Shāhīn the Kalīmī and his Torah as a mirror for Jewish-Iranian culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT The history of Jews in Iran goes back to a time before Iran existed as a political entity. Since about 2700 years, Jews have been living on Iranian territory. In Iran, they are called Kalīmī, derived from the Persian name for Moses, “Kalimūllāh” (“The One, who speaks with God”). Jews formed a branch of Iranian culture and history due to their long history of settlement and dissemination on Iranian territory. Judeo-Persian literature is part of this culture and history. This rich heritage consists of Persian language, written in Hebrew letters. Its contents relate to the Torah, the Talmud or Jewish history. Judeo-Persian has its own standing in the Persian language and literature and provides us with a picture of the identity of the Jews of Iran. In this paper I analyse verses of the Torah, composed by the fourteenth-century Jewish poet Shāhīn. This literary work contains different aspects of Judaism, Islam, Persian Literature, Hebrew idioms and writing as well as Iranian culture, which all constitute the identity of Iranian Jews.