THE JEWS OF HERAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2230, 23 October 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE JEWS OF HERAT.

A conRESPOXDENT of the Israelite gives an interesting account of the Jews of Herat. They have a tradition that some Je\V9 were already settled there in the age of Jeremiah. In an old Arabic history a tradition relates that Alexander the Great on his journey to India passed through Herat, and was received by the Jews with great honour, and that Alexander told them that he had also been welcomed by the Jews of Jerusalem. That Herat is a very ancient town is proved from the fact that it is mentioned in the Zend Avesta— which was written in the age of Cyrus — under the name of Herah, and it is therefore probable that it is identical with the Hara of the Bible, whither the King of Assyria drove the two and a half tribes who were settled on the "other side of the Jordin." Hence the tradition is amply corrobotative of there having been Jews in Herat previous to the destruction of the first temple. Under the ancient Persian rule the Jews in that town suffered great persecutions, the king having frequently attempted to convert them to the religion of the Persians. The Jews, however, remained firm and steadfast, and frequently sacrificed their lives in resisting these attempts. Records are kept of battles having been fought in the streets of Herat between the Parsees and the Jews, when the.fire worshippers attempted to coerce them to embrace their religion. If the lights were put out in the synagogue on the Ofch of Ab as a sight of mourning, the fire worshippers regarded it as an affront to their religion, and they were equally offended when the synagogue waa largely illuminated on Sabbaths and festivals, accusing the Jows of u desire to win over to themselves tho favour of their god. One king levied a tax on the Jews for lighting the temple-s of Ihe Parsees. At on« time a king, Digirli, attempted to build a fire-temple in the quarter of tho Jews at Herat, when the latter opposed him by force, and ultimately prevailed. When the Mohammedan religion was adopted by the Persians, tho Jews i« Herat still suffered persecution. Being Bituated on tho routo to India, the Caliphs in their incursions into that country marched their armies through the town, where the Jewish inhabitants resided, and committed great depredations among the Jews, murdering 1 and otherwise maltreating them. Many records are preserved of Jews killing 1 their own children in order to prevent their being seized by the fii-G worshippers or Mohammedans.