History of the Jews in Bahrain

Bahraini Jews
اليهود البحرينيون
יהודים בחריינים

Total population
37
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Arabic, Hebrew
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Jews (Arab Jews, Iraqi Jews, Yemenite Jews)

Geographic location of Bahrain

Bahrain

Bahraini Jews constitute one of the world's smallest Jewish communities. Today the community has a synagogue and small Jewish cemetery and numbers thirty-seven persons.

Early history

There are Talmudic references made of a Jewish community dating back in the geographic areas of present-day Bahrain, as well as references in Arabic texts to a Jewish presence in Hajar (eastern coast of inland Arabia) during Mohammed's time.

Benjamin of Tudela recorded in the 12th century that nearly 500 Jews lived in Qays and that a population of 5,000 resided in al-Qatif. Benjamin also recounted that these Jews controlled the local pearl industry.

Bahraini Jewish author Nancy Khedouri has written a book, From Our Beginning to Present Day about the Bahraini Jewish community:

...it purports to trace the history of modern Bahrain's Jewish community from its origins in the 1880s, with Iraqi Jewish traders from the Yadgar family, through the 36-member Jewish community of today. Bahraini Jews are well integrated into the life of the 700,000-person island kingdom, with Jewish government officials such as former Shura Council member Abraham David Nonoo and Khedouri's own family, Bahrain’s leading importer of tablecloths and linens.

Khedouri explained, "Most of the Jewish men were traders and the women worked as teachers, nurses, and from the very start developed strong bonds of friendship with the local citizens."

Ms. Khedouri was quoted by the Gulf News as saying that her book "shows how Bahrain has practiced religious tolerance all these years and how privileged everyone should feel to be living in this beautiful Kingdom, which has always offered and will continue to offer peace and security to all its citizens." In an earlier interview, with the Bahrain Tribune, Khedouri said, "The peaceful co-existence we have with the Bahrainis is proof of the religious tolerance advocated by His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa."

...Before the establishment of the State of Israel, nearly 600 Jews lived in Bahrain, but many fled in the wake of anti-Semitic rioting in 1947-48 and again in 1967. Currently, Bahraini Jews are not allowed to visit Israel, although, officially, Bahrain agreed to cease adherence to the economic boycott of Israel in exchange for a free-trade agreement with the United States in 2004.

According to a Jewish Virtual Library entry by Jewish researcher, Ariel Scheib, Jews have lived in what became the modern kingdom of Bahrain since the times of the Talmud. He further stated that it is mentioned in Arabian sources that Jews lived in Hajar, the capital of Bahrain, in 630 AD and refused to convert to Islam, when Muhammad sent an army to occupy the territory.

Modern times

The modern Jewish community in Bahrain dates from the beginning of the twentieth century, when families immigrated from the large Iraqi Jewish community in Baghdad. By 1948, there were 1,500 Jews living in Bahrain. On December 5, 1947, riots broke out against the Jewish community in Manama in the wake of ongoing violence in Palestine. A mob looted Jewish homes and shops, destroyed the city's synagogue, physically assaulted Jews, and murdered an elderly Jewish woman. However, Houda Nonoo told The Independent newspaper: "I don't think it was Bahrainis who were responsible. It was people from abroad. Many Bahrainis looked after Jews in their houses." This view is supported by Sir Charles Belgrave, formerly a political adviser to the government of Bahrain – which at the time was subject to treaty relations with Britain – who recalled in a memoir: "The leading Arabs were very shocked ... most of them, when possible, had given shelter and protection to their Jewish neighbours... [the riots] had one surprising effect; it put an end to any active aggression by the Bahrain Arabs against the Bahrain Jews." Following the riots, as well as the establishment of Israel and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, many Bahraini Jews emigrated to Israel, the United States, or United Kingdom. Some 500-600 remained behind, but after riots broke out in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967, Bahraini Jewry emigrated en masse.

Various sources cite Bahrain's Jewish community as being from 36 to 50 people, and Bahrain is the only Arab Persian Gulf state with a synagogue. Jews are one of several communities that form the core of the liberal middle classes and several are even active in politics: a Jewish businessman, Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, sat on the appointed upper house of parliament (Shura Council). In 2005, he was replaced by a Jewish woman, his niece, Houda Ezra Nonoo. Ms. Nonoo also heads the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society which has campaigned against the reintroduction of the death penalty in the tiny Kingdom. Neither is considered a controversial figure, even among Salafist politicians.

As of 2007, the Jewish population of Bahrain numbered 36. At this time, the tolerance extended to the island's Jewish community is the result of the policy of its leader, King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa. The island's boycott of Israeli products was in effect until 2004, when a free-trade agreement with the United States put an end to the official boycott.

At present, there have been no acts of physical violence or harassment of Jews or vandalism of Jewish community institutions, such as schools, cemeteries, or the synagogue. Although the Government has not enacted any laws protecting the right of Jews to religious freedom; however, it has not interfered with their freedom to practice. The Government has made no effort specifically to promote antibias and tolerance education. Some anti-Semitic political commentary and editorial cartoons continue to appear, usually linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jews practice their faith privately without interference from the Government.

In 2008, Bahrain's king nominated Houda Nonoo, a Jewish woman who served in the nation's 40-member upper house of Parliament, as its ambassador to the United States.

In November, 2010, Nancy Khedouri was appointed to replace Nonoo in Parliament.

See also

• List of Jews from Bahrain
• Abrahamic religion
• Arab Jews
• Arab states of the Persian Gulf
• Babylonian captivity
• History of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula
• History of the Jews under Muslim rule
• Islam and antisemitism
• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• Jews outside Europe under Nazi occupation
• Judaism and Islam
• List of Jews from the Arab World
• Mizrahi Jews

External links

• Article about the current Jewish community in Bahrain
• A Book on the History of Bahraini Jews Debuts in the Gulf State, Israel National News, 3 July 2007
• Jewish Virtual Library on the Jews of Bahrain
• Life’s good for Jews of Bahrain — as long as they don’t visit Israel, Jewish Standard, 19 October 2006
• The Jews of Bahrain, The Washington Times, 21 March 2000
• Low profile but welcome: a Jewish outpost in the Gulf The Independent, 2 November 2007