Jews were permitted to pray in synagogues, but they could not rebuild or restore those in need of repair. They could hold religious ceremonies as long as they were not were not conducted in a loud or extravagant manner. They were required to wear clothing and take names that marked them as different. They could bear no weapons. They could sell no wine. And they were to comport themselves in a subservient manner; their homes were to be lower than their Muslim neighbors, they were not to ride in saddles, and they were to rise if a Muslim wished to be seated.
But these legal stipulations reveal only part of the story. Jewish historian Mark Cohen explains that “economic, political and social factors acted….as a counterweight to the fundamental theological hostility towards the religion.” Cohen uses the wide-angle lens of political, economic and social analysis to assess the condition of the Jews under Muslim rule in the broadest strokes.
To understand how Jews lived under Muslim rule, it is also useful to do a close analysis of particular places at particular points in time. I recently learned of a trove of photographs taken in Muslim Central Asia at the end of the 1860s. This historic record is currently housed at the Library of Congress (and available on-line here). Put together by Russian authorities, it provides a panoramic view of society just before colonialism utterly transformed the society.
I’ll be speaking about this oeuvre at the conference of the Association of Jewish Studies this December. In the meantime, here are a few notes:
Among the 1,200 images that appear in Turkestan Album, most are of the region’s Muslim population. Some 40 or so, however, are of the Jewish minority. They provide a very interesting window into their life as dhimmi. In this brief essay, I’ll look at the Jews’ dress, with a particular focus on men’s hair and headgear.
His side-locks also mark him as Jewish. The Biblical injunction that a Jewish man may not cut the corners of his hair has led to the sporting of peyot – sidelocks - among Jewish men in various parts of the globe. It is worth noting that Alexander Burnes, who traveled to Central Asia in the 1830s, describes this hair-arrangement as a fashion statement rather than as Jewish religious prescription. He writes, “Their features are set off by ringlets of beautiful hair hanging over their cheeks and neck.” Rather than a mark of difference imposed by the Muslims, this style is a self-identifier chosen by Jews of their own volition.
The photo of a Jewish man, below, matches these same descriptors.
A Kazakh Man An Indian Man A Kyrgyz Man
Neumark’s travelogue cautions us against such a view. In addition to describing the tilpak hat that Jewish men did wear, he also describes what Jewish men were not allowed to wear. Unlike the Muslims—he explains—Jews were not allowed to wear turbans. In this social landscape, the turban was a sign of masculine respectability.