Prestige and piety in the Iranian synagogue

Among Iranian Jews, long deprived of meaningful political power and afraid to conspicuously display material wealth, relative prestige became more valued that authority of opulence. The synagogue provides the traditional public forum where meaningful interaction among its members reinforces rand differences. Through a network of concerns centering upon the apportioning of ritual honors, the synagogue provides mechanisms fro limited social mobility. This paper examines the processes of selecting the recipients of these honors, the strategies of participation and their manipulation by the potential social climber.