Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America

 

´My parents came from a city and culture that kept girls out of schools and far from written word - a world that firmly believed female illiteracy was a blessing that helped shape young girls into good wives´.

The history of the Jews of Mashhad, one of the most religious cities in Iran is cursed by hate. In the 18th century, Nader Shah, called the ´Napoleon of Persia´, brought around 300 families here, mostly from Tehran. After his assasination in 1747, the antisemitism become rampant and the humiliations the Jews from here were targeted for random attacks and often buying their peace and life by paying protection money (reshveh. in Persian) to local imam. In 1839, a Jewish woman was accused of desecrating a holiday which lead to a wave of mob attacks against the local Jews, an event consigned to history as Allah Daad. Dozen were murdered, Jewish properties ransacked and afterwards the survivors were faced with the choice: death or conversion to Islam. 

The parents of Esther Amini were the descendants of those Jews from Mashhad who pretended they had converted while, in secret, they kept following the laws of the Torah. Her personal account - Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America - traced back personal histories, seasoned with memories of her life caught between the strict rules of her family and the modern life in an America that her mother which was illiterate, praised for the advantages offered to women.

Compared to other memoirs on similar topics - alienation, living in a small community following anti-modern mindsets, mostly against women - Esther Amini book is matter of factly, collecting mostly facts instead of feelings and describing various family and community dynamics. It follows both a historical, psychological and sociological journey in a non-judgemental, aimed rather to offer realistic descriptions of a situation instead of emotional/psychological revelations. 

I´ve loved both the pace and the tone of the story, and the richness of the details encompassing the small but unique community of Jews from Mashhad as well as their particular interactions with the other Jewish groups, Iranian or other. I was actually hungry to read more about this particular community, but while reading I remembered that in fact I am reading a memoir not a history book so I better appease my hunger for facts elsewehere.

Concealed is a noteworthy testimony of a Jewish Woman which adds concent and colour to other similar testimonies and memoirs. I am happy I finally had the time and the mood to go through the book and will definitely keep in mind many of the fine observations and stories shared.

Rating: 4 stars