Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews [Hardcover]

Houman Sarshar (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2002

This magnificent volume makes available for the first time a comprehensive history of the Jews of Iran -- from their earliest documented settlement in that land in 722 B.C.E. through the end of the 20th century.

Lavishly illustrated in full color with more than 500 images of monuments, manuscripts, objects, and individual and family portraits collected from private and public archives the world over, this unique book includes 25 articles by distinguished authors and scholars in the field of Judeo-Iranian studies.

Six of the articles are historical essays, examining the status of Jews in various periods of Iranian history. The remaining articles explore a variety of cultural and sociopolitical subjects pertinent to each historical period. The book ends with a comprehensive bibliography of Judeo-Iranian scholarship containing over 600 English, French, German, Hebrew, and Persian books and journal articles.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is edited by the Director of Publications of The Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History, an archival organization based in Los Angeles, that gathers information and interviews people knowledgeable in the fields of Iranian Jewish history, culture, science, literature, social life, politics, art, and economics. To date, the Center has produced 13 video documentaries and collected nearly 1,600 photographs, ketubbot, and documents pertaining to the Jews of Iran.

About the Author

Houman Sarshar, Ph.D., editor and contributor, is the director of publications at The Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History (CIJOH), and has co-edited three volumes of The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 468 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Publication Society of America (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827607512
• ISBN-13: 978-0827607514
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Eastern Religions > Jainism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true treasure., August 20, 2003

By 

Michael Cohanim (New England.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (Hardcover)

This is one of the most beautiful books I own. It is beautifully designed, and the photographs are brilliant. The quality of the book itself is also most exceptional. In a lot of ways, the book is almost a photo-narrative of the history of Jews in Iran. I am an Jewish Iranian-American graduate student, and I am awed by the amount of information I've found in the book. There was so much about my own heritage that I didn't know. Every page is filled with invaluable information about the history and culture of the Jews of Iran. The information is certainly of scholarly quality, but the book is so easy and pleasurable to read. Anyone interested in Jewish studies, Iranian studies, or even Middle Eastern history should own this book. It also makes a spectacular gift. Mine was a gift from my girlfriend. I can not recommend it enough.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for a Lifetime~*, July 26, 2002

By 

Susan Fensten (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (Hardcover)

I have only dipped into the first few articles and I can say that the book is worth 100 times the price. Thank you for making this incredible work of history possible. It's contribution to Jewish history and to the history of Iran is invaluable.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that every one should read. A must for jewish Library, February 9, 2003

By 

"bhouman" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (Hardcover)

This is one of the rare documents that describe a corner of so rich and profound Jews History in Persia (Iran). As much this book is probably one of a kind, and so well written, and the writer(s) efforts, has to be recognized; the planning and ideas which originated from its supporting organization (The Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History) which so far has led to production of this book deserves to be recognized much greater. The Persian (Iranian) Jews have brought a rich history with them to western hemisphere. Publication such as this, not only demonstrates their effort in more than 5000 years to survive, thrive, and contribute to the culture and governing system that they lived in, but also can acts as a permanent document to be passed on to their next generation; a generation which is not or so poorly exposed to their past and the history of their ancestors.