Thehistory of the Jews in Oman reaches back to the 800s. There was aJewish presence inOman for many centuries; however, the Jewish community of the country is no longer in existence.
The documented Omani Jewish community was made famous by Ishaq bin Yahuda, a merchant who lived in the 9th century. Bin Yahuda lived inSohar, and sailed for China between the years of 882 and 912 after an argument with a Jewish colleague, where he made a great fortune. He returned to Sohar and sailed for China again, but his ship was seized and bin Yahuda was murdered at the port ofSumatra.
A historical journey to visit far-flung Jewish communities was undertaken by RabbiBenjamin of Tudela from 1165 to 1173 that crossed and tracked some of the areas that are today in the geographic area of Oman. His trek began as a pilgrimage to theHoly Land.[2] He may have hoped to settle there, but there is controversy about the reasons for his travels. It has been suggested he may have had a commercial motive as well as a religious one. On the other hand, he may have intended to catalogue the Jewish communities on the route to the Holy Land so as to provide a guide to where hospitality may have been found for Jews travelling to the Holy Land.[3] He took the "long road" stopping frequently, meeting people, visiting places, describing occupations and giving a demographic count of Jews in every town and country.
One of the known towns that Benjamin of Tudela reported as having a Jewish community wasMuscat[4] located in the area ofOman in the northern part of theArabian Peninsula.
In the mid-19th century, the British LieutenantJames Raymond Wellsted documented the Jews ofMuscat in his memoirsTravels in Arabia, vol. 1. He mentions that there are"a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven fromBaghdad...by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries (they did not have to live in Ghettos, nor identify themselves as Jews, not walk in the road if aMuslim was walking on the same street, as was the case in Yemen). The Jews of Muscat were employed mostly in the making of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is believed to have disappeared before 1900. During World War II, aJewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants fromYemen.
Omani officials have begun to reach out toJewish American and Israeli leaders. In 2008, theAmerican Jewish Committee hosted a meeting at which: "Israeli and Omani leaders gathered at AJC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Middle East Desalination Research Center, one of the success stories of efforts to deepen Arab-Israeli cooperation. Speakers include Sayyid Badr, secretary-general of theForeign Ministry of Oman; Israeli Foreign MinisterTzipi Livni; and Charles Lawson of theU.S. State Department. (Video:Israeli, Omani Leaders Celebrate.)[5]
| Religions | |
|---|---|
| Ethnicities | |
| Foreigners | |
History of the Jews in Asia | |
|---|---|
| Sovereign states |
|
| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
