Jewish Study Bible: [featuring The] Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Collins, John Joseph, and John Joseph Collins. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007. Print.

Coogan, Michael David., Marc Zvi. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

Smelik, Klaas A.D. Writings from Ancient Israel: a Handbook of Historical and Religious Documents. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1991. Print.

Shall I give you more books?

Also his idea that the religion of the Jews was vastly different than anything else in the area is absurd. The Israelite religion is very similar to the Canaanite religion and contains many of the same myths the Babylonians and Assyrians with influences from Egyptian religion. The main point I am trying to make is that it is not monotheistic and very different as Levy claims. I believe the Zoroastrian religion of Persia IS the influence for modern Judaism. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion and oddly enough the first truly monotheistic statement in the Hebrew Bible comes in Isaiah, which oddly enough talks about the liberation by Cyrus the Great in which Cyrus is called "his anointed" or messiah. Before this point there is no implication that "God" or "LORD" (Elohim, Yahweh) was the one and only God. "You shall have no other gods (lower case g) BEFORE ME." Exodus 20:3. This is a clear statement of other gods. For such an Iranian Patriot as suggest in one of the reviews of Zilina, he certainly does not give much credit to the ancient Iranians...and that leads me to this...

Levy states, "The religion of the Medes and Persians before the advent of Zoroaster... is unknown, but it can be asserted that they did not worship idols. Zoroaster introduced Ahura Mazda, the god of Good and Ahriman, the god of Evil, to the Iranians and gave them the Zend and Avesta."

Wrong again. The religion of the ancient Iranians was Mazdian made up of the Ahuric Order, stemming from the Indo-European Kulturbund, which is also shared by the religion of the Greece. The Mazdian religion believes in the same gods and the Zoroastrians. What Zoroaster did was changed the interpretation. The Mazdian religion was monotheistic that was composed of 6 gods (Vouh Manah, Asha Vahishta, Spenta Amaiti, Khshathra Variya, Haurvatat, and Ameretat.) that were under the main god Ahura Mazda. What Zoroaster did was established that those 6 gods were not different gods but ASPECTS of Ahura Mazda, making 1 god (monotheistic) Ahura Mazda. In my opinion that would be comparable to The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost making up God.

Page 22... "In short, the Jews were the first people to recognize the one, unique God and to worship him." Read the above paragraphs. In addition to that Pharaoh Akhenaton is credited with being the first monotheist, worshiping only the Solar Disc. From there he speculates about the 10 lost tribes of Israel without any real proof for his claims. That ends the first chapter...

I hope the rest of the book shows more scientific and unbiased research than that portrayed in the first chapter...Let's put down the Bible and do some real research on the Ancient Near East and Ancient Iran.