Persian Jews
Encyclopedia
Persian Jews , are Jews
historically associated with Iran
, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources.
Judaism
is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran. The Book of Esther
contains some references to the experiences of Jews in Persia. Some material has been validated by Biblical scholars.
Today, the three largest concentrations of Persian Jews are found in Israel, the United States and Iran respectively.
. In various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used to refer to Jews who speak various Iranian languages
. Iranian immigrants in Israel (nearly all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as Parsim ( meaning "Persians"). In Iran, Jews and Jewish people in general are referred to by four common terms: Kalimi, which is considered the most proper term; Yahudi, which is less formal but correct; Israel the term by which the Jews refer to themselves; and Jood or Johood, a term having negative connotations and considered by many Jews as offensive.
. As of 2007, Israel is home to just over 47,000 Iranian-born Jews and roughly 87,000 Israeli-born Jews with fathers born in Iran. While these numbers add up to about 135,000, when Israelis with more distant or solely maternal Iranian roots are included the total number of Persian Jews in Israel is estimated to be between 200,000-250,000. Netanya
is the center of the Persian Jewish community of Israel, with Holon also having a large community.
and in Great Neck, New York
. Those in metropolitan Los Angeles have settled mostly in the affluent Westside cities of Beverly Hills
and Santa Monica
and the Los Angeles Westside neighborhoods of Brentwood
, Westwood
, and West L.A.
, as well as the San Fernando Valley
communities of Tarzana
and Encino
. According to the former mayor of Beverly Hills, Iranians make up at least a fifth of the resident population of Beverly Hills (the large majority of them Jewish), and a third of the student body at the local high school
. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution
, tens of thousands of Persian Jews migrated from Iran, forming one of the wealthiest waves of immigrants to ever come to the United States.
, due mostly to immigration to Israel. While immigration to Israel had slowed in the 1970s and the Jewish population of Iran had stabilized, the majority of Iran's remaining Jews left the country in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Shah. The current Jewish population of Iran is estimated by most sources to be 25,000, though estimates vary, as low as 11,000 and as high as 40,000. Notable population centers include Tehran
, Isfahan
(1,200), and Shiraz
. Historically, Jews maintained a presence in many more Iranian cities. Jews are protected in the Iranian constitution and seat is reserved for a Jew in the Majlis
. Iran hosts the largest Jewish population of any Muslim-majority country. After Israel, it is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East.
Jews in Iran
are generally regarded as having been subject to less discrimination than in the Arab world
, however after Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution, the Jewish people and religion is regularly defamed by the Mullahs.
(in particular Paris and London), and in Australia, Canada, and South America. A number of groups of Jews of Persia have split off since ancient times. They have been identified as separate communities, such as the Bukharan Jews
and Mountain Jews. In addition, there are a large number of people in Iran who are, or who are the direct descendants of, Jews who converted to Islam
or the Bahá'í faith
.
, Daniel
, Ezra
, Nehemiah
, Chronicles, and Esther
contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was affected "according to the decree of Cyrus
, and Darius, and Artaxerxes
king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late sixth century BCE, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
Jews in ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. Persian Jewish lived in the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still extant) communities not only of Iran, but of present-day Azerbaijan
, and Uzbekistan
Some of the communities have been isolated from other Jewish communities, to the extent that their classification as "Persian Jews" is a matter of linguistic
or geographical
convenience rather than actual historical relationship with one another. Scholars believe that during the peak of the Persian Empire, Jews may have comprised as much as 20% of the population.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica
: "The Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC and, like the Armenians, have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity." But the Library of Congress
's country study on Iran states that "Over the centuries the Jews of Iran became physically, culturally, and linguistically indistinguishable from the non-Jewish population. The overwhelming majority of Jews speak Persian as their mother language, and a tiny minority, Kurdish."
According to the Bible, three times during the 6th century BCE, Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jews (Hebrews) of the ancient Kingdom of Judah
to Babylon
. These three separate occasions are mentioned in Jeremiah
(52:28–30). The first exile was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, when the Temple of Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed
. After eleven years (during the reign of Zedekiah
), a fresh rising of the Judaeans occurred. Jerusalem was razed to the ground, and deportation ensued. Finally, five years later, Jeremiah recorded a third captivity.
After the overthrow of Babylonia
by the Persian (Iranian
) Achaemenid Empire
, Cyrus the Great
allowed the Jews to return to their native land (537 BCE). More than forty thousand were said to have done so, (See Jehoiakim
; Ezra
; Nehemiah
and Jews). Unlike the previous Assyrian and Babylonian rulers, Cyrus also allowed the Jews to practice their religion freely (See Cyrus Cylinder
).
in the same place as the first; however, he died before it was completed. Darius the Great came to power in the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets Haggai
and Zechariah urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.
, in the Tanakh
, Haman
was an Agagite
noble and vizier
of the empire
under Persian King Ahasuerus
, generally identified as Xerxes the Great (son of Darius the Great) in 6th century BCE. Haman and his wife Zeresh instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. The plot was foiled by Queen Esther
, Queen of Persia. As a result, Esther ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. The events of the Book of Esther are celebrated as the holiday of Purim
.
n influence; "Parthia" does not appear in the texts. The Armenia
n prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces
as well (I Macc. xv. 22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces. Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince; the Syrian
king, Antiochus
Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I., against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BC) at the Great Zab
(Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks. In 40 BC the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II., fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears in order to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of the Land of Israel
. But the reverse was to come about: the Judeans received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Still in religious matters the Babylonians, as indeed the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon the Land of Israel. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals.
The Parthian Empire
was based on a loosely configured system of vassal kings. The lack of rigidly centralized rule over the empire had drawbacks, for instance, allowing the rise of a Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai
). Yet, the tolerance of the Arsacid dynasty was as legendary as that of the first Persian dynasty, the Achaemenids. One account suggests the conversion of a small number of Parthian vassal kings of Adiabene
to Judaism
. These instances and others show not only the tolerance of Parthian kings, but are also a testament to the extent at which the Parthians saw themselves as the heir to the preceding empire of Cyrus the Great
. So protective were the Parthians of the minority over whom they ruled, that an old Jewish saying tells, "When you see a Parthian charger tied up to a tomb-stone in the Land of Israel, the hour of the Messiah will be near".
The Babylonian Jews
wanted to fight in common cause with their Judea
n brethren against Vespasian
; but it was not until the Romans
waged war under Trajan
against Parthia
that they made their hatred felt; so, the revolt of the Babylonian Jews helped prevent Rome from becoming master there. Philo
speaks of the numerous Jews resident in that country, a population that was likely increased by immigrants after the destruction of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem from early times, Jews had looked to the east for help. With the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia
became a kind of bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the Bar Kochba revolt likely also added to Jewish refugees in Babylon.
In the struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews
had reason to side with the Parthians, their protectors. Parthian kings elevated the princes of the Exile to a kind of nobility, called Resh Galuta. Until then they had used the Jews as collectors of revenue. The Parthians may have given them recognition for services, especially by the Davidic house. Establishment of the Resh Galuta provided a central authority over the numerous Jewish subjects, who proceeded to develop their own internal affairs.
By the early Third Century, Persian Empire
influences were on the rise again. In the winter of 226 CE, Ardashir I
overthrew the last Parthian king (Artabanus IV), destroyed the rule of the Arsacids, and founded the illustrious dynasty of the Sassanids. While Hellenistic
influence had been felt amongst the religiously tolerant Parthia
ns, the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the Pahlavi language, and restored the old monotheistic
religion of Zoroastrianism
which became the official state religion
. This resulted in the suppression of other religions. A priestly Zoroastrian inscription from the time of King Bahram II (276–293 CE) contains a list of religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.) that Sassanid rule claimed to have "smashed".""The false doctrines of Ahriman and of the idols suffered great blows and lost credibility. The Jews (Yahud), Buddhists (Shaman), Hindus (Brahman), Nazarenes (Nasara), Christians (Kristiyan), Baptists (Makdag) and Manichaeans (Zandik) were smashed in the empire, their idols destroyed, and the habitations of the idols annihilated and turned into abodes and seats of the gods"."
Shapur I
(Shvor Malka, which is the Aramaic form of the name) was friendly to the Jews. His friendship with Shmuel
gained many advantages for the Jewish community. Shapur II
's mother was Jewish , and this gave the Jewish community relative freedom of religion and many advantages. He was also friend of a Babylonian rabbi
in the Talmud
named Raba (Talmud), Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the Jews
in the Persian Empire. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shapur [the] King" because of his bright and quick intellect.
, the government assigned Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, to the status of dhimmi
s, non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis A) were allowed to practice their religion, but were required to pay jizya to cover the cost of financial welfare, security and other benefits that Muslims were entitled too.
(jizya
, a poll tax
, and initially also kharaj
, a land tax) in place of the zakat
, which the Muslim population was required to pay. Like other Dhimmis, Jews were exempt from military draft. Viewed as "People of the Book", they had some status as fellow monotheists, though they were treated differently depending on the ruler at the time. On the one hand, Jews were granted significant economic and religious freedom when compared to their co-religionists in European nations during these centuries. Many served as doctors, scholars, and craftsman, and gained positions of influence in society. On the other hand, like other non-Muslims, they did not work in Sharia Law since they did not have the obvious knowledge and qualifications for it.
invaded parts of Persia, and in 1258 they captured Baghdad
putting an end to the Abbasid
caliphate. In Persia and surrounding areas, the Mongols established a division of the Mongol Empire
known as Ilkhanate
. Because in Ilkhanate all religions were considered equal, Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis. One of the Ilkhanate rulers, Arghun
Khan, even preferred Jews and Christians for the administrative positions and appointed Sa'd al-Daula, a Jew, as his vizier
. The appointment, however, provoked resentment from the Muslim clergy
, and after Arghun's death in 1291, al-Daula was murdered and Persian Jews suffered a period of violent persecutions from the Muslim populace instigated by the clergy. The Orthodox Christian historian Bar Hebraeus wrote that the violence committed against the Jews during that period "neither tongue can utter, nor the pen write down".
Ghazan Khan
's conversion to Islam in 1295 heralded for Persian Jews a pronounced turn for the worse, as they were once again relegated to the status of dhimmis. Öljeitü, Ghazan Khan's successor, destroyed many synagogues and decreed that Jews had to wear a distinctive mark on their heads; Christians endured similar persecutions. Under pressure, some Jews converted to Islam. The most famous such convert was Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, a physician, historian and statesman, who adopted Islam in order to advance his career at Öljeitü's court. However, in 1318 he was executed on fake charges of poisoning Öljeitü and for several days crowds had been carrying his head around his native city of Tabriz
, chanting "This is the head of the Jew who abused the name of God; may God's curse be upon him!" About 100 years later, Miranshah
destroyed Rashid al-Din's tomb, and his remains were reburied at the Jewish cemetery.
In 1383, Timur Lenk started the military conquest of Persia. He captured Herat
, Khorasan and all eastern Persia to 1385 and massacred almost all inhabitants of Neishapur and other Iranian cities. When revolts broke out in Persia, he ruthlessly suppressed them, massacring the populations of whole cities. When Timur plundered Persia its artists and artisans were deported to embellish Timur's capital Samarkand
. Skilled Persian Jews were imported to develop the empire's textile industry.
During the reign of the Safavids (1502–1794), they proclaimed Shi'a Islam
the state religion. This led to a deterioration in their treatment of Persian Jews. Shi'ism assigns importance to the issues of ritual purity ― tahara. Non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean ― najis
. Any physical contact would require Shi'as to undertake ritual purification before doing regular prayers. Thus, Persian rulers, and the general populace, sought to limit physical contact between Muslims and Jews. Jews were excluded from public baths used by Muslims. They were forbidden to go outside during rain or snow, as an "impurity" could be washed from them upon a Muslim.
The reign of Shah Abbas I
(1588–1629) was initially benign; Jews prospered throughout Persia and were encouraged to settle in Isfahan
, which was made a new capital. Toward the end of his rule, treatment of Jews became more harsh. Shi'a clergy (including a Jewish convert) persuaded the shah to require Jews to wear a distinctive badge on clothing and headgear. In 1656, the shah ordered the expulsion from Isfahan of all Jews because of the common belief of their "impurity". They were forced to convert to Islam. The treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews. People rumored that the converts continued to practice Judaism
in secret. For whatever reason, the government in 1661 allowed Jews to take up their old religion, but still required them to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothing.
Nadir Shah (1736–1747) allowed Jews to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad
. However, following his murder many Jews were massacred in Mashhad, and survivors were forcibly converted, in an event known as Allahdad incident
. they become known as "Jadid al-Islams" (new converts) and appeared to superficially accept the new religion, but in fact lived their lives as Crypto-Jews. The community permanently left Iran in 1946 and still lives as a tightly knit community in Israel today.
The advent of a Shi'a Qajar dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions.
Lord Curzon
described 19th century regional differences in the situation of the Persian Jews: "In Isfahan, where they are said to be 3,700 and where they occupy a relatively better status than elsewhere in Persia, they are not permitted to wear kolah or Persian headdress, to have shops in the bazaar, to build the walls of their houses as high as a Moslem neighbour's, or to ride in the street. In Teheran and Kashan
they are also to be found in large numbers and enjoying a fair position. In Shiraz they are very badly off. In Bushire they are prosperous and free from persecution."
The 19th century the colonial powers from Europe began noting numerous forced conversions and massacres, usually generated by Shi'a clergy. In 1830, the Jews of Tabriz
were massacred; the same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of Shiraz
, In addition to the Allahdad incident
mentioned above in 1839. European travellers reported that the Jews of Tabriz and Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. Famous Iranian-Jewish teachers such as Mullah Daoud Chadi continued to teach and preach Judaism, inspiring Jews throughout the nation. Jews of Barforush
were forcibly converted in 1866. When the French and British ambassadors intervened to allow them to practice their traditional religion, a mob killed 18 Jews of Barforush. Perhaps these things happened earlier too, but went unnoticed by the historians.
In the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin
wrote about the life of Persian Jews, describing conditions and beliefs that went back to the 16th century:
, a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from Tehran
: "…every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews".
In 1910, Muslims rumored that the Jews of Shiraz had ritually murdered a Muslim girl
. Muslims plundered the whole Jewish quarter. The first to start looting were soldiers sent by the local governor to defend the Jews against the enraged mob. Twelve Jews who tried to defend their property were killed, and many others were injured. Representatives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle recorded numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Persian Jews. In the late 19th – early 20th century, thousands of Persian Jews emigrated to the territory of present-day Israel within the Ottoman Empire to escape such persecution.
implemented modernizing reforms, which greatly improved the life of Jews. The influence of the Shi'a clergy was weakened, and the restrictions on Jews and other religious minorities were abolished. According to Charles Recknagel and Azam Gorgin of Radio Free Europe
, during the reign of Reza Shah "the political and social conditions of the Jews changed fundamentally. Reza Shah
prohibited mass conversion of Jews and eliminated the concept of uncleanness of non-Muslims. He allowed incorporation of modern Hebrew into the curriculum of Jewish schools and publication of Jewish newspapers. Jews were also allowed to hold government jobs.
Reza Shah's ascent brought temporary relief to Jews. In the 1920s, Jewish schools were closed again. In the 1930s, "Reza Shah's pro-Nazi sympathies seriously threatened Iranian Jewry. There were no persecutions of the Jews, but, as with other minorities, anti-Jewish articles were published in the media. Unlike religiously motivated prejudice, anti-Jewish sentiments acquired an ethnonational character, a direct import from Germany."
The violence and disruption in Arab life associated with the founding of Israel
in 1948 drove increased anti-Jewish sentiment in Iran. This continued until 1953, in part because of the weakening of the central government and strengthening of clergy in the political struggles between the shah and prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh. From 1948–1953, about one-third of Iranian Jews, most of them poor, emigrated to Israel. David Littman
puts the total figure of emigrants to Israel in 1948–1978 at 70,000.
After the deposition of Mossadegh in 1953, the reign of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
was the most prosperous era for the Jews of Iran. In the 1970s, only 1% of Iranian Jews were classified as lower class; 80% were middle class and 10% wealthy. Although Jews accounted for only a small percentage of Iran's population, in 1979 two of the 18 members of the Iranian Academy of Sciences, 80 of the 4,000 university lecturers, and 600 of the 10,000 physicians in Iran were Jews.
Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there were 80,000 Jews in Iran, concentrated in Tehran
(60,000), Shiraz
(8,000), Kermanshah
(4,000), Isfahan (3,000), the cities of Khuzistan, as well as Kashan
, Sanandaj
, Tabriz
, and Hamedan.
The Iranian Jewish emigration to Israel is not a recent phenomenon. Forty-one percent of Iranians living in Israel in the early 1990s immigrated there before the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948; only 15% were admitted between 1975 and 1991. They immigrated chiefly because of religious persecution
.
, the historical center of Persian Jewry. Over 85% have since migrated to either Israel or the United States. At the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution
, 80,000 still remained in Iran. From then on, Jewish emigration from Iran dramatically increased, as about 20,000 Jews left within several months after the Islamic Revolution. Some sources put the Iranian Jewish population in the mid and late 1980s as between 20,000–30,000. An estimate based on the 1986 census put the figure considerably higher for the same time, around 50,000. From the mid 1990's to the present there has been more uniformity in the figures, with most sources since then estimating roughly 25,000 Jews remain in Iran.
Ayatollah
Khomeini met with the Jewish community upon his return from exile in Paris and issued a fatwa
decreeing that the Jews were to be protected.
In the Islamic republic, Jews have become more religious. Families who had been secular in the 1970s started adhering to kosher dietary laws and more strictly observed rules against driving on the Shabbat
. They stopped going to restaurants, cafes and cinemas and the synagogue
became the focal point of their social lives.
Haroun Yashyaei, a film producer and former chairman of the Central Jewish Community in Iran said:
Although Israeli officials and some American Jewish communal leaders have urged Iranian Jews to leave their home country, Iranian Jews have stayed. According to the statistics compiled by HIAS
, 152 out of the 25,000 Jews emigrated from Iran between October 2005 and September 2006 — down from 297 during the same period the previous year and 183 the year before. Sources said that the majority of those who have left in recent years cited economic and family reasons as their main incentive for leaving rather than political concerns.
In June 2007, though there were reports that wealthy expatriate Jews established a fund to offer incentives to Iranian Jews to emigrate to Israel, few took them up on the offer.
Iran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and, like the Zoroastrians
, they are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament
. Ciamak Moresadegh
is the current Jewish member of the parliament, replacing Maurice Motamed
in the 2008 election. In 2000, former Jewish MP Manuchehr Eliasi
estimated that at that time there were still 30,000–35,000 Jews in Iran, most other sources put the figure at 25,000. The United States State Department estimated the number of Jews in Iran at 20,000–25,000 as of 2009.
Today Tehran
has 11 functioning synagogue
s, many of them with Hebrew schools. It has two kosher restaurants, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles. Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina") with Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at Tehran
's "Central Library of Jewish Association". The "Dr. Sapir Jewish Hospital" is Iran
's largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country; however, most of its patients and staff are Muslim.
Chief Rabbi
Yousef Hamadani Cohen
is the present spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran. In August 2000, Chief Rabbi Cohen met with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
for the first time. In 2003, Chief Rabbi Cohen and Morris Motamed met with President Katami at Yusef Abad Synagogue
which was the first time a President of Iran had visited a synagogue since the Islamic Revolution. Haroun Yashayaei
is the chairman of the Jewish Committee of Tehran and leader of Iran's Jewish Community. On January 26, 2007, Yashayaei's letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad concerning his Holocaust denial comments brought about worldwide media attention.
The Jews of Iran have been best known for certain occupations like making gold jewellery and antique dealing, textiles and carpets.
Jews are conscripted into the Army like all Iranian citizens. Many Iranian Jews fought during the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) as drafted soldiers. About 15 were killed. It has been reported that Jews in Iran are proud of their heritage.
Jewish citizens are permitted to obtain passports and to travel outside the country, but they often are denied the multiple-exit permits normally issued to other citizens. With the exception of certain business travelers, the authorities require Jews to obtain clearance and pay additional fees before each trip abroad. The Government appears concerned about the emigration of Jewish citizens and permission generally is not granted for all members of a Jewish family to travel outside the country at the same time.
The Association of Tehrani Jews said in a statement, "We Iranian Jews condemn claims of the US State Department on Iranian religious minorities, announced that we are fully free to perform our religious duties and we feel no restriction on performing our religious rituals."
In spite of the many allegations about discrimination by the US state department, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad
reported that mass emigration to the USA is due to economic reasons and not to religious persecution.
, which has historically been opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Iran on several occasions.
The Jewish Defense Organization
, protested against one such visit by members of a Neturei Karta faction after they attended International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
in Tehran.
Maurice Motamed
, a former Jewish Iranian parliamentarian states that in recent years, the Iranian government has allowed Jewish Iranians to visit their family members in Israel and that the government has also allowed those Iranians living in Israel to return to Iran for a visit.
Limited cultural contacts are also allowed, such as the March 2006 Jewish folk dance
festival in Russia, in which a female team from Iran participated.
Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them for alleged connections to Israel. Among them, one of the most prominent Jews of Iran in the 1970s, Habib Elghanian
who was the head of the Iranian Jewish community was executed by a firing squad by the Islamic government shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 on the charge having had contact with Israel, among others. In May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kadkhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate. In July 2007 Iran's Jewish community rejected financial emigration incentives to leave Iran. Offers ranging from 5,000–30,000 British pounds, financed by a wealthy expatriate Jew with the support of the Israeli government, were turned down by Iran's Jewish leaders. To place the incentives in perspective, the sums offered were up to 3 times or more of the average annual income for an Iranian. However, in late 2007 at least forty Iranian Jews accepted financial incentives offered by a Zionist charities for immigrating to Israel.
, the capital. Traditionally however, Shiraz
, Hamedan, Isfahan
, Nahawand, Babol
and some other cities of Iran were home to large populations of Jews. At present there are 25 synagogues in Iran.
is taught in Persian
, rather than Hebrew. The Ozar Hatorah
organization conducts Hebrew lessons on Fridays.
In principle, but with some exceptions, there is little restriction of or interference with the Jewish religious practice; however, education of Jewish children has become more difficult in recent years. The government reportedly allows Hebrew instruction, recognizing that it is necessary for Jewish religious practice. However, it strongly discourages the distribution of Hebrew texts, in practice making it difficult to teach the language. Moreover, the government has required that several Jewish schools remain open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, in conformity with the schedule of other schools in the school system. Since certain kinds of work (such as writing or using electrical appliances) on the Sabbath violates Jewish law, this requirement to operate the schools has made it difficult for observant Jews both to attend school and adhere to a fundamental tenet of their religion.
and Mordechai and Habakkuk
shrines of Hamedan, the tomb of Daniel
in Susa
, and the "Peighambariyeh" mausoleum in Qazvin
. Usually Muslims go to Daniel
shrine for pilgrimage.
There are also tombs of several outstanding Jewish scholars in Iran such as Harav Ohr Shraga in Yazd
and Hakham Mullah Moshe Halevi (Moshe-Ha-Lavi) in Kashan
, which are also visited by Muslim pilgrims.
and New York State. Many Persian Jews live in Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles, and especially in Great Neck, New York
. Kings Point
, a part of Great Neck has the greatest percentage of Iranian Jews per capita in the entire United States. Estimates place the Persian
community population as high as 25% in Beverly Hills, while others place it even higher (close to half or more). A 2007 article stated that: "...about 8,000 of Beverly Hill's approximately 35,000 residents are of Iranian descent".
In a June 2009 Los Angeles Times
blog article about Iranian-Israeli Jews showing solidarity with the Iranian protestors, said that "The Israeli community of Iranian Jews numbers about 170,000 – including the first generation of Israeli-born – and is deeply proud of its roots." The largest concentration of Persian Jews in Israel is found in the city Holon.
, a Persian Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1958, became the mayor of Beverly Hills, elected with bilingual English-Persian
ballots, making him one of the highest ranking elected Iranian-American officials in the United States. He once again took the post of mayor of Beverly Hills on March 16, 2010.
In Israel
, Persian Jews are classified as Mizrahim. Both former President
Moshe Katsav
and former Minister of Defense and current MK
Shaul Mofaz
are of Persian Jewish origin. Katsav was born in Yazd
and Mofaz was born in Tehran
.
traditionally speak a dialect of Judeo-Persian and lived mainly in the former emirate of Bukhara
(present day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Most Bukharan Jews
have immigrated to Israel or the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union
.
of Azerbaijan split off from Persian Jews in ancient times. However, they maintained a Judeo-Persian language that shares a great deal of vocabulary and structure with modern Persian. Most Azerbaijani Jews have immigrated to Israel since Azerbaijan gained independence.
, most Persian-speaking Jews fled the country after the Soviet
invasion
in 1979. Only one Jew, Zablon Simintov
, remains in the capital of Kabul
.
, due to departure to Israel, has dwindled to less than 200. Most of the Pakistani
Jewish community resides in Karachi
.
which call themselves Lakhloukh and speak Aramaic. They still hold identity papers from Iran, the country their ancestors left almost 80 years ago.
(known, in Persian, as "farsi"), but various Jewish languages
have been associated with the community over time. They include:
In addition, Persian Jews in Israel generally speak Hebrew
, and Persian Jews elsewhere will tend to speak the local language (e.g. English in the United States) with sprinkles of Persian
and Hebrew.
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Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
historically associated with Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources.
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran. The Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
contains some references to the experiences of Jews in Persia. Some material has been validated by Biblical scholars.
Today, the three largest concentrations of Persian Jews are found in Israel, the United States and Iran respectively.
Terminology
Today the term Iranian Jews is mostly used to refer to Jews from the country of IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. In various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used to refer to Jews who speak various Iranian languages
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
. Iranian immigrants in Israel (nearly all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as Parsim ( meaning "Persians"). In Iran, Jews and Jewish people in general are referred to by four common terms: Kalimi, which is considered the most proper term; Yahudi, which is less formal but correct; Israel the term by which the Jews refer to themselves; and Jood or Johood, a term having negative connotations and considered by many Jews as offensive.
Demographics
The Jewish Encyclopedia estimated that in 1900 there were 35,000 Persian Jews in the world (almost all of whom lived in present-day Iran), although other sources estimate somewhat higher numbers for the same time. On the eve of Israel's independence in 1948, there were, by varying estimates, 100,000-150,000 Jews in Iran with relatively few Persian Jews residing outside the country. Today, there are an estimated 300,000–350,000 Jews of full or partial Persian ancestry living predominantly in Israel, with significant communities in the United States and Iran.Israel
The largest group of Persian Jews is found in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. As of 2007, Israel is home to just over 47,000 Iranian-born Jews and roughly 87,000 Israeli-born Jews with fathers born in Iran. While these numbers add up to about 135,000, when Israelis with more distant or solely maternal Iranian roots are included the total number of Persian Jews in Israel is estimated to be between 200,000-250,000. Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
is the center of the Persian Jewish community of Israel, with Holon also having a large community.
The United States
The United States is home to 60,000–80,000 Iranian Jews, most of whom have settled in the Greater Los Angeles areaGreater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
and in Great Neck, New York
Great Neck, New York
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens...
. Those in metropolitan Los Angeles have settled mostly in the affluent Westside cities of Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
and Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
and the Los Angeles Westside neighborhoods of Brentwood
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
, Westwood
Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles .-History:...
, and West L.A.
West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
West Los Angeles is a district in Los Angeles, California, within a larger region known as the "Westside."-Geography and transportation:...
, as well as the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
communities of Tarzana
Tarzana, Los Angeles, California
Tarzana is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The neighborhood is located on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who named it Tarzana after his jungle hero character Tarzan.-Geography:Tarzana, a district...
and Encino
Encino, Los Angeles, California
Encino is a hilly district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Specifically, it is located in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley and on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains...
. According to the former mayor of Beverly Hills, Iranians make up at least a fifth of the resident population of Beverly Hills (the large majority of them Jewish), and a third of the student body at the local high school
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, tens of thousands of Persian Jews migrated from Iran, forming one of the wealthiest waves of immigrants to ever come to the United States.
Iran
Iran's Jewish population was reduced from 100,000–150,000 in 1948 to about 80,000 immediately before the Iranian RevolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, due mostly to immigration to Israel. While immigration to Israel had slowed in the 1970s and the Jewish population of Iran had stabilized, the majority of Iran's remaining Jews left the country in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Shah. The current Jewish population of Iran is estimated by most sources to be 25,000, though estimates vary, as low as 11,000 and as high as 40,000. Notable population centers include Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
(1,200), and Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
. Historically, Jews maintained a presence in many more Iranian cities. Jews are protected in the Iranian constitution and seat is reserved for a Jew in the Majlis
Majlis
' , is an Arabic term meaning "a place of sitting", used in the context of "council", to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups be it administrative, social or religious in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to Islamic countries...
. Iran hosts the largest Jewish population of any Muslim-majority country. After Israel, it is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East.
Jews in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
are generally regarded as having been subject to less discrimination than in the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
, however after Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution, the Jewish people and religion is regularly defamed by the Mullahs.
Other communities
Iranian Jews also emigrated to form smaller communities in Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
(in particular Paris and London), and in Australia, Canada, and South America. A number of groups of Jews of Persia have split off since ancient times. They have been identified as separate communities, such as the Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
and Mountain Jews. In addition, there are a large number of people in Iran who are, or who are the direct descendants of, Jews who converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
or the Bahá'í faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
.
History
The beginnings of Jewish history in the area of present-day Iran date back to late biblical times. The biblical books of IsaiahBook of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
, Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
, Ezra
Book of Ezra
The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era...
, Nehemiah
Book of Nehemiah
The Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws...
, Chronicles, and Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was affected "according to the decree of Cyrus
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
, and Darius, and Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes may refer to:The throne name of several Achaemenid rulers of the 1st Persian Empire:* Artaxerxes I of Persia, Artaxerxes I Longimanus, r. 465–424 BC, son and successor of Xerxes I...
king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late sixth century BCE, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
Jews in ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. Persian Jewish lived in the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still extant) communities not only of Iran, but of present-day Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, and Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
Some of the communities have been isolated from other Jewish communities, to the extent that their classification as "Persian Jews" is a matter of linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
or geographical
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
convenience rather than actual historical relationship with one another. Scholars believe that during the peak of the Persian Empire, Jews may have comprised as much as 20% of the population.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
: "The Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC and, like the Armenians, have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity." But the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
's country study on Iran states that "Over the centuries the Jews of Iran became physically, culturally, and linguistically indistinguishable from the non-Jewish population. The overwhelming majority of Jews speak Persian as their mother language, and a tiny minority, Kurdish."
Cyrus the Great and Jews
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
to Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
. These three separate occasions are mentioned in Jeremiah
Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the book of Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve....
(52:28–30). The first exile was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, when the Temple of Jerusalem was partially despoiled and a number of the leading citizens removed
Babylonian captivity
The Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
. After eleven years (during the reign of Zedekiah
Zedekiah
Zedekiah or Tzidkiyahu was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. He was installed as king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, after a siege of Jerusalem to succeed his nephew, Jeconiah, who was overthrown as king after a reign of only three months and...
), a fresh rising of the Judaeans occurred. Jerusalem was razed to the ground, and deportation ensued. Finally, five years later, Jeremiah recorded a third captivity.
After the overthrow of Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
by the Persian (Iranian
Ancient Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BCE. In Classical Antiquity they were found primarily in Scythia and Persia...
) Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
allowed the Jews to return to their native land (537 BCE). More than forty thousand were said to have done so, (See Jehoiakim
Jehoiakim
Jehoiakim .On Josiah's death, Jehoiakim's younger brother Jehoahaz was proclaimed king, but after three months pharaoh Necho II deposed him and replaced him with the eldest son, Eliakim, who adopted the name Jehoiakim and became king at the age of twenty-five...
; Ezra
Ezra
Ezra , also called Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem...
; Nehemiah
Nehemiah
Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work rebuilding Jerusalem and purifying the Jewish community. He was the son of Hachaliah, Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the...
and Jews). Unlike the previous Assyrian and Babylonian rulers, Cyrus also allowed the Jews to practice their religion freely (See Cyrus Cylinder
Cyrus cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several fragments, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. It dates from the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of Babylon in Mesopotamia in 1879...
).
Second Temple
Cyrus ordered rebuilding the Second TempleSecond Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
in the same place as the first; however, he died before it was completed. Darius the Great came to power in the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets Haggai
Haggai
Haggai was a Hebrew prophet during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the author of the Book of Haggai. His name means "my holiday"...
and Zechariah urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.
Haman and Jews
According to the Book of EstherBook of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
, in the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, Haman
Haman (Bible)
Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who, according to Old Testament tradition, was a 5th Century BC noble and vizier of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, traditionally identified as Artaxerxes II...
was an Agagite
Agagite
The term Agagite is used in the Book of Esther as a description of Haman. The term is understood to be an ethnonym although nothing is known with certainty about the people designated by the name...
noble and vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
of the empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
under Persian King Ahasuerus
Ahasuerus
Ahasuerus is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and Apocrypha. This name is applied in the Hebrew Scriptures to three rulers...
, generally identified as Xerxes the Great (son of Darius the Great) in 6th century BCE. Haman and his wife Zeresh instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. The plot was foiled by Queen Esther
Esther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...
, Queen of Persia. As a result, Esther ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. The events of the Book of Esther are celebrated as the holiday of Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
.
Parthian period
Jewish sources contain no mention of the ParthiaParthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
n influence; "Parthia" does not appear in the texts. The Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces
Arsaces
Arsaces is the eponymous Greek form of the dynastic name adopted by all epigraphically attested rulers of the 'phil-hellenenic' Arsacid dynasties. The indigenous Parthian and Armenian form was Arshak....
as well (I Macc. xv. 22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces. Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince; the Syrian
Demographics of Syria
Syrians today are an overall indigenous Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history...
king, Antiochus
Antiochus
-The Seleucid Empire:* Antiochus , father of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Hellenstic Seleucid Empire* Antiochus I Soter , king of the Seleucid Empire...
Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I., against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BC) at the Great Zab
Great Zab
The Great Zab , , , ) is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately , and during its course, the rivers collects the water from a large number...
(Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks. In 40 BC the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II., fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears in order to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
. But the reverse was to come about: the Judeans received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Still in religious matters the Babylonians, as indeed the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon the Land of Israel. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals.
The Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
was based on a loosely configured system of vassal kings. The lack of rigidly centralized rule over the empire had drawbacks, for instance, allowing the rise of a Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai
Anilai and Asinai
Anilai and Asinai were two Babylonian-Jewish robber chieftains of the Parthian Empire whose exploits were reported by Josephus.They were apprenticed by their widowed mother to a weaver. Having been punished for laziness by their master, they ran away and became freebooters in the marshlands of the...
). Yet, the tolerance of the Arsacid dynasty was as legendary as that of the first Persian dynasty, the Achaemenids. One account suggests the conversion of a small number of Parthian vassal kings of Adiabene
Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
to Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. These instances and others show not only the tolerance of Parthian kings, but are also a testament to the extent at which the Parthians saw themselves as the heir to the preceding empire of Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
. So protective were the Parthians of the minority over whom they ruled, that an old Jewish saying tells, "When you see a Parthian charger tied up to a tomb-stone in the Land of Israel, the hour of the Messiah will be near".
The Babylonian Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
wanted to fight in common cause with their Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
n brethren against Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
; but it was not until the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
waged war under Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
against Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
that they made their hatred felt; so, the revolt of the Babylonian Jews helped prevent Rome from becoming master there. Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
speaks of the numerous Jews resident in that country, a population that was likely increased by immigrants after the destruction of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem from early times, Jews had looked to the east for help. With the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
became a kind of bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the Bar Kochba revolt likely also added to Jewish refugees in Babylon.
In the struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
had reason to side with the Parthians, their protectors. Parthian kings elevated the princes of the Exile to a kind of nobility, called Resh Galuta. Until then they had used the Jews as collectors of revenue. The Parthians may have given them recognition for services, especially by the Davidic house. Establishment of the Resh Galuta provided a central authority over the numerous Jewish subjects, who proceeded to develop their own internal affairs.
Sassanid period (226–634 CE)
History of Iran
The history of Iran has been intertwined with the history of a larger historical region, comprising the area from the Danube River in the west to the Indus River and Jaxartes in the east and from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and Egypt...
influences were on the rise again. In the winter of 226 CE, Ardashir I
Ardashir I
Ardashir I was the founder of the Sassanid Empire, was ruler of Istakhr , subsequently Fars Province , and finally "King of Kings of Sassanid Empire " with the overthrow of the Parthian Empire...
overthrew the last Parthian king (Artabanus IV), destroyed the rule of the Arsacids, and founded the illustrious dynasty of the Sassanids. While Hellenistic
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
influence had been felt amongst the religiously tolerant Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
ns, the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the Pahlavi language, and restored the old monotheistic
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
religion of Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
which became the official state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
. This resulted in the suppression of other religions. A priestly Zoroastrian inscription from the time of King Bahram II (276–293 CE) contains a list of religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.) that Sassanid rule claimed to have "smashed".""The false doctrines of Ahriman and of the idols suffered great blows and lost credibility. The Jews (Yahud), Buddhists (Shaman), Hindus (Brahman), Nazarenes (Nasara), Christians (Kristiyan), Baptists (Makdag) and Manichaeans (Zandik) were smashed in the empire, their idols destroyed, and the habitations of the idols annihilated and turned into abodes and seats of the gods"."
Shapur I
Shapur I
Shapur I or also known as Shapur I the Great was the second Sassanid King of the Second Persian Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 240/42 - 270/72, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 242 .-Early years:Shapur was the son of Ardashir I...
(Shvor Malka, which is the Aramaic form of the name) was friendly to the Jews. His friendship with Shmuel
Shmuel
Shmuel , the Hebrew equivalent of the name Samuel, may refer to:* Samuel , the Hebrew Bible prophet* Books of Samuel, the book of the Tanach* Shmuel Hakatan, the Tanna * Samuel of Nehardea, the Amora...
gained many advantages for the Jewish community. Shapur II
Shapur II
Shapur II the Great was the ninth King of the Persian Sassanid Empire from 309 to 379 and son of Hormizd II. During his long reign, the Sassanid Empire saw its first golden era since the reign of Shapur I...
's mother was Jewish , and this gave the Jewish community relative freedom of religion and many advantages. He was also friend of a Babylonian rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
named Raba (Talmud), Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in the Persian Empire. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shapur [the] King" because of his bright and quick intellect.
Early Islamic period (634–1255)
With the Islamic conquest of PersiaIslamic conquest of Persia
The Muslim conquest of Persia led to the end of the Sassanid Empire in 644, the fall of Sassanid dynasty in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia...
, the government assigned Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, to the status of dhimmi
Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
s, non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis A) were allowed to practice their religion, but were required to pay jizya to cover the cost of financial welfare, security and other benefits that Muslims were entitled too.
(jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
, a poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
, and initially also kharaj
Kharaj
In Islamic law, kharaj is a tax on agricultural land.Initially, after the first Muslim conquests in the 7th century, kharaj usually denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the conquered provinces and collected by the officials of the former Byzantine and Sassanid empires or, more broadly, any kind of...
, a land tax) in place of the zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
, which the Muslim population was required to pay. Like other Dhimmis, Jews were exempt from military draft. Viewed as "People of the Book", they had some status as fellow monotheists, though they were treated differently depending on the ruler at the time. On the one hand, Jews were granted significant economic and religious freedom when compared to their co-religionists in European nations during these centuries. Many served as doctors, scholars, and craftsman, and gained positions of influence in society. On the other hand, like other non-Muslims, they did not work in Sharia Law since they did not have the obvious knowledge and qualifications for it.
Mongol rule (1256–1318)
In 1255, Mongols led by Hulagu KhanHulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü, Hulegu , was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia...
invaded parts of Persia, and in 1258 they captured Baghdad
Battle of Baghdad (1258)
The Siege of Baghdad, which occurred in 1258, was an invasion, siege and sacking of the city of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate at the time and the modern-day capital of Iraq, by the Ilkhanate Mongol forces along with other allied troops under Hulagu Khan.The invasion left Baghdad in...
putting an end to the Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
caliphate. In Persia and surrounding areas, the Mongols established a division of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
known as Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
. Because in Ilkhanate all religions were considered equal, Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis. One of the Ilkhanate rulers, Arghun
Arghun
Arghun Khan aka Argon was the fourth ruler of the Mongol empire's Ilkhanate, from 1284 to 1291. He was the son of Abaqa Khan, and like his father, was a devout Buddhist...
Khan, even preferred Jews and Christians for the administrative positions and appointed Sa'd al-Daula, a Jew, as his vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
. The appointment, however, provoked resentment from the Muslim clergy
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
, and after Arghun's death in 1291, al-Daula was murdered and Persian Jews suffered a period of violent persecutions from the Muslim populace instigated by the clergy. The Orthodox Christian historian Bar Hebraeus wrote that the violence committed against the Jews during that period "neither tongue can utter, nor the pen write down".
Ghazan Khan
Mahmud Ghazan
Mahmud Ghazan was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun and Quthluq Khatun, continuing a line of rulers who were direct descendants of Genghis Khan...
's conversion to Islam in 1295 heralded for Persian Jews a pronounced turn for the worse, as they were once again relegated to the status of dhimmis. Öljeitü, Ghazan Khan's successor, destroyed many synagogues and decreed that Jews had to wear a distinctive mark on their heads; Christians endured similar persecutions. Under pressure, some Jews converted to Islam. The most famous such convert was Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, a physician, historian and statesman, who adopted Islam in order to advance his career at Öljeitü's court. However, in 1318 he was executed on fake charges of poisoning Öljeitü and for several days crowds had been carrying his head around his native city of Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
, chanting "This is the head of the Jew who abused the name of God; may God's curse be upon him!" About 100 years later, Miranshah
Miranshah
Miranshah is the capital or headquarters of North Waziristan in Pakistan. It is the site of a town, which has s small airfield that was built by the British for World War II. The area in which Miranshah sits is extremely dangerous mainly due to Taliban activities and U.S. Drone...
destroyed Rashid al-Din's tomb, and his remains were reburied at the Jewish cemetery.
In 1383, Timur Lenk started the military conquest of Persia. He captured Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
, Khorasan and all eastern Persia to 1385 and massacred almost all inhabitants of Neishapur and other Iranian cities. When revolts broke out in Persia, he ruthlessly suppressed them, massacring the populations of whole cities. When Timur plundered Persia its artists and artisans were deported to embellish Timur's capital Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
. Skilled Persian Jews were imported to develop the empire's textile industry.
Safavid and Qajar dynasties (1502–1925)
Shi'a Islam
Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
the state religion. This led to a deterioration in their treatment of Persian Jews. Shi'ism assigns importance to the issues of ritual purity ― tahara. Non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean ― najis
Najis
In Islamic law, najis are things or persons regarded as ritually unclean. According to Shi'a Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis....
. Any physical contact would require Shi'as to undertake ritual purification before doing regular prayers. Thus, Persian rulers, and the general populace, sought to limit physical contact between Muslims and Jews. Jews were excluded from public baths used by Muslims. They were forbidden to go outside during rain or snow, as an "impurity" could be washed from them upon a Muslim.
The reign of Shah Abbas I
Abbas I of Persia
Shāh ‘Abbās the Great was Shah of Iran, and generally considered the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....
(1588–1629) was initially benign; Jews prospered throughout Persia and were encouraged to settle in Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
, which was made a new capital. Toward the end of his rule, treatment of Jews became more harsh. Shi'a clergy (including a Jewish convert) persuaded the shah to require Jews to wear a distinctive badge on clothing and headgear. In 1656, the shah ordered the expulsion from Isfahan of all Jews because of the common belief of their "impurity". They were forced to convert to Islam. The treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews. People rumored that the converts continued to practice Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
in secret. For whatever reason, the government in 1661 allowed Jews to take up their old religion, but still required them to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothing.
Nadir Shah (1736–1747) allowed Jews to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
. However, following his murder many Jews were massacred in Mashhad, and survivors were forcibly converted, in an event known as Allahdad incident
Allahdad incident
In the 1839 Allahdad incident, the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, now known as the Mashhadi Jews, were coerced into converting to Islam.Mashhad's ruler had ordered his men to enter Jewish homes and mobs attacked the Jewish Community, burning down the synagogue, looting homes, abducting girls, and killing...
. they become known as "Jadid al-Islams" (new converts) and appeared to superficially accept the new religion, but in fact lived their lives as Crypto-Jews. The community permanently left Iran in 1946 and still lives as a tightly knit community in Israel today.
The advent of a Shi'a Qajar dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions.
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC , known as The Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and as The Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman who was Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary...
described 19th century regional differences in the situation of the Persian Jews: "In Isfahan, where they are said to be 3,700 and where they occupy a relatively better status than elsewhere in Persia, they are not permitted to wear kolah or Persian headdress, to have shops in the bazaar, to build the walls of their houses as high as a Moslem neighbour's, or to ride in the street. In Teheran and Kashan
Kashan
Kashan is a city in and the capital of Kashan County, in the province of Isfahan, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 248,789, in 67,464 families....
they are also to be found in large numbers and enjoying a fair position. In Shiraz they are very badly off. In Bushire they are prosperous and free from persecution."
The 19th century the colonial powers from Europe began noting numerous forced conversions and massacres, usually generated by Shi'a clergy. In 1830, the Jews of Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
were massacred; the same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
, In addition to the Allahdad incident
Allahdad incident
In the 1839 Allahdad incident, the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, now known as the Mashhadi Jews, were coerced into converting to Islam.Mashhad's ruler had ordered his men to enter Jewish homes and mobs attacked the Jewish Community, burning down the synagogue, looting homes, abducting girls, and killing...
mentioned above in 1839. European travellers reported that the Jews of Tabriz and Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. Famous Iranian-Jewish teachers such as Mullah Daoud Chadi continued to teach and preach Judaism, inspiring Jews throughout the nation. Jews of Barforush
Babol
Babol is a city in and the capital of Babol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 198,636, in 55,943 families....
were forcibly converted in 1866. When the French and British ambassadors intervened to allow them to practice their traditional religion, a mob killed 18 Jews of Barforush. Perhaps these things happened earlier too, but went unnoticed by the historians.
In the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin
J. J. Benjamin
J. J. Benjamin was a Romanian-Jewish historian and traveler. His pen name was "Benjamin II", in allusion to Benjamin of Tudela.-Life and travels:...
wrote about the life of Persian Jews, describing conditions and beliefs that went back to the 16th century:
"…they are obliged to live in a separate part of town…; for they are considered as unclean creatures… Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt… For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans… If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults. The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him… unmercifully… If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods… Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them... Sometimes the Persians intrude into the dwellings of the Jews and take possession of whatever please them. Should the owner make the least opposition in defense of his property, he incurs the danger of atoning for it with his life... If... a Jew shows himself in the street during the three days of the Katel (Muharram)…, he is sure to be murdered."In 1894 a representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...
, a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
: "…every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews".
In 1910, Muslims rumored that the Jews of Shiraz had ritually murdered a Muslim girl
Shiraz blood libel
The 1910 Shiraz blood libel was a pogrom of the Jewish quarter in Shiraz, Iran, on October 30, 1910, sparked by accusations that the Jews had ritually killed a Muslim girl. In the course of the pogrom, 12 Jews were killed and about 50 were injured, and 6,000 Jews of Shiraz were robbed of all their...
. Muslims plundered the whole Jewish quarter. The first to start looting were soldiers sent by the local governor to defend the Jews against the enraged mob. Twelve Jews who tried to defend their property were killed, and many others were injured. Representatives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle recorded numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Persian Jews. In the late 19th – early 20th century, thousands of Persian Jews emigrated to the territory of present-day Israel within the Ottoman Empire to escape such persecution.
Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979)
The Pahlavi dynastyPahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
implemented modernizing reforms, which greatly improved the life of Jews. The influence of the Shi'a clergy was weakened, and the restrictions on Jews and other religious minorities were abolished. According to Charles Recknagel and Azam Gorgin of Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
, during the reign of Reza Shah "the political and social conditions of the Jews changed fundamentally. Reza Shah
Reza Shah
Rezā Shāh, also known as Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and Rezā Shāh Kabir , , was the Shah of the Imperial State of Iran from December 15, 1925, until he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on September 16, 1941.In 1925, Reza Shah overthrew Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar...
prohibited mass conversion of Jews and eliminated the concept of uncleanness of non-Muslims. He allowed incorporation of modern Hebrew into the curriculum of Jewish schools and publication of Jewish newspapers. Jews were also allowed to hold government jobs.
Reza Shah's ascent brought temporary relief to Jews. In the 1920s, Jewish schools were closed again. In the 1930s, "Reza Shah's pro-Nazi sympathies seriously threatened Iranian Jewry. There were no persecutions of the Jews, but, as with other minorities, anti-Jewish articles were published in the media. Unlike religiously motivated prejudice, anti-Jewish sentiments acquired an ethnonational character, a direct import from Germany."
The violence and disruption in Arab life associated with the founding of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1948 drove increased anti-Jewish sentiment in Iran. This continued until 1953, in part because of the weakening of the central government and strengthening of clergy in the political struggles between the shah and prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh. From 1948–1953, about one-third of Iranian Jews, most of them poor, emigrated to Israel. David Littman
David Littman (historian)
David Gerald Littman is a British historian and a human rights activist at the United Nations in Geneva, representing various NGOs.-Biography:David Littman was born on July 4, 1933, in London, England...
puts the total figure of emigrants to Israel in 1948–1978 at 70,000.
After the deposition of Mossadegh in 1953, the reign of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
was the most prosperous era for the Jews of Iran. In the 1970s, only 1% of Iranian Jews were classified as lower class; 80% were middle class and 10% wealthy. Although Jews accounted for only a small percentage of Iran's population, in 1979 two of the 18 members of the Iranian Academy of Sciences, 80 of the 4,000 university lecturers, and 600 of the 10,000 physicians in Iran were Jews.
Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there were 80,000 Jews in Iran, concentrated in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
(60,000), Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
(8,000), Kermanshah
Kermanshah
Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...
(4,000), Isfahan (3,000), the cities of Khuzistan, as well as Kashan
Kashan
Kashan is a city in and the capital of Kashan County, in the province of Isfahan, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 248,789, in 67,464 families....
, Sanandaj
Sanandaj
Sanandaj , also Romanized as Senneh and Sinneh) is a city in and the capital of Kurdistan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 311,446, in 81,380 families....
, Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
, and Hamedan.
The Iranian Jewish emigration to Israel is not a recent phenomenon. Forty-one percent of Iranians living in Israel in the early 1990s immigrated there before the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948; only 15% were admitted between 1975 and 1991. They immigrated chiefly because of religious persecution
Religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof....
.
Islamic Republic (1979–present)
At the time of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there were approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, the historical center of Persian Jewry. Over 85% have since migrated to either Israel or the United States. At the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, 80,000 still remained in Iran. From then on, Jewish emigration from Iran dramatically increased, as about 20,000 Jews left within several months after the Islamic Revolution. Some sources put the Iranian Jewish population in the mid and late 1980s as between 20,000–30,000. An estimate based on the 1986 census put the figure considerably higher for the same time, around 50,000. From the mid 1990's to the present there has been more uniformity in the figures, with most sources since then estimating roughly 25,000 Jews remain in Iran.
Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Khomeini met with the Jewish community upon his return from exile in Paris and issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
decreeing that the Jews were to be protected.
In the Islamic republic, Jews have become more religious. Families who had been secular in the 1970s started adhering to kosher dietary laws and more strictly observed rules against driving on the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
. They stopped going to restaurants, cafes and cinemas and the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
became the focal point of their social lives.
Haroun Yashyaei, a film producer and former chairman of the Central Jewish Community in Iran said:
"Khomeini didn't mix up our community with IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and ZionismZionismZionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
– he saw us as Iranians."
Although Israeli officials and some American Jewish communal leaders have urged Iranian Jews to leave their home country, Iranian Jews have stayed. According to the statistics compiled by HIAS
HIAS
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was founded in 1881. The constant flow of Jewish immigrants from Russia gave birth to the society. HIAS assists Jews and other groups of people whose lives and freedom are at risk, through rescue, relocation, family reunification, and resettlement. Since its inception...
, 152 out of the 25,000 Jews emigrated from Iran between October 2005 and September 2006 — down from 297 during the same period the previous year and 183 the year before. Sources said that the majority of those who have left in recent years cited economic and family reasons as their main incentive for leaving rather than political concerns.
In June 2007, though there were reports that wealthy expatriate Jews established a fund to offer incentives to Iranian Jews to emigrate to Israel, few took them up on the offer.
Current status in Iran
Zoroastrians in Iran
Zoroastrians in Iran are the oldest religious community of the nation, with a long history continuing up to the present day.Prior to the Islamization of Iran, Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of the Iranian peoples...
, they are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament
Majlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
. Ciamak Moresadegh
Ciamak Moresadegh
Dr. Ciamak Moresadegh is the sole Jewish MP in the Majlis of Iran. He is the director of the Tehran Jewish Committee and the Dr...
is the current Jewish member of the parliament, replacing Maurice Motamed
Maurice Motamed
Maurice Motamed or Morris Motamed was elected in 2000 and again in 2004 as a Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament , representing the Jewish community which has by Iran's constitution retained a reserved seat since the Persian Constitution of 1906.- Career :In Parliament, he has been active in...
in the 2008 election. In 2000, former Jewish MP Manuchehr Eliasi
Manuchehr Eliasi
Manuchehr Eliasi or Manouchehr Eliasi is a Jewish former member of the Iranian Parliamentwho was succeeded by Maurice Motamed in 2000.-See also:*Reserved Majlis seats...
estimated that at that time there were still 30,000–35,000 Jews in Iran, most other sources put the figure at 25,000. The United States State Department estimated the number of Jews in Iran at 20,000–25,000 as of 2009.
Today Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
has 11 functioning synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s, many of them with Hebrew schools. It has two kosher restaurants, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles. Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina") with Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
's "Central Library of Jewish Association". The "Dr. Sapir Jewish Hospital" is Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
's largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country; however, most of its patients and staff are Muslim.
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Yousef Hamadani Cohen
Yousef Hamadani Cohen
Yousef Hamadani Cohen is the chief rabbi and spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran . He has served in that position since January 1994....
is the present spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran. In August 2000, Chief Rabbi Cohen met with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
for the first time. In 2003, Chief Rabbi Cohen and Morris Motamed met with President Katami at Yusef Abad Synagogue
Yusef Abad Synagogue
The Yusef Abad Synagogue is one of the largest synagogues in Tehran, Iran. The official name of the Yusef Abad Synagogue is Sukat Shalom Synagogue. The original building that housed the synagogue was completed in the early 1950s. With the growth of the Jewish population of the capital especially...
which was the first time a President of Iran had visited a synagogue since the Islamic Revolution. Haroun Yashayaei
Haroun Yashayaei
Haroun Yashayaei is the chairman of the board of the Tehran Jewish Committee and leader of Iran's Jewish community. On January 26, 2006, Yashayaei's letter to the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, concerning his Holocaust denial comments, brought about worldwide media attention including an...
is the chairman of the Jewish Committee of Tehran and leader of Iran's Jewish Community. On January 26, 2007, Yashayaei's letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad concerning his Holocaust denial comments brought about worldwide media attention.
The Jews of Iran have been best known for certain occupations like making gold jewellery and antique dealing, textiles and carpets.
Conditions
The Constitution of Iran says that Jews are equal to Muslims. Imam Khomeini visited with members of the Jewish community and issued a decree ordering the adherents of Judaism and other revealed religions to be protected. Jews are entitled to self-administration and one member of the 290-seat Majlis is elected by only Jews. Jewish burial rites and divorce laws are accepted by Islamic courts. Tehran has over 20 synagogues. Iran has one of only four Jewish charity hospitals in the world. The hospital has received donations from top Iranian officials, including President Ahmadinejad. Kosher butcher shops are available in Iran. There are Hebrew schools and coeducation is allowed.Jews are conscripted into the Army like all Iranian citizens. Many Iranian Jews fought during the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) as drafted soldiers. About 15 were killed. It has been reported that Jews in Iran are proud of their heritage.
Jewish citizens are permitted to obtain passports and to travel outside the country, but they often are denied the multiple-exit permits normally issued to other citizens. With the exception of certain business travelers, the authorities require Jews to obtain clearance and pay additional fees before each trip abroad. The Government appears concerned about the emigration of Jewish citizens and permission generally is not granted for all members of a Jewish family to travel outside the country at the same time.
The Association of Tehrani Jews said in a statement, "We Iranian Jews condemn claims of the US State Department on Iranian religious minorities, announced that we are fully free to perform our religious duties and we feel no restriction on performing our religious rituals."
In spite of the many allegations about discrimination by the US state department, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad
NRC Handelsblad
NRC Handelsblad, often abbreviated to NRC, is a daily evening newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. The newspaper was created on October 1, 1970, from merger of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad . In 2006 a morning newspaper, nrc•next, was launched...
reported that mass emigration to the USA is due to economic reasons and not to religious persecution.
Contacts with Jews outside Iran
Rabbis from the Haredi sect Neturei KartaNeturei Karta
Neturei Karta is a Haredi Jewish group formally created in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisroel...
, which has historically been opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Iran on several occasions.
The Jewish Defense Organization
Jewish Defense Organization
The Jewish Defense Organization is a militant Jewish organization in the United States.-Background and ideology:The JDO was founded in the early 1980s by Mordechai Levy after a violent feud with the Jewish Defense League's former leader Irv Rubin, who was killed or committed suicide in jail in 2002...
, protested against one such visit by members of a Neturei Karta faction after they attended International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust was a two-day conference that opened on December 11, 2006, in Tehran, Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the conference sought "neither to deny nor prove the Holocaust.....
in Tehran.
Maurice Motamed
Maurice Motamed
Maurice Motamed or Morris Motamed was elected in 2000 and again in 2004 as a Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament , representing the Jewish community which has by Iran's constitution retained a reserved seat since the Persian Constitution of 1906.- Career :In Parliament, he has been active in...
, a former Jewish Iranian parliamentarian states that in recent years, the Iranian government has allowed Jewish Iranians to visit their family members in Israel and that the government has also allowed those Iranians living in Israel to return to Iran for a visit.
Limited cultural contacts are also allowed, such as the March 2006 Jewish folk dance
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
festival in Russia, in which a female team from Iran participated.
Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them for alleged connections to Israel. Among them, one of the most prominent Jews of Iran in the 1970s, Habib Elghanian
Habib Elghanian
Habib Elghanian was a prominent Iranian Jewish businessman and philanthropist who served as the president of the Tehran Jewish Society and acted as the symbolic head of the Iranian Jewish community in the 1970s....
who was the head of the Iranian Jewish community was executed by a firing squad by the Islamic government shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 on the charge having had contact with Israel, among others. In May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kadkhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate. In July 2007 Iran's Jewish community rejected financial emigration incentives to leave Iran. Offers ranging from 5,000–30,000 British pounds, financed by a wealthy expatriate Jew with the support of the Israeli government, were turned down by Iran's Jewish leaders. To place the incentives in perspective, the sums offered were up to 3 times or more of the average annual income for an Iranian. However, in late 2007 at least forty Iranian Jews accepted financial incentives offered by a Zionist charities for immigrating to Israel.
Jewish centres of Iran
Most Jews live in TehranTehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, the capital. Traditionally however, Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...
, Hamedan, Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
, Nahawand, Babol
Babol
Babol is a city in and the capital of Babol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 198,636, in 55,943 families....
and some other cities of Iran were home to large populations of Jews. At present there are 25 synagogues in Iran.
Jewish education in Iran
In 1996, there were still three schools in Teheran in which Jews were in a majority, but Jewish principals had been replaced. The school curriculum is Islamic and the TanakhTanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
is taught in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, rather than Hebrew. The Ozar Hatorah
Ozar Hatorah
Ozar Hatorah is a society for the Jewish religious education. It focuses primarily on the Jewish youth in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as on the Sephardi communities in France....
organization conducts Hebrew lessons on Fridays.
In principle, but with some exceptions, there is little restriction of or interference with the Jewish religious practice; however, education of Jewish children has become more difficult in recent years. The government reportedly allows Hebrew instruction, recognizing that it is necessary for Jewish religious practice. However, it strongly discourages the distribution of Hebrew texts, in practice making it difficult to teach the language. Moreover, the government has required that several Jewish schools remain open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, in conformity with the schedule of other schools in the school system. Since certain kinds of work (such as writing or using electrical appliances) on the Sabbath violates Jewish law, this requirement to operate the schools has made it difficult for observant Jews both to attend school and adhere to a fundamental tenet of their religion.
Jewish attractions of Iran
Almost every city of Iran has a Jewish attraction, shrine, or historical site. Prominent among these are the EstherEsther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...
and Mordechai and Habakkuk
Habakkuk
Habakkuk , also spelled Habacuc, was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. The etymology of the name of Habakkuk is not clear. The name is possibly related to the Akkadian khabbaququ, the name of a fragrant plant, or the Hebrew root חבק, meaning "embrace"...
shrines of Hamedan, the tomb of Daniel
Daniel
Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
in Susa
Susa
Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
, and the "Peighambariyeh" mausoleum in Qazvin
Qazvin
Qazvin is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 349,821, in 96,420 families....
. Usually Muslims go to Daniel
Daniel
Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
shrine for pilgrimage.
There are also tombs of several outstanding Jewish scholars in Iran such as Harav Ohr Shraga in Yazd
Yazd
Yazd is the capital of Yazd Province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. At the 2006 census, the population was 423,006, in 114,716 families....
and Hakham Mullah Moshe Halevi (Moshe-Ha-Lavi) in Kashan
Kashan
Kashan is a city in and the capital of Kashan County, in the province of Isfahan, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 248,789, in 67,464 families....
, which are also visited by Muslim pilgrims.
Persian Jews outside Iran
There are many Persian Jews in the United States, specifically in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and New York State. Many Persian Jews live in Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles, and especially in Great Neck, New York
Great Neck, New York
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens...
. Kings Point
Kings Point, New York
Kings Point is a village and a part of Great Neck in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 5,005.The Village of Kings Point is in the Town of North Hempstead...
, a part of Great Neck has the greatest percentage of Iranian Jews per capita in the entire United States. Estimates place the Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
community population as high as 25% in Beverly Hills, while others place it even higher (close to half or more). A 2007 article stated that: "...about 8,000 of Beverly Hill's approximately 35,000 residents are of Iranian descent".
In a June 2009 Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
blog article about Iranian-Israeli Jews showing solidarity with the Iranian protestors, said that "The Israeli community of Iranian Jews numbers about 170,000 – including the first generation of Israeli-born – and is deeply proud of its roots." The largest concentration of Persian Jews in Israel is found in the city Holon.
Politics
On March 21, 2007, Jimmy DelshadJimmy Delshad
Jamshid "Jimmy" Delshad is an Iranian-American politician in the state of California. He became Mayor of Beverly Hills on March 21, 2007 and again on March 16, 2010. He is the first Iranian-American to hold public office in Beverly Hills.-Biography:...
, a Persian Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1958, became the mayor of Beverly Hills, elected with bilingual English-Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
ballots, making him one of the highest ranking elected Iranian-American officials in the United States. He once again took the post of mayor of Beverly Hills on March 16, 2010.
In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Persian Jews are classified as Mizrahim. Both former President
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
Moshe Katsav
Moshe Katsav
Moshe Katsav is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a Cabinet Minister in its government....
and former Minister of Defense and current MK
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
Shaul Mofaz
Shaul Mofaz
Lt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...
are of Persian Jewish origin. Katsav was born in Yazd
Yazd
Yazd is the capital of Yazd Province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. At the 2006 census, the population was 423,006, in 114,716 families....
and Mofaz was born in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Related Jewish communities
Persian speaking Jews settled in a number of countries neighbouring Iran. Some communities, like Bukharan Jews, were formed when Jews left present-day Iran hundreds of years ago, while other communities were formed by more recent migrants from Iran.Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
Bukharan JewsBukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
traditionally speak a dialect of Judeo-Persian and lived mainly in the former emirate of Bukhara
Bukhara
Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
(present day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Most Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
have immigrated to Israel or the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Azerbaijan
The Mountain JewsMountain Jews
Highland Jews, Mountain Jews or Kavkazi Jews also known as Juvuro or Juhuro, are Jews of the eastern Caucasus, mainly of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are also known as Caucasus Jews, Caucasian Jews, or less commonly East Caucasian Jews, because the majority of these Jews settled the eastern part...
of Azerbaijan split off from Persian Jews in ancient times. However, they maintained a Judeo-Persian language that shares a great deal of vocabulary and structure with modern Persian. Most Azerbaijani Jews have immigrated to Israel since Azerbaijan gained independence.
Afghanistan
In AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, most Persian-speaking Jews fled the country after the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
invasion
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
in 1979. Only one Jew, Zablon Simintov
Zablon Simintov
Zablon Simintov is a Turkmen-Afghan carpet trader and the caretaker of the only synagogue in Kabul. , he is believed to be the sole remaining Afghan Jew still residing in Afghanistan...
, remains in the capital of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
.
Pakistan
The community in PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, due to departure to Israel, has dwindled to less than 200. Most of the Pakistani
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
Jewish community resides in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
.
Kazakhstan
There are estimated to be approximately four dozen Persian Jewish families living in KazakhstanKazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
which call themselves Lakhloukh and speak Aramaic. They still hold identity papers from Iran, the country their ancestors left almost 80 years ago.
Languages
Most Persian Jews speak standard PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
(known, in Persian, as "farsi"), but various Jewish languages
Jewish languages
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities around the world.Although Hebrew was the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries, by the fifth century BCE, the closely related Aramaic joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea and by the third...
have been associated with the community over time. They include:
- DzhidiDzhidi languageJudæo-Persian, or Jidi , refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judæo-Persian texts . As a collective term, Dzhidi refers to a number of Iranian languages or dialects spoken by Jewish communities throughout the formerly extensive Persian Empire...
(Judæo-Persian) - Bukhori (Judæo-Bukharic)
- Judæo-Golpaygani
- Judæo-ShiraziJudeo-ShiraziJudeo-Shirazi is a dialect form of the Persian language. It is spoken mostly by Persian Jews living in Shiraz and surrounding areas of the Fars Province in Iran.-External links:*...
- Judæo-Hamedani
- Juhuri languageJuhuri languageJuhuri, Juwuri or Judæo-Tat is a form of the Tat language and is the traditional language of the Mountain Jews of the eastern Caucasus Mountains, especially Azerbaijan and Dagestan, now mainly spoken in Israel....
(Judæo-Tat)
In addition, Persian Jews in Israel generally speak Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, and Persian Jews elsewhere will tend to speak the local language (e.g. English in the United States) with sprinkles of Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Hebrew.
Notable Persian Jews
Pre-modern era
- Benjamin NahawandiBenjamin NahawandiBenjamin Nahawandi or Benjamin ben Moses or Benyamin ben Moshe al-Nahawendi was one of the greatest of the Karaite scholars of the early Middle Ages. His influence was so far-reaching that some regard him as the proper originator of Karaism as it has come down through the ages. The Karaite...
– KaraiteKaraite JudaismKaraite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...
scholar of the early Middle AgesMiddle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern... - Mashallah ibn Athari – Persian astrologer and astronomer
- Meulana Shahin ShiraziMeulana Shahin ShiraziMeulana Shahin Shirazi was a Persian Jewish poet of the 14th century.He put the Pentateuch into Persian verse under the title Musa Nameh, an imitation of the famous Shah nameh in style....
– Early PersianIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
poet - Rashid al-Din – Doctor, writer, and historian
- Sa'ad al-DawlaSa'ad al-DawlaSa'ad al-Dawla ibn Hibbat Allah ibn Muhasib Ebheri was a Jewish physician and statesman in thirteenth-century Persia. He was grand vizier from 1289 to 1291 under the Mongolian Ilkhan in Persia, Arghun Khan. According to Abu al-Faraj, Sa'ad was father-in-law of the prefect of Baghdad...
– Physician and statesman
Politics
- Abie NathanAbie NathanAvraham "Abie" Nathan was an Israeli humanitarian and peace activist, perhaps best known as the founder of the Voice of Peace radio station.-Early years:...
– Humanitarian and peace activist - Ciamak MoresadeghCiamak MoresadeghDr. Ciamak Moresadegh is the sole Jewish MP in the Majlis of Iran. He is the director of the Tehran Jewish Committee and the Dr...
– Jewish member of the Majlis of Iran - David Alliance, Baron Alliance – Iranian born British businessman and a Liberal DemocratLiberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
politician - David NahaiDavid NahaiHamid David Nahai is an Iranian-American environmental attorney, political activist, and former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.- Early life and education :...
– Former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and PowerLos Angeles Department of Water and PowerThe Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving over four million residents. It was founded in 1902 to supply water and electricity to residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities... - Eitan Ben EliyahuEitan Ben EliyahuAluf Eitan Ben Eliyahu is a retired Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and was the Commander of the Israeli Air Force .-Early life and military career:...
– Former Major General in the Israeli Defence Forces - Habibollah AsgaroladiHabibollah AsgaroladiHabibollah Asgaroladi Mosalman is a senior Iranian politician and Secretary-General of the Islamic Coalition Party, a highly influential conservative political party in Iran. He is also senior member of Iran's Expediency Council...
– Conservative Iranian politician, leader of the Islamic Coalition PartyIslamic Coalition PartyThe Islamic Coalition Party is a conservative Islamist political party in Iran...
(convert to Islam) - Haroun YashayaeiHaroun YashayaeiHaroun Yashayaei is the chairman of the board of the Tehran Jewish Committee and leader of Iran's Jewish community. On January 26, 2006, Yashayaei's letter to the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, concerning his Holocaust denial comments, brought about worldwide media attention including an...
– Chairman of the board of the Tehran Jewish CommitteeTehran Jewish CommitteeThe Tehran Jewish Committee, formally registered in 1934, is an umbrella group of Jewish organizations that work on behalf of the Persian Jews in Iran. Dr. Rahmatollah Raffi is the present chairman of the board of the Tehran Jewish Committee preceded by Dr. Ciamak Moresadegh who is currently the...
and leader of Iran's Jewish Community - Jimmy DelshadJimmy DelshadJamshid "Jimmy" Delshad is an Iranian-American politician in the state of California. He became Mayor of Beverly Hills on March 21, 2007 and again on March 16, 2010. He is the first Iranian-American to hold public office in Beverly Hills.-Biography:...
– Former two-term mayor of Beverly Hills - Manuchehr EliasiManuchehr EliasiManuchehr Eliasi or Manouchehr Eliasi is a Jewish former member of the Iranian Parliamentwho was succeeded by Maurice Motamed in 2000.-See also:*Reserved Majlis seats...
– Former Jewish member of the Majlis - Maurice MotamedMaurice MotamedMaurice Motamed or Morris Motamed was elected in 2000 and again in 2004 as a Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament , representing the Jewish community which has by Iran's constitution retained a reserved seat since the Persian Constitution of 1906.- Career :In Parliament, he has been active in...
– Former Jewish member of the Majlis of Iran - Michael Ben-AriMichael Ben-AriMichael Ben-Ari is an Israeli politician, and a current member of the Knesset for the National Union party. He is the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to be elected to the Knesset. He has a Ph.D in Land of Israel studies.-Biography:...
– Israeli politician and current member of the Knesset - Mordechai ZarMordechai ZarMordechai Zar was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Mapai and its successors between 1959 and 1974.-Biography:...
– Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset - Moshe KatsavMoshe KatsavMoshe Katsav is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a Cabinet Minister in its government....
– Former President of Israel - Shaul MofazShaul MofazLt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...
– Former Israeli Minister of Defense, currently number two on the KadimaKadimaKadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
list in the Knesset
Science and academia
- Amnon NetzerAmnon NetzerAmnon Netzer was an Iranian-Jewish historian, researcher, professor and journalist.He dedicated much of his life to uncovering, analyzing, and recording the literature, culture, and 2,700-year history of Iran's Jewry.He founded Israel Broadcasting Authority's Persian Service in 1958 and was a...
– Professor of the history and culture of Iranian Jews - Avshalom ElitzurAvshalom ElitzurAvshalom Cyrus Elitzur is an Israeli physicist and philosopher.-Biography:Avshalom Elitzur was a senior lecturer at the Unit for Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel...
– Physicist and philosopher - David B. SamadiDavid B. SamadiDr. David B. Samadi is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City...
– Expert in robotic oncologyRobotic surgeryRobotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery, and robotically-assisted surgery are terms for technological developments that use robotic systems to aid in surgical procedures.... - Samuel RahbarSamuel RahbarSamuel Rahbar is an Iranian born scientist who discovered the linkage between diabetes and HbA1C, a form of hemoglobin used primarily to identify plasma glucose concentration over time....
– Discoverer of HbA1C - Shaul BakhashShaul BakhashShaul Bakhash , PhD, is a historian and leading expert in Iranian studies at George Mason University where he is a "Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History."...
– Professor of Iranian studies at George Mason University - Soleiman HaimSoleiman HaimSolayman Haïm , whose dictionaries appeared in English under the name Sulayman Hayyim Solayman Haïm (also Soleyman Soly Haïm or Soleiman Haïm), whose dictionaries appeared in English under the name Sulayman Hayyim (Persian: سلیمان حییم) Solayman Haïm (also Soleyman Soly Haïm or Soleiman Haïm),...
– Compiled an early and influential Persian languagePersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
dictionary - Hamid Hemmati - Laser telecommunications group manager at NASA-JPL.
Business and economics
- J. Darius BikoffJ. Darius BikoffJohn Darius Bikoff is an American entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Energy Brands. He was born to an American father and an Iranian mother....
- David MerageDavid MerageDavid Merage is an American businessman and venture philanthropist who co-founded the frozen microwave snack Hot Pockets, Lean Pockets, and Crossiant Pockets. He and his brother Paul Merage later sold the company to Nestlé for $2.6 billion. -References:...
– Co-founder of Hot PocketsHot PocketsHot Pockets are microwaveable turnovers usually containing a combination of cheese, meat, and vegetables. Hot Pockets are currently produced by Hylan Steez.- Varieties :...
snack food company - Ghermezian familyGhermezian familyThe Ghermezian family is a Canadian family of Iranian Jewish origin who have developed several of the world's largest shopping malls. The family's holdings include the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada. In 2011, the family's Triple Five Group...
– Billionaire shopping mall developers - Habib ElghanianHabib ElghanianHabib Elghanian was a prominent Iranian Jewish businessman and philanthropist who served as the president of the Tehran Jewish Society and acted as the symbolic head of the Iranian Jewish community in the 1970s....
– Prominent businessman executed by the Islamic Republic - Isaac Larian – Chief Executive OfficerChief executive officerA chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of MGA EntertainmentMGA EntertainmentMGA Entertainment is a manufacturer of children's toys and entertainment products founded in 1979. Its products include the Bratz fashion doll line, Lalaloopsy, Kachooz!, Moxie Girlz, Moxie Teenz, Hugwallas, BFC, Ink. and Rescue Pets. MGAE also owns The Little Tikes Company... - Joseph ParnesJoseph ParnesJoseph Parnes is an American businessperson and registered Investment Advisor notable for his involvement in short selling. He is president of Technomart Investment Advisors and editor of the market letter Shortex. As an investment advisor, he has distinguished himself as one of the foremost short...
– Investment Advisor - Nasser David KhaliliNasser David KhaliliNasser David Khalili, KCSS, KCFO is a British-Iranian property developer, art collector and philanthropist based in London. He holds [United Kingdom] citizenship....
– Billionaire property developer and art collector - Neil KadishaNeil KadishaNeil Kadisha is a businessman and philanthropist. Kadisha holds a BS in Industrial Management and Economics from the University of Manchester....
– Businessman - Ezri Namvar – Real estate financier
- Nouriel RoubiniNouriel RoubiniNouriel Roubini is an American economist. He claims to have predicted both the collapse of the United States housing market and the worldwide recession which started in 2008. He teaches at New York University's Stern School of Business and is the chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an economic...
– Economist - Paul MeragePaul MeragePaul Merage is an Iranian-American entrepreneur. He is the former CEO and co-founder of Chef America Inc. who invented Hot Pockets microwaveable snacks....
– Co-founder of Hot PocketsHot PocketsHot Pockets are microwaveable turnovers usually containing a combination of cheese, meat, and vegetables. Hot Pockets are currently produced by Hylan Steez.- Varieties :...
snack food company - Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz – Property developers
- Nazarian familyNazarian familyThe Nazarian family is a prominent Iranian Jewish family living in Los Angeles, United States and Tel Aviv, Israel. The family is considered to be the richest Jewish Iranian family in the world, worth in excess of $2 billion dollars...
Art and entertainment
- Adi NesAdi NesAdi Nes is an Israeli photographer. He is the son of Iranian and Kurdish immigrants who came to Israel in the 1950s from Iran. His exhibits have been shown from Tel Aviv to San Diego...
– Photographer - Bahar SoomekhBahar SoomekhBahar Soomekh is an Iranian-American actress and environmental activist. She began acting in the early 2000s, and is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Crash , Mission: Impossible III , and Saw III .-Early life:...
– Actress - Bob YariBob YariBob Yari is an Iranian-American film producer.He grew up in New York City, and studied cinematography at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
– Film producer - Dalia SoferDalia SoferDalia Sofer is an Iranian-born American writer.Born in Tehran, Iran was raised in a Jewish family during revolutionary Iran, she eventually moved to New York City when she was 11. She attended the Lycée Français de New York, and went on to study French Literature at NYU with a minor in creative...
– Writer - Dan AhdootDan AhdootDan Ahdoot is a stand-up comedian who primarily performs in New York City. He is well-known for being a contestant in NBC's reality TV show Last Comic Standing and for performing on Comedy Central's Premium Blend.-Early life:...
– Stand-up comedian - Elie TahariElie TahariElie Tahari is an Israeli-American luxury fashion designer of men and women's clothing. Elie Tahari, Ltd., the company he founded, has annual revenue of around $1 to 2.5 million...
– High-end fashion designer - Gina Nahai – Writer
- Jonathan AhdoutJonathan AhdoutJonathan Ahdout is an American actor.Ahdout was born in Santa Monica, California to Yahya Ahdout and Jacqueline Hayempour, Iranian Jews who left Iran to go to the U.S. with their baby daughter in 1982 via Pakistan to Israel. Ahdout resides in Brentwood with his parents and siblings, Melody and...
– Actor - Mor KarbasiMor KarbasiMor Karbasi is a singer-songwriter born in Jerusalem, and now based in London.One of her main projects is Ladino music, also known as Judezmo, Spanyolit, or Sephardic - the ancient language and music of the exiled Jews of Spain. She writes original material, as well as singing traditional songs...
– Singer - Richard DanielpourRichard DanielpourRichard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
– Composer - Rita – Israeli pop-star
- Roya HakakianRoya HakakianRoya Hakakian is an Iranian-American poet, journalist and writer living in the United States. A lauded Persian poet turned television producer with programs like 60 Minutes, Roya became well known for her memoir, Journey from the Land of No in 2004. Her essays on Iranian issues appear in the New...
– Writer - Shaun ToubShaun ToubShaun Toub is an Iranian-American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Farhad in the 2004 movie Crash, as Rahim Khan in the movie The Kite Runner, and as Yinsen in the movie Iron Man.-Personal life:...
– Actor - Subliminal (rapper)Subliminal (rapper)Ya'akov "Kobi" Shimoni , generally known by his stage name Subliminal , is an Israeli hip hop artist and music producer.-Background:...
– Persian mother - Tami StronachTami StronachTamara "Tami" Stronach is a dancer and choreographer who has also worked as an actress.Stronach was born to Israeli and Scottish parents. Her father, David Stronach, is a renowned archeologist of ruins of Ancient Persia and a professor at UC Berkeley...
– Choreographer - Yossi BanaiYossi BanaiYossi Banai was an Israeli performer, singer, actor, and dramatist.-Biography:Banai was born in Jerusalem, and grew up in the neighborhood of the Mahane Yehuda market...
– Israeli performer, singer, and actor
Religion
- Shmuley BoteachShmuley BoteachShmuel "Shmuley" Boteach is an American Orthodox rabbi, author, TV host and public speaker.Among other books, Boteach wrote Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy, published in 1999, which openly discusses intimacy and sexual intercourse...
– Famous AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Rabbi - Uriel Davidi – Former chief rabbi of Iran
- Yedidia ShofetYedidia ShofetYedidia Shofet was the former Chief Rabbi of Iran and the worldwide spiritual leader of Persian Jewry.-Early Life and Biography:...
– Former chief rabbi of Iran - Yousef Hamadani CohenYousef Hamadani CohenYousef Hamadani Cohen is the chief rabbi and spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran . He has served in that position since January 1994....
– Current chief rabbi of Iran
Miscellaneous
- Dan HalutzDan Halutz' is an Israeli Air Force Lt. General and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz was appointed as Chief of Staff on June 1, 2005. On January 17, 2007 he announced his resignation. He has a degree in economics. He was born to a Mizrahi...
– Former chief of staffRamatkalThe Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf , which is usually...
of the Israel Defense ForcesIsrael Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel... - Eden Natan-ZadaEden Natan-ZadaEden Natan-Zada was an Israeli terrorist who was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to Israel from Iran. He was an AWOL Israeli soldier who opened fire in a bus in Shefa-Amr in northern Israel on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel and wounding twelve others. He was restrained,...
– Israeli soldier responsible for the 2005 Shfar'am terrorist attack - Eitan Ben EliyahuEitan Ben EliyahuAluf Eitan Ben Eliyahu is a retired Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and was the Commander of the Israeli Air Force .-Early life and military career:...
- Former commander of the Israeli Air Force - Janet Kohan-SedqJanet Kohan-SedqJanet Cohansedgh is a former Iranian athlete who died at the height of her career. She was a national champion and holder of a number of records in the early and mid-1960s. A graduate of the Anushiravan High School, she received a degree in physical education from the University of Tehran. Her...
– Track and field athlete - Menashe AmirMenashe AmirMenashe Amir is a long time Persian language broadcaster on the Israel Radio International, a channel of Kol Yisrael . He is a former head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Persian language division...
– Persian language broadcaster in Israel - Rico Shirazi - Alleged Israeli mob boss
- Soleyman BinafardSoleyman BinafardSoleyman Binafard is a former Iranian sport wrestler who holds the distinction of being the only Jew in Iran to join Iran's national wrestling team.He started to wrestle freestyle in 1950 at the age of 15...
– Wrestler
See also
- International Holocaust Cartoon Competition
- Iran-Israel relationsIran-Israel relationsIran–Israel relations have shifted from close ties between Israel and Iran during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty to hostility since the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Iran has severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, and its government does not recognize...
- Islam and JudaismIslam and JudaismIslamic–Jewish relations started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam in the Arabian peninsula. The two religions share similar values, guidelines, and principles. Islam also incorporates Jewish history as a part of its own. Muslims regard the Children of Israel as an important...
- Jews of Iran (documentary film)Jews of Iran (documentary film)Jews of Iran is a 2005 documentary film by Iranian-Dutch filmmaker Ramin Farahani. The film examines the lives of Persian Jews living in Iran's predominately Islamic society...
- Judæo-Iranian languagesJudæo-Iranian languagesThe Judæo-Iranian languages include a number of related Jewish languages spoken throughout the formerly extensive realm of the Persian Empire, usually including all the Jewish Iranian languages:* Dzhidi...
- Judæo-Persian languages
- Judeo-Persian dialects
- List of Asian Jews
- Madare sefr darajeh
- Mountain JewsMountain JewsHighland Jews, Mountain Jews or Kavkazi Jews also known as Juvuro or Juhuro, are Jews of the eastern Caucasus, mainly of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are also known as Caucasus Jews, Caucasian Jews, or less commonly East Caucasian Jews, because the majority of these Jews settled the eastern part...
- Persian peoplePersian peopleThe Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
- PurimPurimPurim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
- Religious minorities in Iran
- Shiraz blood libelShiraz blood libelThe 1910 Shiraz blood libel was a pogrom of the Jewish quarter in Shiraz, Iran, on October 30, 1910, sparked by accusations that the Jews had ritually killed a Muslim girl. In the course of the pogrom, 12 Jews were killed and about 50 were injured, and 6,000 Jews of Shiraz were robbed of all their...
- Tehran Jewish CommitteeTehran Jewish CommitteeThe Tehran Jewish Committee, formally registered in 1934, is an umbrella group of Jewish organizations that work on behalf of the Persian Jews in Iran. Dr. Rahmatollah Raffi is the present chairman of the board of the Tehran Jewish Committee preceded by Dr. Ciamak Moresadegh who is currently the...
- 30 Years After30 Years After30 Years After was founded in 2007 as a non-profit, non-partisan organization for the Iranian-American Jewish community. The missions of the organization are education and political and community involvement....
- Bar minanBar minan"Bar Minan" [bahr-mee-nahn] is a Sephardic Jewish saying which literally translates to "far from us" or "except us." This expression is used when referring to a certain mishap or calamity which one is discussing that he wishes not to befall on himself...
External links
- Persian Rabbi
- Sephardic Studies, Iran
- History of the Iranian Jews
- Parthia (Old Persian Parthava)
- Former Jewish Ghetto in Tehran
Media
- Pictures of Persian Jews
- Iranian Jewish Chronicle Magazine
- "Jews of Iran" Documentary covering temporary Jewish life in Iran
- Iran Chamber Society The Cyrus Prism: The Decree of return for the Jews, 539 BCE, edited by Charles F. Horne,
- In Search of Cyrus the Great, directed by Cyrus Kar, in production. (preview only
Miscellaneous