Sixteenth To Eighteenth Centuries
In the beginning of the 16th century, the area was invaded and occupied by nomadic Uzbek tribes who established strict observance of Islamic religious fundamentalism. Confined to city quarters, the Jews were denied basic rights and many were forced to convert to Islam. Under the Uzbeks, they suffered considerable discrimination. They were forced to wear a distinctive black and yellow dress to distinguish themselves from Muslims. Since the Bukharan Jews were considered Dhimmis, their heads of households had to be slapped in the face by Muslims during the annual tax collection.
Around 1620, the first synagogue had been constructed at Bukhara city. This was done in contravention of the law of Caliph Omar who forbade the construction of new synagogues as well as forbade the destruction of those that existed in the pre-Islamic period. There was a case when Caliph Umar had ordered the destruction of a mosque, which was built illegally on Jewish land. Before the construction of the first synagogue, Jews had shared a place in a mosque with Muslims. This mosque was called the Magoki Attoron (the "Mosque in pit"). Some say that Jews and Muslims worshipped alongside each other in the same place at the same time. Other sources insist that Jews worshipped after Muslims. The construction of the first Bukhara synagogue was credited to two people: Nodir Divan-Begi, an important grandee, and an anonymous widow, who reportedly outwitted an official.
During the 18th century, Bukharan Jews faced considerable discrimination and persecution. Jewish centers were closed down, the Muslims of the region usually forced conversion on the Jews, and the Bukharan Jewish population dramatically decreased to the point where they were almost extinct. Due to pressures to convert to Islam, persecution, and isolation from the rest of the Jewish world, the Jews of Bukhara began to lack knowledge and practice of their Jewish religion. They only had three of five books of the Torah, did not know Hebrew, and replaced Bar Mitzvahs with Tefillin-banons.
By the middle of the 18th century, practically all Bukharan Jews lived in the Bukharan Emirate.
Read more about this topic: Bukharian Jewish, History
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