History of the Jews in Bahrain

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Bahraini Jews constitute another one of the world's oldest, and today's smallest, Jewish communities. Today the community has a synagogue and small Jewish cemetery and numbers around thirty people.

Contents 1 Early history 2 Modern times 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Early history

There are Talmudic references made of a Jewish community dating back in Bahrain, as well as references in Arabic texts to a Jewish presence in Hajar during Mohammed's time.

[edit] Modern times

Bahrain has a Jewish community of over fifty people[1], and is the only Gulf state with a synagogue. Jews are one of several communities that form the core of the liberal middle classes and several are even active in politics: a Jewish businessman, Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, sits in the appointed upper house of parliament and a Jewish woman, Houda Ezra Nonoo heads a human rights group[2], which has campaigned against the reintroduction of the death penalty in the tiny Kingdom. Neither are considered controversial figures, even among Salafist politicians.

The modern Jewish community in Bahrain dates from the beginning of the twentieth century when families immigrated from the large Iraqi Jewish community in Baghdad. At its height it is said to have over six hundred people, although it declined after the establishment of the State of Israel and the Six-Day War.

[edit] See also

• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• List of Jews from Bahrain

[edit] External links

• Jewish Virtual Library on the Jews of Bahrain
• Life’s good for Jews of Bahrain — as long as they don’t visit Israel, Jewish Standard, 19 October 2006
• The Jews of Bahrain, The Washington Times, 21 March 2000