Misplaced Pages

Iranian Jews: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 20:08, 26 November 2006 editBeit Or (talk | contribs)6,093 edits remove tendentious addition← Previous edit Latest revision as of 07:29, 18 December 2024 edit undo172.117.245.97 (talk) Terminology: Added referenceTags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Jewish community of Iran}}
{{npov}}{{Jew}}
{{redirect|Jews of Iran|the 2005 Dutch documentary|Jews of Iran (film)}}
] in ]]]
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Iranian Jews
| native_name = {{lang|ps|یهودیان ایرانی}}<br/>{{Script/Hebrew|יהודי איראן}}
| image = Zionist Federation in Iran.jpg
| caption = Gathering of the Zionist Federation in Iran, 1920
| population = '''300,000'''–'''350,000''' (est.)
| region1 = {{flag|Israel}}
| pop1 = 200,000<ref name="foxnews.com" />–250,000<ref name="autogenerated2" />
| region2 = {{flag|United States}}
| pop2 = 60,000–80,000<ref name="foxnews.com" />
| region3 = {{flag|Iran}}
| pop3 = 9,826<ref name="worldpopulationreview.com">{{Cite web|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/jewish-population-by-country|title=Jewish Population by Country 2023|website=worldpopulationreview.com}}</ref>
| region4 = {{flag|Canada}}
| pop4 = 1,000
| region5 = {{flag|Australia}}
| pop5 = ~740{{NoteTag|] shows that 3% of them are Jewish.}}
| rels = ] ]
| langs = ] (], ], ], ]), ], ]
| related = ], ], ], ], ], ], ]
}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar|ethnicities}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=October 2023}}


'''Iranian Jews'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-of-iran-a-modern-history|title=Jews of Iran: A Modern History|website=myjewishlearning.com}}</ref> ({{langx|fa|یهودیان ایرانی|translit=Yahudiyān-e Irāni}}; {{langx|he|יהודי איראן|translit=Yehudei Iran}}) constitute one of the oldest communities of the ]. Dating back to the ], they originate from the ] who relocated to ] during the time of the ]. Books of the ] (i.e., ], ], ], ], and ]) bring together an extensive narrative shedding light on contemporary Jewish life experiences in ]; there has been a continuous ] since at least the time of ], who led ] army's conquest of the ] and subsequently freed the ] from the ].
'''Persian Jews''', '''Iranian Jews''', or the ''''''Jews of Persia'''''' are ] historically affiliated with the ] or the modern country of ].


After 1979, Jewish emigration from Iran increased dramatically in light of the country's ]. Today, the vast majority of Iranian Jews reside in ] and the ]. The ] is mostly concentrated in the cities of ], ], ], ], and ]. In the United States, there are sizable Iranian Jewish communities in ] (]), ], and in ]. Smaller Iranian Jewish communities also exist in ] and in ]. According to the 2016 Iranian census, the remaining Jewish population of Iran stood at 9,826 people;<ref name="Iranian National Census 2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/census/1395/results/ch_nsonvm_95.pdf|publisher=Iranian Statistics Agency|title=Iranian Census Report 2016}}</ref> independent third-party estimates have placed the figure at around 8,500.<ref name="worldpopulationreview.com"/>
] is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran and dates back to the late biblical times. The biblical books of ], ], ], ], ], and ] contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia.


==Terminology==
Today, the largest groups of Persian Jews are found in ] (75,000 in 1993)<ref>{{Harvard reference|Surname=Yegar|Given=M|Authorlink=|Year=1993|Title=Jews of Iran|Journal=The Scribe|Volume=|Issue=58|Pages=2|URL=http://www.dangoor.com/TheScribe58.pdf}}. In recent years, Persian Jews have been well-assimilated into the Israeli population, so that more accurate data is hard to obtain.</ref> and the ] (45,000; especially in the ] area and ]). By various estimates, between 11,000 and 40,000 (most sources say 25,000) Jews remain in Iran, mostly in ], ] (3,000), and ]. ] reported ] is home to ten Jewish families, six of them related by marriage, however some estimate the number is much higher. Historically, Jews maintained a presence in many more Iranian cities.
Today, the term '''''Iranian Jews''''' is mostly used in reference to Jews who are from the country of ]. In various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used in reference to Jews who speak various ]. Iranian immigrants in Israel (nearly all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as ''Parsim''. In Iran, Persian Jews and Jewish people in general are both described with four common terms: ''Kalīmī'' ({{langx|fa|کلیمی}}), which is considered the most proper term; ''Yahūdī'' ({{lang|fa|یهودی}}), which is less formal but correct; ''Yīsrael'' ({{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|ישראל}}}}) the term by which Jewish people refer to themselves, a reference to being the ].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/who-are-jews-jewish-history-origins-antisemitism/#:~:text=The%20Persian%20Emperor%20Cyrus%2C%20the%20only%20non%2DJew,to%20return%20to%20the%20province%20of%20Judea.&text=They%20tend%20to%20still%20refer%20to%20themselves%20as%20Bnei%20Yisrael%20(the%20descendants%20of%20Israel). |title=Who Are Jews |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=2024-12-17}}</ref> The term ''Johūd'' ({{lang|fa|جهود}}) was also used. It has very negative connotations and considered by many Jews as offensive.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/544/persian-gates/ |title=Persian Gates |publisher=Forward.com |date=2006-07-28 |access-date=2013-03-09}}</ref>

There are also smaller communities in Western Europe, Australia, and Canada. A number of groups of Persian Jews have split off since ancient times, to the extent that they are now recognized as separate communities, such as the ] and ]s. In addition, there are several thousand in Iran who are, or who are the direct descendants of, Jews who have converted to ]; some voluntarily, some by force, some due to social pressure, and some in hopes of improving prospects for themselves and their families. Such Jews, or ], have existed in the region for centuries. Many marry only those like themselves, many have assimilated, many are secular, and many are practicing Muslims who keep (sometimes unknowingly) certain Jewish traditions. Few have fully returned to their Jewish roots, and such 'hidden' Jews in the Iranian diaspora have largely assimilated.


==History== ==History==
{{main|History of Jews in Iran}} {{Main|History of Jews in Iran}}
The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran date back to late biblical times. The biblical books of ], ], ], ], ], and ] 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 to return to ] and rebuilt their Temple; its reconstruction was affected "according to the decree of ], and ], and ] king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late sixth century B.C.E., by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.


Jews had been residing in ] since around 727 BC, having arrived in the region as slaves after being captured by the ]n and ]n kings. According to one Jewish legend, the first Jew to enter Persia was ], grand daughter of the ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gorder|first=Christian |title=Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Iran |year=2010|publisher=Lexington Books|page=8}}</ref> The biblical books of ], ], ], ], ], and ] contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia and accounts of their relations with the ]. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to ] and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was effected "according to the decree of ], and ], and ] king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late sixth-century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. The Persian Jewish communities include the ancient (and until the mid-] still extant) communities not only of Iran, but of parts of what is now ], ], northwestern ], ], ], ], ], and ].


Jews in ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. Iranian Jews lived in the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still extant) communities not only of Iran, but also the ], ], ], ], and ] communities.<ref>Kevin Alan Brook. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006 {{ISBN|1442203021}} p. 233</ref><ref name=foa>{{cite web|url=http://www.friends-of-armenia.org/institutional/history-of-armenian-jews/44-jewish-community-of-armenia|title=Բեն Օլանդերի հատուկ ներկայացումը Նյու Յորքում նվիրված Ռաուլ Վալլենբերգին,Երեքշաբթի 9 Նոյեմբերի 2010 թ.|website=Friends-of-armenia.org|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728082558/http://www.friends-of-armenia.org/institutional/history-of-armenian-jews/44-jewish-community-of-armenia|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles Pappas. ''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994 {{ISBN|0313274975}} p. 305</ref><ref>Begley, Sharon. (7 August 2012) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229175118/http://in.reuters.com/article/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806 |date=29 December 2015 }}. In.reuters.com. Retrieved 2013-04-16.</ref>
Some of the communities have been isolated from other Jewish communities, to the extent that their classification as "Persian Jews" is a matter of ] or ] convenience rather than actual historical relationship with one another. During the peak of the Persian Empire, Jews are thought to have comprised as much as 20% of the population.


Some of the communities have been isolated from other Jewish communities to the extent that their classification as "Persian Jews" is a matter of ] or ] 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.<ref>. Dangoor.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>
According to ]: "''The Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the ] of the 6th century BC and, like the Armenians, have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity.''" But ]'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 Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the ] of the 6th century BC and, like the ], have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity."<ref>. Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref> But the ]'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, ]."<ref>. Country-data.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>
===Cyrus the Great and Jews===
] allowing Hebrew pilgrims to return to and rebuild Jerusalem]]


=== Achaemenid period (550–330 BC) ===
Three times during the 6th century BCE, the ]s (Hebrews) of the ancient ] were exiled to ] by ]. These three separate occasions are mentioned in ] (52:28-30). The first exile was in the time of ] in ], when the ] was partially despoiled and a ]. After eleven years (in the reign of ]) a fresh rising of the Judaeans occurred; the city was razed to the ground, and a further deportation ensued. Finally, five years later, Jeremiah records a third captivity. After the overthrow of Babylonia by the ], ] gave the Jews permission to return to their native land (]), and more than forty thousand are said to have availed themselves of the privilege, (See ]; ]; ] and ]s). Cyrus also allowed them to practice their religion freely (See ]) unlike the previous Assyrian and Babylonian rulers.


===Second temple=== ====Under Cyrus the Great====
] allowing Hebrew pilgrims to return to the ] and rebuild Jerusalem, painting by ] circa 1470]]
{{main|Second Temple}}
Cyrus had ordered rebuilding the ] in the same place as of the first, however he died before it was completed. ], after a short lived rule of ] came in to power of the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. This was done under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets ] and ]. It was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the return from captivity.


According to the biblical account ] was "God's anointed", having freed the Jews from Babylonian rule. After the conquest of ] by the Persian ], Cyrus granted all the Jews citizenship. Though he allowed the Jews to return to Israel (around 537 BC), many chose to remain in Persia. Thus, the events of the ] are set entirely in Iran. Various biblical accounts say that over forty thousand Jews did return (See ], ], ], and ]s).<ref name="Gorder 2010 17">{{cite book|last=Gorder|first=Christian|title=Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Iran|year=2010|publisher=Lexington Books|page=17}}</ref>
===Haman and Jews===
According to the ], in the ], ] was an ] noble and ] of the ] under Persian King ], generally identified by Biblical scholars as possibly being ] in ]. Haman and his wife Zeresh instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient ]. The plot was foiled by Queen ]; and as a result, Haman and his ten sons were hanged. The events of the Book of Esther are celebrated as the holiday of ].


The historical nature of the "Cyrus decree" has been challenged. Professor Lester L Grabbe argues that there was no decree, but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. He also argues that the archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle", taking place over perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30,000.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grabbe|first=Lester L.|title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah |year=2004|publisher=T & T Clark|isbn=978-0-567-08998-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MnE5T_0RbMC&q=gave+the+Jews+permission+to+return+to+Yehud+province+and+to+rebuild+the+Temple&pg=PA355|page=355}}</ref> ] called the authenticity of the decree "dubious", citing Grabbe. Arguing against the authenticity of Ezra 1.1–4 is J. Briend, in a paper given at the Institut Catholique de Paris on 15 December 1993, who denies that it resembles the form of an official document but reflects rather the biblical prophetic idiom."<ref>{{cite book|title=Words Remembered, Texts Renewed: Essays in Honour of John F.A. Sawyer|year=1995|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-85075-542-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQttyS7HRrIC&q=authenticity+decree+cyrus&pg=PA219|first=Philip R.|last=Davies|editor=John D Davies|page=219}}</ref>
===Parthian period===
Jewish sources contain no mention of the ] influence; the very name "Parthia" does not occur. The ]n prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of ]. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached ] 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 ] king, ] Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I., against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (]) at the River Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the ] and ]. In ] the Jewish puppet-king, ] 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 ], which they would have made quite independent 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 ], as indeed the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon the Land of Israel. They went on pilgrimages to ] for the festivals.


Mary Joan Winn Leith believes that the decree in Ezra might be authentic and, along with the ], that Cyrus, like earlier rulers, was through these decrees trying to gain support from those who might be strategically important, particularly those close to Egypt which Cyrus wished to conquer. She also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control."<ref name="MaryJ1">{{cite book
The ] was an enduring empire that was based on a loosely configured system of vassal kings. Certainly this lack of a rigidly centralized rule over the empire had its draw backs, such as the rise of a Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see ]). Yet, the tolerance of the ] dynasty was as legendry as the first Persian dynasty, the ]. There is even an account that indicates the conversion of a small number of Parthian ] ] of ] to ]. These instances and others show not only the tolerance of Parthian kings, but is also a testament to the extent at which the Parthians saw themselves as the heir to the preceding empire of ]. So protective were the Parthians of the minority over whom they ruled, that an old ] saying indicates, ''“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 ] ] wanted to fight in common cause with their ] brethren against ]; but it was not until the ] waged war under ] against ] that they made their hatred felt; so, that it was in a great measure owing to the revolt of the Babylonian Jews that the Romans did not become masters of Babylonia too. ] speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after the destruction of Jerusalem. Accustomed in Jerusalem from early times to look to the east for help, and aware, as the Roman procurator Petronius was, that the Jews of Babylon could render effectual assistance, ] became with the fall of Jerusalem the very bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the ] no doubt added to the number of Jewish refugees in Babylon.
| last = Winn Leith
| first = Mary Joan
| editor = Michael David Coogan
| title = The Oxford History of the Biblical World
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World
| format = ]
| access-date =14 December 2012
| orig-year = 1998
| year = 2001
| publisher = ]
| location = ]; ]
| isbn = 0-19-513937-2
| oclc = 44650958
| page = 285
| chapter = Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period
| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World
| lccn = 98016042
}}</ref>


By some accounts, the tomb of the prophet ] is located in ]. The ] was eventually (re)built in ], with assistance from the Persians, and the Israelites assumed an important position in the ] trade with ].<ref name="Gorder 2010 17"/>
In the continuous struggles between the ] and the Romans, the ] had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Parthians: their protectors. Possibly it was recognition of services thus rendered by the Jews of Babylonia, and by the Davidic house especially, that induced the Parthian kings to elevate the princes of the Exile, who till then had been little more than mere collectors of revenue, to the dignity of real princes, called '']''. Thus, then, the numerous ] subjects were provided with a central authority which assured an undisturbed development of their own internal affairs.


===Sassanid period (226?–634?CE)=== ====Under Darius the Great====
{{Main|Second Temple}}
By the early Third Century, ] influences were on the rise again. In the winter of 226 CE, ] overthrew the last Parthian king (]), destroyed the rule of the Arsacids, and founded the illustrious dynasty of the ]. While ] influence had been felt amongst the religiously tolerant ]ns,<ref> (see esp para's 3 and 5</ref><ref> (see esp para. 2)</ref><ref> (see esp para. 20)</ref> the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the ] language, and restored the old ] religion of ] which became the official ].<ref></ref> This resulted in the suppression of other religions.<ref> (see esp para. 5)</ref> A priestly Zoroastrian inscription from the time of King Bahram II (276–293 CE) contains a list of religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism etc.) that Sassanid rule claimed to have "smashed".<ref> (see esp para. 23)</ref>
Cyrus ordered rebuilding the ] in the same place as the first; however, he died before it was completed. ] came to power in the Persian Empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets ] and ] urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BC, more than twenty years after the ].


====Under Ahasuerus (Bible)====
] (''Shvor Malka'', which is the Aramaic form of the name) was friendly to the Jews. His friendship with ] gained many advantages for the ] community. ]'s mother was Jewish, and this gave the Jewish community relative freedom of religion and many advantages. He was also friend of a ] ] in the ] named ], Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the ] in the ]. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shaput King" because of his bright and quick intellect.
According to the ], in the ], ] was an ] noble and ] of the ] under Persian King ], generally identified as ] (son of Darius the Great) in the 6th century BC.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Sara Raup|title=Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity: Third Maccabees in Its Cultural Context|year=2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23307-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfiJ6foYhMAC&q=ahasuerus+xerxes&pg=PA17|pages=16–17}}</ref> According to the story, Haman and his wife Zeresh instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient ]. The plot was foiled by Queen ], the Jewish Queen of ]. As a result, Ahasuerus ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. The events of the Book of Esther are celebrated as the holiday of ].


===Early Islamic period (634–1255)=== === Parthian period (247 BC – 224 AD) ===
{{unsourced section|date=January 2023}}
After the ], Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, were assigned the status of ]s, inferior subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis were allowed to practice their religion, but were forced to pay taxes (], a ], and initially also ], a land tax) in favor of the ] ] conquerors. Dhimmis were also required to submit to a number of social and legal disabilities; they were prohibited from bearing arms, riding horses, testifying in courts in cases involving a Muslim, and frequently required to wear clothings, clearly distinguishing them from Muslims. Although some of these restrictions were sometimes relaxed, the overall condition of inequality remained in force until the ].<ref name="littman1">Littman (1979), pp. 2–3</ref>
Jewish sources contain no mention of the ]n influence; "Parthia" does not appear in the texts.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} The ]n prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors ''(diadochoi)'' of ]. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached ] 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 ] king, ] Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I, against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129&nbsp;BC) at the ] (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the ] and ]. In 40&nbsp;BC the Jewish puppet-king, ], 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 ]. 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.

The ] 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 ]). Yet, the tolerance of the ] dynasty was as legendary as that of the first Persian dynasty, the ]. One account suggests the conversion of a small number of Parthian ]s of ] to ]. 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 ]. So protective were the Parthians of the minority over whom they ruled, that an old ] 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 ]ian ] wanted to fight in common cause with their ]n brethren against ]; but it was not until the ] waged war under ] against ] that they made their hatred felt; so, the revolt of the Babylonian Jews helped prevent Rome from becoming master there. ] 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, ] became a kind of bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the ] likely also added to Jewish refugees in Babylon.

In the struggles between the ] and the Romans, the ] had reason to side with the Parthians, their protectors. Parthian kings elevated the princes of the Exile to a kind of nobility, called '']''. 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 ] subjects, who proceeded to develop their own internal affairs.

===Sasanian period (226–634 AD)===
{{main|Exilarch}}
] version of ]'s "Khosrow va Shirin"]]
By the early third century, ] influences were on the rise again. In the winter of 226 AD, ] overthrew the last Parthian king (]), destroyed the rule of the Arsacids, and founded the dynasty of the ]. While ] influence had been felt amongst the religiously tolerant ]ns,<ref>http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/exhibit/parthians/essay.html (see esp para's 3 and 5) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205080800/http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/exhibit/parthians/essay.html |date=5 February 2005}}</ref><ref>http://www.loyno.edu/~seduffy/parthians.html (see esp para. 2) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515174235/http://www.loyno.edu/~seduffy/parthians.html |date=15 May 2006}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709075542/http://parents.berkeley.edu/madar-pedar/jewshistory.html |date=2011-07-09}} (see esp para. 20)</ref> the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the ] language, and restored the old ] religion of ] which became the official ].<ref>, Parthia.com</ref> This resulted in the suppression of other religions.<ref>https://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-4.html (see esp para. 5) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122202212/https://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-4.html |date=22 November 2005}}</ref> A priestly Zoroastrian inscription from the time of King Bahram II (276–293 AD) 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''), ] (''Shaman''), ] (''Brahman''), ] (''Nasara''), ] (''Kristiyan''), ] (''Makdag'') and Manichaeans ('']'') were smashed in the empire, their idols destroyed, and the habitations of the idols annihilated and turned into abodes and seats of the gods".<ref>Translation of the inscription of Bahram II, cited after {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709075542/http://parents.berkeley.edu/madar-pedar/jewshistory.html |date=2011-07-09}}.
The interpretation of the listed terms is based on J. Wiesehöfer, ''Das antike Persien'' (1993), p. 266.
The translation of ''mandak'' (''mktky'') "baptists" is tentative, and has also been suggested to refer to the ], see
Kurt Rudolph, ''Gnosis und Spätantike Religionsgeschichte: Gesammelte Aufsätze'' (2020), .
</ref>

] (or ''Shvor Malka'', which is the ] form of the name) was friendly to the Jews. His friendship with ] gained many advantages for the ] community. ]'s mother ] was half-Jewish, and this gave the Jewish community relative freedom of religion and many advantages. He was also friend of a ]ian ] in the ] named ], Raba's friendship with Shapur II enabled him to secure a relaxation of the oppressive laws enacted against the ] in the ]. In addition, Raba sometimes referred to his top student Abaye with the term Shvur Malka meaning "Shapur King" because of his bright and quick intellect.

===Arab conquest and early Islamic period (634–1255)===
With the ], the government assigned Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, to the status of '']s'', non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis 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 to
('']'', a ], and initially also '']'', a land tax) in place of the '']'', 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 were treated as somewhat inferior.


===Mongol rule (1256–1318)=== ===Mongol rule (1256–1318)===
In 1255, Mongols led by ] invaded parts of Persia, and in 1258 they ] putting an end to the ] caliphate.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231051250/http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Three.html |date=31 December 2006}}</ref> In Persia and surrounding areas, the Mongols established a division of the ] known as the ], building a capital city in ]. The Ilkhanate Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis, and all religions were deemed equal. It was shortly after this time when one of the Ilkhanate rulers, ] Khan, preferred Jews for the administrative positions and appointed Sa'd al-Daula, a Jew, as his ]. The appointment, however, provoked resentment from the ], and after Arghun's death in 1291, al-Daula was murdered and Persian Jews in Tabriz suffered a period of violent persecutions from the Muslim populace instigated by the clergy. The ] historian ] wrote that the violence committed against the Jews during that period "neither tongue can utter, nor the pen write down".<ref name="littman2">Littman (1979), p. 3</ref>
] version of ]'s "Khosrow va Shirin".]]


]'s conversion to Islam in 1295 heralded for Persian Jews in Tabriz a pronounced turn for the worse, as they were once again relegated to the status of dhimmis (Covenant of Omar). ], 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, many Jews converted to Islam. The most famous such convert was ], a physician of Hamadani origin who was also a historian and statesman; and who adopted Islam in order to advance his career in Öljeitü's court in Tabriz. However, in 1318 he was executed on charges of poisoning Öljeitü and his severed head was carried around the streets of ], 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, ] destroyed Rashid al-Din's tomb, and his remains were reburied at the Jewish cemetery.
In 1255, Mongols led by ] began a charge on Persia, and in 1257 they captured ] putting an end to the ] caliphate. In Persia and surrounding areas, the Mongols established a division of the ] known as ]. Because in Ilkhanate all religions were considered equal, Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis. One of the Ilkhanate rulers, ] Khan, even preferred Jews and Christians for the administrative positions and appointed Sa'd al-Daula, a Jew, as his ]. The appointed, however, provoked resentment from the ], 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 contemporary Christian historian ] wrote that the violence committed against the Jews during that period "neither tongue can utter, nor the pen write down".<ref name="littman2">Littman (1979), p. 3</ref>


In 1383, ] started the military conquest of Persia. He captured ], Khorasan and all eastern Persia to 1385 and ] almost all inhabitants of ] 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 ]. Skilled Persian Jews were imported to develop the empire's textile industry.<ref name=r1>Joanna Sloame . Jewish Virtual Library</ref>{{bsn|date=May 2022}}
]'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. ], 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 ], 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 ], 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, ] destroyed Rashid al-Din's tomb, and his remains were reburied at the Jewish cemetery. Rashid al-Din's case illustrates a pattern that differentiated the treatment of Jewish converts in Persia from their treatment in other Muslim lands, except North Africa. In most Muslim countries, converts were welcomed and easily assimilated into the Muslim population. In Persia, however, Jewish converts were usually stigmatized on the account of their Jewish ancestry for many generations.<ref name="littman2" /><ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 100&ndash;101</ref>


===Safavid and Qajar dynasties (1502–1925)=== === Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) ===
] Jews in 1918]]


==== Conversion of Iran from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam ====
Further deterioration in the treatment of Persian Jews occurred during the reign of the Safavids who proclaimed ] the state religion. Shi'ism assigns great importance to the issues of ritual purity ― ], and non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean ― ] ― so that physical contact with them would require Shi'as to undertake ritual purification before doing regular prayers. Thus, Persian rulers, and to an even larger extent, the populace, sought to limit physical contact between Muslims and Jews. Jews were not allowed to attend public baths with Muslims or even to go outside in rain or snow, ostensibly because some impurity could be washed from them upon a Muslim.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 33–34</ref>
{{Main articles|Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam}}
] (1794–1925) period.]]


] Jews in 1918]]
The reign of Shah ] (1588–1629) was initially benign; Jews prospered throughout Persia and were even encouraged to settle in ], which was made a new capital. However, toward the end of his rule, the treatment of Jews became harsher; upon advice from a Jewish convert and Shi'a clergy, the shah forced Jews to wear a distinctive badge on clothing and headgear. In 1656, all Jews were expelled from Isfahan because of the common belief of their impurity and forced to convert to Islam. However, as it became known that the converts continued to practice ] in secret and because the treasury suffered from the loss of ''jizya'' collected from the Jews, in 1661 they were allowed to revert to Judaism, but were still required to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothings.<ref name="littman2" />


During the reign of the ] (1502–1794), they proclaimed ] the state religion. This led to a deterioration in their treatment of Persian Jews. Safavids Shi'ism assigns importance to the issues of ritual purity – '']''. Non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean – '']''. 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.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 33–34</ref>
Under ] Muslim ] (1736–1747), who abolished Shi'a Islam as state religion, Jews experienced a period of relative tolerance when they were allowed to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of ]. Yet, the advent of a Shi'a ] dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions. In the middle of the 19th century, ] wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "…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."<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 181–183</ref>
]. Seen here is a Jewish gathering celebrating the second anniversary of the Constitutional Revolution in Tehran.]]


The reign of Shah ] (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, 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. There were rumors that the converts continued to practice ] 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.<ref name="littman2" />
] described the regional differences in the situation of the Persian Jews in 19th century: "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 ] 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."<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 167</ref>


=== Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796) ===
Another European traveller reported a degrading ritual to which Jews were subjected for public amusement:
] (1736–1747) allowed Jews to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of ]. As many Jews were traders, they were able to prosper due to the connection of Mashhad to other cities along the Silk Road, most notably in Central Asia. In 1839, in an event known as ], many members of the Jewish community were forced to convert to Islam or left Mashhad, to Herat in Afghanistan or cities such as Bukhara in today's Uzbekistan. They became known as "Jadid al-Islams" (new Muslims) and appeared to superficially accept the new religion, but continued to practice many Jewish traditions, i.e. as ]. Except a few individuals, the community permanently left Mashhad in 1946, either to Tehran, but also to Bombay and Palestine. Most of them still live as a tightly knit community in Israel today.<ref name="JadidAlIslam">{{cite web | url=http://www.fis-iran.org/en/irannameh/volxix/mashhad-jewish-community | title=The "Jadid al-Islams" of Mashhad | work=Foundation for Iranian Studies | access-date=2012-11-13 | last=Pirnazar | first=Jaleh | location=Bethesda, MD | archive-date=11 September 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911223620/https://www.fis-iran.org/en/irannameh/volxix/mashhad-jewish-community | url-status=dead }}</ref>
<blockquote>At every public festival — even at the royal salaam , before the King’s face — the Jews are collected, and a number of them are flung into the hauz or tank, that King and mob may be amused by seeing them crawl out half-drowned and covered with mud. The same kindly ceremony is witnessed whenever a provincial governor holds high festival: there are fireworks and Jews.<ref>Willis (2002), p. 230</ref></blockquote>


Bābāʾī ben Nūrīʾel, a ḥāḵām (rabbi) from Isfahan translated the Pentateuch and the Psalms of David from Hebrew into Persian at the behest of Nāder Shah. Three other rabbis helped him in the translation, which was begun in Rabīʿ II 1153/May 1740, and completed in Jomādā I 1154/June 1741. At the same time, eight Muslim mullahs and three European and five Armenian priests translated the Koran and the Gospels. The commission was supervised by Mīrzā Moḥammad Mahdī Khan Monšī, the court historiographer and author of the Tārīḵ-ejahāngošā-ye nāderī. Finished translations were presented to Nāder Shah in Qazvīn in June, 1741, who, however, was not impressed. There had been previous translations of the Jewish holy books into Persian, but Bābāʾī's translation is notable for the accuracy of the Persian equivalents of Hebrew words, which has made it the subject of study by linguists. Bābāʾī's introduction to the translation of the Psalms of David is unique, and sheds a certain amount of light on the teaching methods of Iranian Jewish schools in eighteenth-century Iran. He is not known to have written anything else.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babai-ben-nuriel|title=BĀBĀʾĪ BEN NŪRĪʾEL – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=Iranicaonline.org|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref>
In the 19th century there were many instances of forced conversions and massacres, usually inspired by the Shi'a clergy. A representative of the '']'', a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from ] in 1894: "…every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews".<ref>Littman (1979), p. 10</ref> In 1830, the Jews of ] were massacred; the same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of ]. In 1839, many Jews were massacred in Mashhad and survivors were forcibly converted. However, European travellers later reported that the Jews of Tabriz and Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. Jews of ] were forcibly converted in 1866; when they were allowed to revert to Judaism thanks to an intervention by the ] and ] ambassadors, a mob killed 18 Jews of Barforush, burning two of them alive.<ref>Littman (1979), p. 4.</ref><ref>Lewis (1984), p. 168.</ref> In 1910, the Jews of Shiraz ]. Muslim dwellers of the city plundered the whole Jewish quarter, the first to start looting were the 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.<ref>Littman (1979), pp. 12–14</ref> Representatives of the ''Alliance Israélite Universelle'' recorded other numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Persian Jews.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 183.</ref>


=== Qajar dynasty (1789–1925) ===
Driven by persecutions, thousands of Persian Jews emigrated to ] in the late 19th – early 20th century.<ref name="littman3">Littman (1979), p. 5.</ref>
The advent of the ] in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions.

] in Tehran.]]

] 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 ] 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."<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 167</ref>

In the 19th century, the colonial powers from Europe began noting numerous forced conversions and massacres, usually generated by Shi'a clergy. Two major blood-libel conspiracies had taken place during this period, one in Shiraz and the other in Tabriz. A document recorded after the incident states that the Jews faced two options, conversion to Islam or death. Amidst the chaos, Jews had converted, but most refused to convert to Islam – described within the document was a boy of age 16 named Yahyia who refused to convert to Islam and was subsequently killed. The same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of ] over a similar incident. The ] of 1839 was mentioned above. European travellers reported that the Jews of ] and ] 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 ], Mazandaran 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.<ref>Littman (1979), p. 4.</ref><ref>Lewis (1984), p. 168.</ref>

In the middle of the 19th century, ] wrote about the life of Persian Jews, describing conditions and beliefs that went back to the 16th century:

{{blockquote|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.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 181–83</ref>}}

A group of Persian Jewish refugees escaping persecution back home in ], Qajar Persia, were granted rights to settle in the ] around the year 1839. Most of the Jewish families settled in ] (specifically in the Babu Mohallah neighbourhood) and ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tahir |first=Saif |date=3 March 2016 |title=The lost Jewish history of Rawalpindi, Pakistan |url=http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-lost-jewish-history-of-rawalpindi-pakistan/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=blogs.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US |quote=The history of Jews in Rawalpindi dates back to 1839 when many Jewish families from Mashhad fled to save themselves from the persecutions and settled in various parts of subcontinent including Peshawar and Rawalpindi.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Considine |first=Craig |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/993691884 |title=Islam, race, and pluralism in the Pakistani diaspora |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-46276-9 |location=Milton |oclc=993691884}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Naveed Aman |date=2018-05-12 |title=Pakistani Jews and PTI |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/239196/pakistani-jews-and-pti/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Daily Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rawalpindi – Rawalpindi Development Authority |url=https://rda.gop.pk/rawalpindi/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Rawalpindi Development Authority (rda.gop.pk) |quote=Jews first arrived in Rawalpindi’s Babu Mohallah neighbourhood from Mashhad, Persia in 1839, in order to flee from anti-Jewish laws instituted by the Qajar dynasty.}}</ref>

In 1868, Jews were the most significant minority in Tehran, numbering 1,578 people.<ref name="Sohrabi">{{cite journal |last1=Sohrabi |first1=Narciss M. |title=The politics of in/visibility: The Jews of urban Tehran |journal=Studies in Religion |date=2023 |volume=53 |page=4 |doi=10.1177/00084298231152642|s2cid=257370493 }}</ref> By 1884 this figure had risen to 5,571.<ref name="Sohrabi"/>

In 1892, an ] archival record indicates that a group of 200 Iranian Jews who tried to migrate to the Land of Israel were returned to Iran.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fishman |first=Louis A. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv2f4v64p |title=Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914: Claiming the Homeland |date=2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-5399-8 |volume=1 |pages=47 |jstor=10.3366/j.ctv2f4v64p }}</ref>

In 1894, a representative of the '']'', a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from ]: "...every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews".<ref>Littman (1979), p. 10</ref>

In 1901, the riot of Shaykh Ibrahim was sparked against the Jews of Tehran. An imam began preaching on the importance of eliminating alcohol for the sake of Islamic purity, leading to an assault against Jews for refusing to give up the wine they drank for Sabbath.<ref>Levy, Habib. "Part 1/ Part 11." Comprehensive History of The Jews of Iran The Outset of the Diaspora, edited by Hooshang Ebrami, translated by George W. Maschke, Mazda Publishers, 1999.</ref>

In 1910, there were rumors that the Jews of Shiraz ]. 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.<ref>Littman (1979), pp. 12–14</ref> Representatives of the ''Alliance Israélite Universelle'' recorded numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Iranian Jews.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 183.</ref> In the late 19th to early 20th century, thousands of Iranian Jews immigrated to the territory of present-day ] within the Ottoman Empire to escape such persecution.<ref name="littman3">Littman (1979), p. 5.</ref>


===Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979)=== ===Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979)===
]
The ] 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.<ref name="sanasarian2">Sanasarian (2000), p. 46</ref> Reza Shah prohibited mass conversion of Jews and eliminated the Shi'ite concept of uncleanness of non-Muslims. Modern Hebrew was incorporated into the curriculum of Jewish schools and Jewish newspapers were published. Jews were also allowed to hold government jobs. However, Jewish schools were closed in 1920s. In addition, ] sympathized with ], making the Jewish community fearful of possible persecutions, and the public sentiment at the time was definitely anti-Jewish,<ref name="sanasarian2"/>.
The ] 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.<ref name="sanasarian2">Sanasarian (2000), p. 46</ref> According to Charles Recknagel and Azam Gorgin of ], during the reign of Reza Shah "the political and social conditions of the Jews changed fundamentally." ] 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.<ref>, ParsTimes. 3 July 2000</ref>


By 1932, Tehran's Jewish population had risen to 6,568.<ref name="Sohrabi"/> During ], ] declared itself neutral, but was ]. During the Allied occupation, many Polish and Jewish refugees that escaped ] settled within Iran (see ]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polish Refugees in Iran during World War II |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/polish-refugees-in-iran-during-world-war-ii |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dekel |first=Mikhal |date=2019-10-19 |title=When Iran Welcomed Jewish Refugees |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/19/when-iran-welcomed-jewish-refugees/ |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran During World War II and the Holocaust |url=https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/holocaust-denial-and-distortion/holocaust-denial-antisemitism-iran/iran-during-world-war-ii-and-the-holocaust |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=www.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref>
According to Charles Recknagel and Azam Gorgin of ], 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 Shiite concept of uncleanness of non-Muslims. Modern Hebrew was incorporated into the curriculum of Jewish schools and Jewish newspapers were published. Jews were also allowed to hold government jobs.


At the time of the establishment of the state of ] in 1948, there were approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in ], the historical center of Iranian Jewry. Over 95% have since migrated abroad.<ref name="mio-org-il"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515222115/http://www.mio.org.il/en/node/289 |date=2017-05-15}}, The Council of Immigrant Associations in Israel (Pop-up info when clicking on Iran)</ref>
A spike in anti-Jewish sentiment occurred after the establishment of the ] in 1948 and continued until 1953 due to the weakening of the central government and strengthening of the clergy in the course of political struggles between the shah and prime minister ]. Eliz Sanasarian estimates that in 1948–1953, about one-third of Iranian Jews, most of them poor, emigrated to Israel.<ref name="sanasarian1">Sanasarian (2000), p. 47</ref> David Littman puts the total figure of emigrants to Israel in 1948-1978 at 70,000.<ref name="littman3" />


The violence and disruption in Arab life associated with the founding of Israel and its victory in the ] 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 ]. From 1948 to 1953, about one-third of Iranian Jews, most of them poor, immigrated to Israel.<ref name="sanasarian1">Sanasarian (2000), p. 47</ref> ] puts the total figure of Iranian Jews who immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1978 at 70,000.<ref name="littman3" />
The reign of shah ] after the deposition of Mossadegh in 1953, was the most prosperous era for the Jews of Iran. In 1970s, only 10 percent of Iranian Jews were classified as impoverished; 80 percent were middle class and 10 percent 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.<ref name="sanasarian1" />


After the deposition of Mossadegh in 1953, the reign of shah ] was the most prosperous era for the Jews of Iran. By 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 fraction of a percent 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.<ref name="sanasarian1" />
Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there were 80,000 Jews in Iran, concentrated in Teheran (60,000), Shiraz (8,000), Kermanshah (4,000), Isfahan (3,000), the cities of ], as well as Kashan, Tabriz, and Hamedan.


Prior to the ] in 1979, there were 100,000 Jews in Iran, mostly concentrated in ] (60,000), ] (18,000), ] (4,000), and ] (3,000). Jews were also located in other various cities throughout Iran, including ] (800), ] (400), ] (60), ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thegraduatesocietyla.org/images/author-padia-others.pdf|title=An Annotated Bibliography : Amnon Netzer|website=Thegraduatesocietyla.org|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-date=12 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812101544/http://thegraduatesocietyla.org/images/author-padia-others.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Islamic republic (after 1979)===
===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 ], the historical center of Persian Jewry. Over 85% have since migrated to either Israel or the ]. At the time of the 1979 ], 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.<ref name="littman3" /> On ], ], Habib Elghanian, the honorary leader of the Jewish community, was arrested on charges of "corruption", "contacts with Israel and ]", "friendship with the enemies of God", "warring with God and his emissaries", and "economic imperialism". He was tried by an Islamic revolutionary tribunal, sentenced to death, and executed on May 8.<ref name="littman3" /><ref>Sanasarian (2000), p. 112</ref> In mid- and late 1980s, the Jewish population of Iran was estimated at 20,000–30,000. The reports put the figure at around 35,000 in mid-1990s<ref>Sanasarian (2000), p. 48</ref> and at less than 40,000 nowadays, with around 25,000 residing in Tehran. However, Iran's Jewish community still remains the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel.
At the time of the 1979 ], 80,000–100,000 Jews were living in Iran. From then on, Jewish emigration from Iran dramatically increased, as about 20,000 Jews left within several months of the revolution alone.<ref name="littman3" /> The majority of Iran's Jewish population, some 60,000 Jews, emigrated in the aftermath of the revolution, of whom 35,000 went to the United States, 20,000 to Israel, and 5,000 to Europe (mainly to the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Iran.html|title=Iran Virtual Jewish History Tour|website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref>{{bsn|date=May 2022}}


Some sources put the Iranian Jewish population in the mid and late 1980s as between 50,000 and 60,000.<ref>Sanasarian (2000), p. 48</ref> An estimate based on the 1986 census put the figure considerably higher for the same time, around 55,000.<ref>. Mongabay.com. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref> From the mid-1990s to the present there has been more uniformity in the figures, with most government sources since then estimating roughly 25,000 Jews remaining in Iran.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /><ref name="haaretz.com" /><ref name="Ynet" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/1998/02/03/intl/intl.3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050830235806/http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?%2Fdurable%2F1998%2F02%2F03%2Fintl%2Fintl.3.html|url-status=dead|title=Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran&#124;csmonitor.com|website=]|archive-date=30 August 2005}}</ref> These less recent official figures are considered bloated, and the Jewish community may not amount to more than 10,000.<ref name="Hakakian" /> A ] put the figure at about 8,756.<ref name=census/>
In 2006, a false story in the '']'' of Canada claimed that the Iranian parliament was considering ] for Jews in Iran. The story was confirmed by the associate dean of the ]. ] sent out an "e-mail blast" to reporters on the story, which became a major press event in the United States.<ref></ref> The false story turned out to originate with Iranian journalist ] from the ] speakers bureau.


] ] met with the Jewish community upon his return from exile in Paris, when heads of the community, disturbed by the execution of one of their most distinguished representatives, the industrialist ], arranged to meet him in Qom. At one point he said:
==Current status in Iran==
Iran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and as with ], they are allocated one seat in the ]. ] has been the Jewish MP since ], and was re-elected again in ]. In 2000, former Jewish MP ] estimate there were still 30–35,000 Jews in Iran, other sources put the figure as low as 20–25,000.<ref>, ], ] 2000, cited from ] Library Online. The '']'' estimated the number of Jews in Iran at 25,000 in 1996.</ref>


<blockquote>In the holy Quran, Moses, salutations upon him and all his kin, has been mentioned more than any other prophet. Prophet Moses was a mere shepherd when he stood up to the might of pharaoh and destroyed him. Moses, the Speaker-to-Allah, represented pharaoh's slaves, the downtrodden, the mostazafeen of his time.</blockquote>
Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina") with Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at ]'s "Central Library of Jewish Association".<ref name = "PersianRabbi"></ref> The "Dr. Sapir Jewish Hospital" is ]'s largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country;<ref name = "PersianRabbi" /> however, most of its patients and staff are Muslim.<ref name="Harrison">Harrison, Francis (], ]). ''''. ]. URL accessed on ], ].</ref>
At the end of the discussion Khomeini declared, "We recognize our Jews as separate from those godless, bloodsucking Zionists"<ref name="Hakakian">Roya Hakakian, '']'', 30 December 2014.</ref> and issued a '']'' decreeing that the Jews were to be protected.<ref>], , Yale University Press, 2007. p.&nbsp;8.</ref>


Habib Elghanian was arrested and sentenced to death by an Islamic revolutionary tribunal shortly after the Islamic revolution for charges including corruption, contacts with Israel and Zionism, and "friendship with the enemies of God", and was executed by a firing squad. He was the first Jew and businessman to be executed by the Islamic government. His execution caused fear among the Jewish community and caused many to flee Iran.<ref name=shahrzade>{{cite news|last=Elghanayan|first=Shahrzad|title=How Iran killed its future|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2012-jun-27-la-oe-elghanayan-iran-entrepreneuers-not-nukes-20120627-story.html|access-date=13 February 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=27 June 2012}}</ref>
===Discrimination===
Like other religious minorities in Iran, Jews suffer from officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and housing. They may not occupy senior positions in the government or the military and are prevented from serving in the judiciary and security services and from becoming public school heads.<ref name="dosreport2004">{{cite web|author=] |title=International Religious Freedom Report 2004: Iran|url= http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35497.htm|accessdate=2006-05-14}}</ref>


Soli Shahvar, professor of Iranian Studies at the ] describes the process of dispossession : "There were two waves of confiscation of homes, farmlands and factories of Jews in Iran. In the first wave, the authorities seized the properties of a small group of Jews who were accused of helping Zionism financially. In the second wave, authorities confiscated the properties of Jews who had to leave the country after the Revolution. They left everything in fear for their lives and the Islamic Republic confiscated their properties using their absence as an excuse".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iranwire.com/en/features/7960|title=They Killed My Husband and Took My Home: Religious Minorities in Iran|website=IranWire &#124; خانه}}</ref>
The anti‑Israel policies of the Iranian government, along with a perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish citizens support Zionism and the State of Israel, create a hostile atmosphere for the Jewish community. In 2004, many Iranian newspapers celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the publishing of the anti-Semitic forgery ].<ref name="dosreport2004"/> Jews often are the target of degrading caricatures in the Iranian press.<ref name="Murphy">{{cite news | author=Murphy, Brian | title=Iran's Jews caught again in no man's land | publisher=] | url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Irans_Jews.html|date=] | accessdate=2006-07-31}}</ref> Jewish leaders reportedly are reluctant to draw attention to official mistreatment of their community due to fear of government reprisal.<ref name="dosreport2004"/>


During the ], which lasted from 1980 to 1988, Iranian Jews were conscripted into the ], and 13 were killed in the war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/revolutionary-guards-honor-jewish-soldiers-at-religious-memorial-in-iran/|title=Revolutionary Guards honor Jewish soldiers at religious memorial in Iran|website=Times of Israel}}</ref>
However in a rather unprecedented move, the sole Jewish member in the Iranian parliament, ], strongly condemned exhibition of cartoons about the Holocaust which recently took palace in Tehran and he has also written a letter to Iran’s president questioning his denial of Holocaust calling it "a very big insult to Jews all around the world".


In the Islamic republic, Jews have become more religious. Families who had been secular in the 1970s started adhering to '']'' dietary laws and more strictly observed rules against driving on the '']''. They stopped going to restaurants, cafes and cinemas and the ] became the focal point of their social lives.<ref name=sephardicstudies>. Sephardicstudies.org. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>
The legal system also discriminates against religious minorities who receive lower awards than Muslims in injury and death lawsuits and incur heavier punishments. In 2002, the law was passed that made the amount of "blood money" (''diyeh'') paid by a perpetrator for killing or wounding a Christian, Jew, or Zoroastrian man the same as it would be for killing or wounding a Muslim.<ref name="dosreport2004"/>


Haroun Yashyaei, a film producer and former chairman of the Central Jewish Community in Iran said, "] didn't mix up our community with ] and ] – he saw us as Iranians."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/02/03/intl/intl.3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205024553/http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/02/03/intl/intl.3.html|url-status=dead|title="Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran"|website=]|archive-date=5 December 2006}}</ref>
] visits a Tehran Jewish center.]]


In June 2007, though there were reports that wealthy expatriate Jews established a fund to offer incentives to Iranian Jews to immigrate to Israel, few took them up on the offer. The Society of Iranian Jews dismissed this act as "immature political enticements" and said that their national identity was not for sale.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/iran/story/0,,2125155,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel|first=Robert|last=Tait |date=12 July 2007|access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref>
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 Iranian 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 Iranian 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 working or attending school on the Sabbath violates Jewish law, this requirement has made it impossible for observant Jews both to attend school and adhere to a fundamental tenet of their religion.<ref name="dosreport2004"/>


Jews in the Islamic Republic of Iran are formally to be treated equally and free to practice their religion. There is even a seat in the Iranian parliament reserved for the representative of the Iranian Jews. However, de facto discrimination is common.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sephardicstudies.org/iran.html |title=Life of Jews Living in Iran |publisher=The Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture (FASSAC) |access-date=24 December 2014 |last=Demick |first=Barbara}}</ref>
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 Jewish persons to obtain clearance and pay additional fees before each trip abroad. The Iranian government is 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.<ref name="dosreport2004"/>


==Current status==
In 2000, 10 of 13 Jews arrested in 1999 were convicted on charges of illegal contact with Israel, conspiracy to form an illegal organization, and recruiting agents. Along with 2 Muslim defendants, the 10 Jews received prison sentences ranging from 4 to 13 years. An appeals court subsequently overturned the convictions for forming an illegal organization and recruiting agents, but it upheld the convictions for illegal contacts with Israel with reduced sentences. One of the 10 was released in February 2001 and another in January 2002, both upon completion of their prison terms. Three additional prisoners were released before the end of their sentences in October 2002. In April 2003, it was announced that the last five were to be released. It is not clear if the eight who were released before the completion of their sentences were fully pardoned or were released provisionally.<ref name="dosreport2004"/> Even though anti-Semitic acts are rare in Iran, the trial led to the rising of tensions against the Jewish community.<ref name="Murphy"/> During and shortly after the trial, Jewish businesses in Tehran and Shiraz were targets of vandalism and boycotts, and Jewish persons reportedly have suffered personal harassment and intimidation.<ref name="dosreport2004"/>
]]]
Iran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and, like the ] and ], they are allocated one seat in the ]. ] is the current Jewish member of the parliament, replacing ] in the 2008 election. In 2000, former Jewish MP ] estimated that at that time there were still 60,000–85,000 Jews in Iran; most other sources put the figure at 25,000.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012164605/http://uga.edu/bahai/News/021600.html |date=2007-10-12}}, ], 16 February 2000, cited from ] Library Online</ref> In 2011 the Jewish population numbered 8,756.<ref>2011 General Census Selected Results (PDF), Statistical Center of Iran, 2012, p. 26, ISBN 978-964-365-827-4</ref> In 2016 Jewish population numbered 9,826.<ref name="Iranian National Census 2016" /> In 2019 the Jewish Population numbered 8,300<ref name="worldpopulationreview.com"/> and they constitute 0.01% of Iranian population, a number confirmed by ], a leading Jewish demographer.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-70663-4_7 |chapter=World Jewish Population, 2017 |title=American Jewish Year Book 2017 |volume=117 |pages=297–377 |year=2018 |last1=Dellapergola |first1=Sergio |isbn=978-3-319-70662-7}}</ref>


Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina") with Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at ]'s "Central Library of Jewish Association".<ref name="PersianRabbi"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519144638/http://www.persianrabbi.com/content/view/74/2/ |date=2006-05-19}}. Persian Rabbi. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref> The ] is ]'s largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country;<ref name = "PersianRabbi"/> however, most of its patients and staff are Muslim.<ref name="Harrison">Harrison, Francis (22 September 2006). ''''. ]. Retrieved 28 October 2006.</ref>
===Contacts with Jews outside Iran===
Jews in Iran are not allowed to communicate with Jewish groups outside of Iran unless the group is opposed to the existence of ], such as ].{{fact}} Rabbis from Neturei Karta frequently visit Iran.


] ] was the spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran from 1994 to 2007, when he was succeeded by Mashallah Golestani-Nejad.<ref> Kosher Delight</ref> In August 2000, Cohen met with Iranian President ] for the first time.<ref> BBC</ref> In 2003, Cohen and Motamed met with Khatami at ], which was the first time a President of Iran had visited a synagogue since the ].<ref name="iranjewish.com"> Iran Jewish</ref> ] is the chairman of the Jewish Committee of Tehran and leader of Iran's Jewish community.<ref name="iranjewish.com"/><ref> Kashrut Authorities in Iran and Around the World</ref> On 26 January 2007, Yashayaei's letter to President ] concerning his Holocaust denial comments brought about worldwide media attention.<ref> Radio Free Europe</ref><ref> Daily Times</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018191614/http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/aam030507.html |date=2008-10-18}} Monthly Review</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Iran President on Holocaust Denial | date=23 September 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITy8nGZmQ_g |access-date=2023-08-20 |language=en}}</ref>
Traveling to Israel is forbidden for all the citizens of Iran, mentioned very clearly on the last page of the passport, however according to ] in recent years, Iranian government has allowed the 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 visit.


The Jews of Iran have been best known for certain occupations like making gold jewelry and dealing in antiques, textiles and carpets.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Limited cultural contacts are also allowed, such as the March 2006 Jewish ] festival in ], in which a female team from Iran participated.


===Societal environment===
At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them for either religious reasons or their connection to Israel. For example, 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.
Iranian Jewish men are ] into the ] like all Iranian men. Many Iranian Jews fought during the ] (1980–1988) as drafted soldiers, and about 15 were killed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sinaiee |first=Maryam |date=7 October 2008 |title=Iran's Jews feel very much at home |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/iran-s-jews-feel-very-much-at-home-1.487596 |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241201085023/https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/iran-s-jews-feel-very-much-at-home-1.487596 |archive-date=1 December 2024 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=The National |language=en}}</ref>


An Israeli news outlet, Israel Hayom, reported that Iranian Jews in Israel say that they viewed Iran as their home and were allowed to practice Judaism freely, but that there was suspicion and fear too.<ref name="Live in fear">{{cite web |author=Elias, Bat-Hen Epstein |date=12 October 2012 |title=All the Jews there live in fear that their telephones are tapped |url=https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/56191 |access-date=14 October 2012 |work=Israel Hayom}}</ref>
===Jewish centers of Iran===
Most Jews are nowadays living in ], the capital. In 1996, there were three synagogues in Tehran, but there had been no ] in Iran since 1996.<ref name="Iran1996">"Iran.1996". '']''</ref> Traditionally however, ], ], ], ], ] and some other cities of Iran have been home to large populations of Jews. The Jewish cemetery south of Tehran was demolished for a housing project.<ref name="Iran1996"/>


Following the assassination of ], the head rabbi of Iran, ], visited the family of Soleimani and issued anti-Israel statements. He later discussed the matter with an American audience, saying that Israel's attacks on Soleimani had stoked tensions in the Jewish community in Iran, and he felt the need to take public action to de-escalate the situation. He is reported to have said that the Iranian Jewish community prefers to avoid such political entanglements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berman |first=Lazar |date=15 November 2021 |title=In US, Iran's head rabbi says he condemned Soleimani killing to protect Jews |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-us-irans-chief-rabbi-says-he-feared-vengeance-after-soleimani-killing/ |website=The Times of Israel}}</ref> On 31 July 2024, the Tehran Central Jewish committee issued a statement condemning the assassination of Hamas leader ] and called for an Iranian response.<ref></ref>
==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 ] is taught in ], rather than Hebrew. The ] organization conducts Hebrew lessons on Fridays. Saturday is no longer officially recognized as the Jewish ] and Jewish pupils are compelled to attend school on that day.<ref name="Iran1996"/>


It has been asserted that the majority of Iranian Jews prefer to stay in Iran because they are allowed to live a comfortable Jewish life there, but Sam Kermanian, who served as Secretary-General of the Iranian American Jewish Federation for fifteen years, disputed this claim, stating that the majority of Iranian Jews are elderly and only speak ], and as a result they are less naturally inclined to emigrate.<ref name=perlman/> According to Ran Amrani, an Iranian-born Israeli director of a Persian language radio station with close ties inside Iran, wealthy Iranian Jews won't leave because the international sanctions on Iran have so downgraded Iran's currency in value that they would see a massive drop in their standard of living in Israel, with those who own multiple homes in Iran unable to afford a single apartment in Israel, while poor Iranian Jews would find it difficult to restart their lives in Israel in middle age. Amrani claimed that while Jews are allowed to practice their religion, they live in fear of being accused of spying for Israel and that they publicly distance themselves from Israel and Zionism to ensure their own security.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/01/12/the-jews-of-iran-are-in-grave-peril/|title='The Jews of Iran are in grave peril'|work=Israel Hayom|date=12 January 2020|author=Hanan Greenwood|access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref>
===Jewish attractions of Iran===
Almost every city of Iran has a Jewish attraction, shrine, or historical site. Prominent among these are the ] and Mordechai and ] shrines of ], the tomb of ] in ], and the "Peighambariyeh" mausoleum in ].


Opinion over the condition of Jews in Iran is divided. One Jewish voice presenting a benevolent view of the Iranian Islamic government and society toward Jews is film producer ], who says "] didn't mix up our community with Israel and Zionism—he saw us as Iranians."<ref name="csmonitor.com">{{Cite news |last=Theodoulou |first=Michael |date=3 February 1998 |title=Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0203/020398.intl.intl.3.html |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issn=0882-7729}}</ref> Privately, many Jews complain of "discrimination, much of it of a social or bureaucratic nature." The Islamic government appoints the officials who run Jewish schools, most of these being Muslims, and until 2015, required that those schools must open on Saturdays, the ].<ref name="al-monitor.com">{{cite web |date=17 February 2015 |title=Rouhani accommodates Iran's Jewish students |url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/iran-hassan-rouhani-iranian-jews.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 March 2016 |work=Al-Monitor}}</ref> Criticism of this policy was the downfall of the last remaining newspaper of the Iranian Jewish community which was closed in 1991 after it criticized government control of Jewish schools. Instead of expelling Jews en masse like in Libya, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen, the Iranians have adopted a policy of keeping Jews in Iran.<ref>Sciolino, Elaine, ''Persian Mirrors'', Touchstone, (2000), p.218</ref>
There are also tombs of several outstanding Jewish scholars in Iran such as ] in ] and ] (Moshe-Ha-Lavi) in ], which are also visited by muslim pilgrims.


The desire for survival may prompt Iranian Jews to overstate their anti-Israel positions. Their response to the questions regarding Israel have been outright denial of Israel or staying quiet. An example of the dilemma of Iranian Jews can be observed in this example :"We hear the ayatollah say that Israel was cooperating with the Shah and SAVAK, and we would be fools to say we support Israel. So we just keep quiet about it... Maybe it will work out. Anyway, what can we do? This is our home."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanasarian |first=Eliz |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religious-minorities-in-iran/1DA96D9763250073AF736698B52CA734 |title=Religious Minorities in Iran |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77073-6 |series=Cambridge Middle East Studies |location=Cambridge |page=150 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511492259}}</ref>
<center>

<gallery>
Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them, at least in part for their alleged connections to Israel. Among them, one of the most prominent Jews of Iran 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 ] on the charge of having been in 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.<ref name="gaurdrt">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jul/12/israel.iran|title=Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel|last=Tait |first=Robert |newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2009-03-31|location=London|date=12 July 2007}}</ref> In 2024, the pending execution of Persian Jew ] was delayed by a month after a global campaign calling for his commutation and criticism that Ghahremani was being subjected to a discriminatory judicial system that prioritized Muslims over Jews.<ref name="JPostMay20">{{cite news |last1=Weinthal |first1=Benjamin |title=Iran's regime postpones execution of young Iranian Jew |url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-801781 |access-date=20 May 2024 |work=] |date=2024-05-19}}</ref><ref name="JTAMay19">{{cite news |last1=Klein |first1=David |title=Iranian Jew's execution reportedly delayed after prayer campaign by Jews around the world |url=https://www.jta.org/2024/05/19/global/iranian-jews-execution-reportedly-delayed-after-prayer-campaign-by-jews-around-the-world |access-date=20 May 2024 |work=] |date=2024-05-19}}</ref>
image:danielburial2.jpg|Tomb of ], ], is a popular attraction of Iran's Jewish community.

Image:Small habagoogh.jpg|The ] era shrine of ] in ].
===Contact with non-Persian Jews===
Image:Esther-mordechai.jpg|The Shrine of ] and ] in ].
] in ], Iran, 1999.]]
Image:Peighambariyeh Qazvin.jpg|''Peighambariyeh'' ("the place of the prophets"), ]: Here, four Jewish prophets are said to be buried. Their Arabic names are: ''Salam'', ''Solum'', ''al-Qiya'', and ''Sohuli''.

Rabbis from the Haredi sect ], which has historically been opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Iran on several occasions.<ref>. Nkusa.org. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref><ref>Freund, Michael. (2006-03-08) . Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref><ref>Kelsey, David. (2006-03-08) . Jewschool. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref><ref>, AFP, 12 March 2006</ref> The ], protested against one such visit by members of a Neturei Karta faction after they attended ] in Tehran.

], 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 it has also allowed those Iranians who are living in Israel to return to Iran for a visit.<ref>Harrison, Frances. (2006-09-22) . BBC News. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref>

Limited cultural contacts are also allowed, such as the March 2006 Jewish ] festival in Russia, in which a female team from Iran participated.<ref>Krichevsky, Lev. (2006-04-20) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060530205840/http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15750 |date=2006-05-30}}. Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref><ref>. Iranjewish.com (2006-03-28). Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref>

Iranian Jews are generally allowed to travel to Israel and emigrate abroad, though they must submit passport and visa requests to a special section of the passport office, face restrictions on families leaving en masse, and travels to Israel must be done via a third country. However, the rate of emigration has been low. Between October 2005 and September 2006, 152 Jews left Iran, down from 297 during the same period the previous year, and 183 the year before that. Most of those who left allegedly cited economic and family reasons as their main incentives for leaving. In July 2007, Iran's Jewish community rejected financial emigration incentives to leave Iran. Offers ranging from 5,000 to 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.<ref name="perlman">{{cite web |last=Perelman |first=Marc |date=2007-01-12 |title=Iranian Jews Reject Outside Calls To Leave |url=http://forward.com/articles/9834/iranian-jews-reject-outside-calls-to-leave/ |access-date=2013-03-09 |publisher=Forward.com}}</ref><ref>, '']'', Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref><ref>, '']'', Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref> To place the incentives in perspective, the sums offered were up to 3 times or more than the average annual income for an Iranian.<ref>]</ref> However, in late 2007 at least forty Iranian Jews accepted financial incentives offered by Jewish charities for immigrating to Israel.<ref>, JTA, 25 December 2007</ref>

===Synagogues and Hebrew schools===
{{See also|List of synagogues in Iran}}
Most Jews live in ], the capital.<ref name=Persiansourcethateedstranslating>یافته های طرح آمارگیری جامع فرهنگی کشور، فضاهای فرهنگی ایران، آمارنامه اماکن مذهبی، 2003، وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی، ص 344 (Findings of a comprehensive survey of the country's cultural spaces, Iran, religious statistical report, 2003, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, p. 344)</ref> Today{{when|date=March 2015}} ] has 11 functioning ]s, many of them with ]. It has two ] restaurants, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles.<ref name=sephardicstudies /> Traditionally however, ], ], Isfahan, ], ], ] and some other cities of Iran were home to large populations of Jews. At present{{when|date=March 2015}} there are 25 synagogues in Iran.<ref name=Persiansourcethateedstranslating /> ] has a Jewish population of about 1,500, consisting mostly of businesspeople. As of 2015 there were 13 synagogues, including the primary synagogue on Palestine Square. In Esfahan, many Jewish businesses are concentrated in an area called "Jewish Passage".<ref>Pleitgen, Frederik. "." ]. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.</ref>

===Legal discrimination===
Iranian Jews remain under various discriminatory legal restrictions regarding their position in society. Jews are prohibited from holding significant governmental and decision-making positions. A Jew may not serve on the ], as ], or as a military commander. Jews may not serve as judges, and aside from the seat reserved for a Jew in the ], Jews may not become a member of the Majlis through general elections. A Jew may not inherit property from a Muslim. By law, if one member of a Jewish family converts to Islam, that person inherits all family property. Jews also do not have equal rights to '']'', or retribution, in the Iranian judicial system. For example, if a Jew were to kill a Muslim, the family of the victim would have the right to ask that the death penalty be imposed, but if a Muslim kills a Jew, the penalty would be left to the discretion of the judges with the wishes of the victim's family carrying no legal weight.<ref name=tablet/>

===Islamic curriculum===
In 1996, there were still three schools in Tehran in which Jews were in a majority, but Jewish principals had been replaced. The school curriculum is Islamic and the ] is taught in ], rather than Hebrew. The ] organization conducts Hebrew lessons on Fridays. The government monitors activities in Jewish schools to ensure that the main language of education is Persian and not Hebrew.<ref name=tablet>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/why-some-iranian-jews-stay|title=Iran Week: Why Some Iranian Jews Stay|date=30 June 2017|website=Tablet Magazine}}</ref>

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.<ref>. State.gov (2004-01-01). Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>

===Ancient Jewish sites===
Many cities in Iran have Jewish sites or sites related to Judaism in some way. Prominent among these are ] in ], ] in ], ] in ] and the '']'' mausoleum in ].

There is a pilgrimage site near Isfahan (]) dedicated to ].

There are also tombs of several outstanding Jewish scholars in Iran such as Harav Ohr Shraga in ] and Hakham Mullah Moshe Halevi (Moshe-Ha-Lavi), a 16th-century Spanish scholar, in ], which are also visited by Muslim pilgrims.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.iranjewish.com/News_e/19-2.htm |title= Mullah Moshe Halevi in Kashan |access-date=25 November 2023}}</ref>


<gallery class="center">
File:Habakuk mausoleum Tuyserkan Iran.jpg|The shrine of ] in ]
File:Tomb of Esther and Mordechai exterior.jpg|The ] in ]
File:Tomb of Daniel 1.jpg|The Shrine of ] in ]
File:Peighambariyeh Qazvin.jpg|''Peyghambarieh'' ("the place of the prophets"), ]: Here, four Jewish prophets are said to be buried. Their Arabic names are ''Salam'', ''Solum'', ''al-Qiya'', and ''Sohuli''.
</gallery> </gallery>
</center>


On 16 December 2014, authorities in Tehran unveiled a monument to slain Iranian Jewish soldiers who died during the country's long and bitter ]. Banners showed the images of fallen soldiers, hailed as "]s" in Farsi and Hebrew inscriptions. "We are not tenants in this country. We are Iranians, and we have been for 30 centuries," said ], the Iranian Jewish parliamentarian. "There is a distinction between us as Jews and Israel," added a shopkeeper in the historic city of Isfahan. "We consider ourselves Iranian Jews, and it has nothing to do with Israel whatsoever. This is the country we love."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/18/iran-unveils-a-memorial-honoring-jewish-heroes/|title=Iran unveils a memorial honoring Jewish heroes|first=Ishaan|last=Tharoor|date=18 December 2014|website=Washingtonpost.com|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref> <br />The tombs of Mordechai and Esther were desecrated during the ].<ref></ref>
==Persian Jews outside Iran==

Persian Jewish communities outside Iran have suffered even greater declines than within Iran. In ], most Persian Jews fled the country after the ] ] in 1979. Only one known individual from the original community remains. The community in ], where the ] is ], has dwindled to less than 200. Persian Jewish communities in what is now India, on the other hand, have avoided such persecutions, and are regarded as part of the community of '']''. Jews have resided for centuries in the ] region as well as ], but most have chosen to emigrate to Israel since 1948: see ].
==Demographics==
The ] estimated that in 1900 there were 35,000 Persian Jews in Iran (almost all of whom lived in present-day Iran),<ref>. Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref> although other sources estimate somewhat higher numbers for the same time. On the eve of Israel's ] 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.

Iranian Jews also emigrated to form smaller communities in ] (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 ]. In addition, there are a large number of people in Iran who are, or who are the direct descendants of, Jews who converted to ] or the ].<ref>. Bahai-library.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>

===Iran===
Iran's Jewish population was reduced from 150,000 to 100,000 in 1948 to about 80,000 immediately before the ], due mostly to ]. While immigration to Israel had slowed in the 1970s and the Jewish population of Iran had stabilized, the majority of Iran's remaining Jews ] in the aftermath of the overthrow of the ]. In the 2000s, the Jewish population of Iran was estimated by most sources to be 25,000,<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5367892.stm|agency=BBC News|title=Iran's proud but discreet Jews|date=22 September 2006|access-date=22 May 2010|first=Frances|last=Harrison}}</ref><ref name="haaretz.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/938673.html|title=Iran Jewish leader calls recent mass aliyah 'misinformation' bid|access-date=8 July 2008|archive-date=29 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229060053/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/938673.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ynet">{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3540651,00.html|title=Iran Jewish MP criticizes 'anti-human' Israel acts |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynet|date=7 May 2008}}</ref> (sources date from 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively) though estimates varied, with some as high as 40,000 in 1998.<ref>Michael Theodoulou . The Christian Science Monitor. 3 February 1998 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205024553/http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/02/03/intl/intl.3.html |date=5 December 2006}}</ref> and some as low as 17,000 by 2010<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=11995 |title=Jews of Iran and Rabbinical Literature: Preliminary Notes &#124; Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner |publisher=Bjpa.org |date=2010-09-20 |access-date=2013-03-09}}</ref> However, the official census in August 2012 indicated that there were only 8,756 Jews still living in Iran.<ref name=census>, Al Arabiya</ref> In the 2016 ], the remaining Jewish population of Iran was 9,826<ref name="Iranian National Census 2016" /> As of 2021, only 8,500 Jews still live in Iran.<ref name="worldpopulationreview.com" /> After Israel, it is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /> Notable population centers include Tehran, Isfahan (1,200),<ref>. ''New York Times'' (2009-02-22). Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref> and ]. Historically, Jews maintained a presence in many more Iranian cities. Jews are protected in the Iranian constitution and allowed one seat in the ].<ref name="haaretz.com" />

=== Israel ===
{{Main|Iranian Jews in Israel}}

The largest group of Persian Jews is found in ]. 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.<ref>. Cbs.gov.il. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref> 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<ref name="foxnews.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207337,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060808190242/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207337,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 August 2006 |website=Fox News |title=Iranian Jews Living in U.S. Have Complex Feelings About Mideast Crisis|date=7 August 2006}}</ref>–250,000.<ref name=autogenerated2>. Jpost.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>

A June 2009 '']'' blog article about Iranian-Israeli Jews showing solidarity with the Iranian protestors said, "The Israeli community of Iranian Jews numbers about 170,000 – including the first generation of Israeli-born – and is deeply proud of its roots."<ref name="latimes1">. Latimesblogs.latimes.com (2009-06-23). Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref> The largest concentration of Persian Jews in Israel is found in the city ].<ref name="latimes1" /> In ], Persian Jews are classified as ]. Both former ] ] and former ] and former head of the opposition in the ] ] are of Persian Jewish origin. Katsav was born in ] and Mofaz was born in ].

Since at least the 1980s, Iranian Jews in ] have traditionally tended to vote ].<ref>Adam Taylor, , Washington Post, 24 April 2015</ref>

=== United States ===
The United States is home to 60,000–80,000 Iranian Jews, most of whom have settled in the ], in ] and ]. Those in metropolitan Los Angeles have settled mostly in the affluent ] cities of ] and ] and the Los Angeles Westside neighborhoods of ], ], and ], as well as the ] communities of ] and ].

==== Beverly Hills ====
{{see also|History of the Iranians in Los Angeles|History of the Jews in Los Angeles}}
In particular, Persian Jews make up a sizeable proportion of the population of ].<ref name="latimes.com">. Articles.latimes.com (1990-02-13). Retrieved 2021-10-05.</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-persian15-2008sep15,0,7972368.story?track=rss|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Community torn by tragedy|first1=Molly|last1=Hennessy-Fiske|first2=Tami|last2=Abdollah|date=15 September 2008|access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref><ref>Bahrampour, Tara. (2009-01-07) . The New Yorker. Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref><ref> By Sonya Geis, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, 1 April 2007</ref> Persian Jews constitute a great percentage of the 26% of the total population of Beverly Hills that identifies as ].<ref name="census1">. Factfinder2.census.gov</ref> Following the 1979 ], tens of thousands of Persian Jews migrated from Iran, forming one of the wealthiest waves of immigrants to ever come to the United States.<ref name="latimes.com"/> The community is credited with revitalizing Beverly Hills and re-developing its architecture, and for the development of ornate mansions across the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmagazine.com/2009/07/persian_beverly_hills/|title=The Persian Conquest|date=July 2009|first=Kevin|last=West|website=Wmagazine.com|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905122724/http://www.wmagazine.com/2009/07/persian_beverly_hills/|archive-date=5 September 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to the US Census Bureau's 2010 ], 26% of Beverly Hills' 34,000 residents are of Iranian origin.<ref name="census1"/> On 21 March 2007, ], a Persian Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1958, became the Mayor of Beverly Hills. This election made Delshad 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 16 March 2010.

Prominent Persian Jewish congregations in the Los Angeles area include ] and the Eretz-Siamak Cultural Center. Persian Jews also constitute a large part of the membership at ] in Westwood, one of the largest ] congregations in the United States.

The Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) of Los Angeles is a prominent non-profit organization that has been serving the Iranian Jewish community of Greater Los Angeles for the last forty-one years. IAJF is a leading organization in their efforts to fight local and global Antisemitism, protect Iranian Jews domestically and abroad, promote a unified community, participating in social and public affairs, provide financial and psychosocial assistance to those in need through philanthropic activities, and more.<ref>{{cite web |title=Iranian American Jewish Federation |url = https://iajf.org/ }}</ref>

====New York====
], a village constituting part of Great Neck, has the greatest percentage of Iranians in the United States (approximately 40%).<ref name="census1" /> Unlike the Iranian community in Los Angeles, which contains a large number of non-Jewish Iranians, the Iranian population in and around Great Neck is almost entirely Jewish.

Several thousand of the Great Neck area's 10,000 Iranian Jews trace their origins to the Iranian city of ], constituting the largest Mashhadi community in the United States.<ref>. The Scribe. Spring 2003</ref> Many Mashhadi ] made their Jewish observances more public again following the rise of the secular ] upon performing them privately for almost a century.<ref>. Jpost.com. 22 August 2007 Retrieved 2012-01-07.</ref> The Mashadi community in Great Neck operates its own synagogues and community centers, and members typically marry within the community.<ref>. Nytimes.com (1997-12-14). Retrieved 2012-01-07.</ref>

The Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) of New York has been serving the Iranian Jewish community for the last sixteen years. The organization's goal is to be a unifier amongst Iranian Jews in the Greater New York metropolitan area and engagement in philanthropic activities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/01-0651843|title=Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York|website=Guidestar}}</ref>

==Related Jewish communities==
===Mountain Jews===
The ] of ] and the ] (primarily ]) are direct descendants of Iranian Jews.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brook|first1=Kevin Alan|title=The Jews of Khazaria|date=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.|isbn=978-1442203020|page=223|edition=2|quote=The traditional language of the Mountain Jews, Juhuri, is part of the Iranian language family and contains many Hebrew elements. (...) In reality, <u>the Mountain Jews primarily descend from Persian Jews who came to the Caucasus during the fifth and sixth centuries.</u>}}</ref> They took shape as a community after ] ceded the areas in which they lived to the ] as part of the ] of 1813.<ref name="Shapira">{{cite encyclopedia | title = Caucasus (Mountain Jews) | first1 = Dan D.Y. | last1 = Shapira | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World | editor-first = Norman A. | editor-last = Stillman | editor-link = Norman Stillman | publisher = Brill Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/caucasus-mountain-jews-COM_0005160?s.num=5&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.q=Sasanian | year = 2010|quote=The Mountain Jews are an Iranian-speaking community that took shape in the eastern and northern Caucasus after the areas in which they lived were annexed by Russia from Qajar Iran in 1812 and 1813.}}</ref> However, they maintained a Judeo-Persian language that shares a great deal of vocabulary and structure with ]. Most Azerbaijani Jews have immigrated to Israel since Azerbaijan gained independence.<ref>. Tabletmag.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.</ref>

===Bukharian Jews===
] traditionally spoke a dialect of Judeo-Persian and lived primarily the region of Central Asia (today modern day ] and ]). Until the start of the 16th century, the Jews of Iran and Central Asia constituted one community. However, during the Safavid dynasty, Iran adopted the Shia branch of Islam, while Central Asia retained their allegiance to the Sunni branch of Islam. Due to the hostile relationship between the neighboring states because of this, the links between the Jews of the area were severed, and the Jewish community was divided into two similar but separate communities.<ref>Ochildiev, D; R. Pinkhasov, I. Kalontarov. ''A History and Culture of the Bukharian Jews'', Roshnoyi-Light, New York, 2007.</ref> Most Bukharian Jews have immigrated to ] or the ] since the collapse of the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html |title=Bukharan Jews |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |date=1991-08-31 |access-date=2013-03-09}}</ref>


===Lakhloukh Jews===
In ], Persian Jews are classified as ]. Both ] and ] of Israel (now Minister of Transportation) are of Persian Jewish origin.
There are estimated to be approximately four dozen Persian Jewish families living in ], which call themselves Lakhloukh and speak ]. They still hold identity papers from Iran, the country their ancestors left almost 80 years ago. These Persian Jews lived near the border of Iran and commonly practiced trade to sustain their communities. The most popular Lakhloukh Jewish family being the Malihi family, whom are all descendants of Jaha Malihi (A noble in the Persian Empire)<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011232253/http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/110402JTAc.shtml |date=2007-10-11 }}. Ncsj.org (1951-02-17). Retrieved 2011-05-29.</ref>


==Languages== ==Languages==
Iranian Jews speak standard ], ], and other ] as their primary tongue, but various ] have been associated with the community over time.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729210218/http://www.jewish-languages.org/judeo-iranian.html |date=29 July 2016 }}. Jewish-languages.org (2002-12-27). Retrieved 2012-01-07.</ref><ref>Melamed, Karmel. (2007-02-08) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514055233/http://www.jewishjournal.com/iranianamericanjews/item/iranian_jews_rediscover_their_roots_in_judeo_persian_literature |date=2009-05-14}}. Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2012-01-07.</ref> They include:
Most Persian Jews speak standard ], but various ] have been associated with the community over time. They include:
*] (Judæo-Persian) * ] (Judæo-Persian)
*] (Judæo-Bukharic) * ] (Judæo-Bukharic)
*] * ]
*] * ]
*] * ]
* ] (Judæo-Tat)
*]
*] * ]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*] (Judæo-Tat)


In addition, Iranian Jews in ] generally speak ], and Iranian Jews elsewhere will tend to speak the local language (e.g. English in the United States) with sprinkles of ] and Hebrew.
==Terminology==
Today the term '''''Iranian Jews''''' is mostly used to refer to Jews from the country of ], but in various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used to refer to Jews who speak various ]. Persians in Israel (virtually all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as ''Parsim'' ({{lang-he|פרסים}} meaning "''Persians''"). Jews in Iran (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'', which is even less formal, and ''Jood'' or ''Johood'', an informal slang that may be offensive when used by non-Jews.


Many Jews from the Northwest area of Iran speak ] or other various dialects of Jewish Neo-Aramaic.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glottolog 4.2.1 – Lishán Didán|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/lish1246|access-date=2020-06-28|website=glottolog.org}}</ref> Jews from ], ], ], ], and some other cities all speak various dialects that may or may not be intelligible to each other.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} There are less than 5,000 known speakers today and the language faces extinction in the next few decades.<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/il/languages|access-date=2020-06-28|website=Ethnologue|language=en}}</ref><ref>Häberl, Charles. "The Middle East and North Africa". ''Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages''.</ref>
==Famous Persian Jews==

*] - Stand-up comedian
==Genetics==
*] - Actor
{{further|Genetic studies on Jews}}
*] - Physician and statesman
] show that the ] of Persian Jews descend from a small number of female ancestors.<ref name="jpost">{{cite news |title=Genetics and the Jewish identity |url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/Genetics-and-the-Jewish-identity |work=The Jerusalem Post }}</ref>
*] - Doctor, writer, and historian

*] - Businessman and a ] politician
Another study of L. Hao et al.<ref name=pmid20560205>{{cite journal | vauthors = Atzmon G, Hao L, Pe'er I, Velez C, Pearlman A, Palamara PF, Morrow B, Friedman E, Oddoux C, Burns E, Ostrer H | title = Abraham's children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry | journal = American Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 86 | issue = 6 | pages = 850–9 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 20560205 | pmc = 3032072 | doi = 10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 }}</ref> studied seven groups of Jewish populations with different geographic origin (Ashkenazi, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian) and showed that the individuals all shared a common Middle Eastern background, although they were also genetically distinguishable from each other. In public comments, ], the director of the Human Genetics Program at ] ], and one of the authors of this study, concluded, "We have shown that Jewishness can be identified through genetic analysis, so the notion of a Jewish people is plausible."<ref name=pmid20560205/>
*] - Rabbi (Persian father)

*] - Biblical character of the ]
An autosomal DNA study carried out in 2010 by Atzmon et al. examined the origin of Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Turkish, Greek, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi Jewish communities. The study compared these Jewish groups with 1043 unrelated individuals from 52 worldwide populations. To further examine the relationship between Jewish communities and European populations, 2407 European subjects were assigned and divided into 10 groups based on geographic region of their origin. This study confirmed previous findings of shared Middle Eastern origin of the above Jewish groups and found that "the genetic connections between the Jewish populations became evident from the frequent ] (IBD) across these Jewish groups (63% of all shared segments). Jewish populations shared more and longer segments with one another than with non-Jewish populations, highlighting the commonality of Jewish origin. Among pairs of populations ordered by total sharing, 12 out of the top 20 were pairs of Jewish populations, and "none of the top 30 paired a Jewish population with a non-Jewish one". Atzmon concludes that "Each Jewish group demonstrated Middle Eastern ancestry and variable admixture from host population, while the split between Middle Eastern and European/Syrian Jews, calculated by simulation and comparison of length distributions of IBD segments, occurred 100–150 generations ago, which was described as "compatible with a historical divide that is reported to have occurred more than 2500 years ago" as the Jewish community in Iraq and Iran were formed by Jews in the Babylonian and Persian empires during and after Babylonian exile. The main difference between ] and ]/] Jews was the absence of Southern European components in the former. According to these results, European/Syrian Jewish populations, including the Ashkenazi Jewish community, were formed later, as a result of the expulsion and migration of Jews from the ], during Roman rule. Concerning Ashkenazi Jews, this study found that genetic dates "are incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted ] or ]". Citing Behar, Atzmon states that "Evidence for founder females of Middle Eastern origin has been observed in all Jewish populations based on non-overlapping mitochondrial haplotypes with coalescence times >2000 years". The closest people related to Jewish groups were the ], ], ], ], and ]. Regarding this relationship, the authors conclude that "These observations are supported by the significant overlap of Y chromosomal haplogroups between Israeli and Palestinian Arabs with Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations".<ref name=Katsnelson2010>{{cite journal |last=Katsnelson |first=Alla |date=3 June 2010 |title=Jews worldwide share genetic ties |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/news.2010.277 }}</ref><ref name=pmid20560205/><ref name=pmid23052947>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ostrer H, Skorecki K | title = The population genetics of the Jewish people | journal = Human Genetics | volume = 132 | issue = 2 | pages = 119–27 | date = February 2013 | pmid = 23052947 | pmc = 3543766 | doi = 10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Balter M | title = Human genetics. Who are the Jews? Genetic studies spark identity debate | journal = Science | volume = 328 | issue = 5984 | page = 1342 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 20538924 | doi = 10.1126/science.328.5984.1342 | bibcode = 2010Sci...328.1342B }}</ref>
*] - Composer

*] - Businessman
In 2011, Moorjani et al.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Moorjani P, Patterson N, Hirschhorn JN, Keinan A, Hao L, Atzmon G, Burns E, Ostrer H, Price AL, Reich D | title = The history of African gene flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews | journal = PLOS Genetics | volume = 7 | issue = 4 | pages = e1001373 | date = April 2011 | pmid = 21533020 | pmc = 3080861 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pgen.1001373 | doi-access = free }}</ref> detected 3%–5% sub-Saharan African ancestry in all eight of the diverse Jewish populations (Ashkenazi Jews, Syrian Jews, Iranian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Greek Jews, Turkish Jews, Italian Jews) that they analyzed. The timing of this African admixture among all Jewish populations was identical The exact date was not determined, but it was estimated to have taken place between 1,600 (]) and 3,400 (]) years ago. Although African admixture was determined among some South European and Near Eastern populations too, this admixture was found to be younger compared to the Jewish populations. This findings the authors explained as evidence regarding common origin of these 8 main Jewish groups. "It is intriguing that the Mizrahi Iranian and Iraqi Jews—who are thought to descend at least in part from Jews who were exiled to Babylon about 2,600 years ago share the signal of African admixture. A parsimonious explanation for these observations is that they reflect a history in which many of the Jewish groups descend from a common ancestral population which was itself admixed with Africans (most likely ]), prior to the beginning of the Jewish diaspora that occurred in 8th to 6th century BC" the authors concludes.<ref name=pmid23052947/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/140721/genes-tell-tale-of-jewish-ties-to-africa/ |title=Genes Tell Tale of Jewish Ties to Africa – |date=2 August 2011 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref>
*] - Iranian ]

*] - A heroine of the biblical ]
===Medical conditions===
*] - One of the first dictionary writers of the ].
Patients with prolonged paralysis following administration of the anaesthetic ] are often diagnosed with ] which is a clinically silent condition in individuals who are not exposed to exogenous sources of choline esters. One possible outcome beyond prolonged general paralysis is paralysis of the muscles control respiratory function. This condition is found in the general population at a rate of 1 in 3000, while the condition is found in Persian Jews at a rate of 1 in 10.<ref name="Pseudocholinesterase Deficiency">{{cite web|url=https://www.medigoo.com/articles/pseudocholinesterase-deficiency/ |title=Pseudocholinesterase Deficiency – |publisher=Medigoo.com |access-date=30 September 2021}}</ref>
*] - Writer

*] - ] of the ]
==Prominent Persian Jews==
*] - Current President of Israel
{{disputed section|date=May 2024}}
*] - Israeli singer
], an Israeli pop star of Persian descent]]
*] - ] of ]
], founder of Tinder]]
*] - Current Israeli Minister of Transport
], activist and entrepreneur]]
*] - Biblical character ]

*] - Jewish member of the ]
===Biblical era===
*] - Author
* ]
*] - Karaite scholar of the early Middle Ages
* ]
*] - Iranian musician and Tar player
* ]
*] - Early ] poet
* ]
*] - Actress
* ]
*] - Professional ] and ]
* ]
*] - Israeli rapper
* ]
*] - Mathematician and computer scientist
* ]
*] - British comedian-creator of Ali G, Borat, and Bruno

===Pre-modern era===
* ] – Persian astrologer and astronomer
* ] – physician and statesman
* ] – doctor, writer, and historian
* ] – ] scholar of the early ]
* ] – early Persian poet
* ] – philosopher and translator, converted to Islam
* ] – a companion of ], converted to Islam
* ] – religious scholar
* ] – prominent philosopher, religious scholar
* ] – Sassanian queen consort, mother of ]
* ] – Sassanid noblewoman, mother of ]
* ] – Qajar royal consort
* ] – Persian physician
* ] – self-proclaimed Jewish prophet
* ] – Jewish exilarch
* ] – one of the most influential families during the ]
* ] – Persian poet
* ] – religious leader from Hamadan
* ] – Persian poet, author of the first ] chronicle
* ] – founder of the ]
* ] – prominent scholar of ]
* ] – Persian saint, converted to Christianity

===Politics and military===
* ] – Iranian-born British businessman; ] politician
* ] – Israeli politician and current member of the ]
* ] – ] for the ] under the Trump Administration
* ] – Iranian-American former two-term mayor of ]
* ] – former Jewish member of the Majlis
* ] – former Major General in the Israeli Defence Forces
* ] – former conservative Deputy Minister of the ] (alleged by critics to have Jewish ancestry<ref name="aidanederland1">{{cite web |url=http://www.aidanederland.nl/informatie%20organisatie/essays/iran/Review%20of%20serial%20murders%20in%20Iran.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119045405/http://www.aidanederland.nl/informatie%20organisatie/essays/iran/Review%20of%20serial%20murders%20in%20Iran.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 January 2008 |title=Review of serial murders in Iran |publisher=Aidanederland |access-date=8 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="PBS">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/12/the-chain-murders-1988-1998.html |title=The Chain Murders|work=PBS|date=December 2009|accessdate=8 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,IRN,,3df4be4ae,0.html|title=Treatment of Muslims with Jewish ancestry|publisher=UNHCR|accessdate=8 August 2010}}</ref>)
* ] – Iranian Shia religious leader (alleged by a critic to have Jewish ancestry<ref>{{cite web|author=Parvaneh Vahidmanesh|url=http://iwpr.net/report-news/sad-fate-irans-jews|title=Sad Fate of Iran's Jews|work=Institute for War and Peace Reporting|access-date=30 April 2018|quote=Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, one of the Shia Grand Ayatollahs, who is close to the government, had Jewish ancestors. He is now known as a radical cleric.|archive-date=4 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104173848/http://iwpr.net/report-news/sad-fate-irans-jews|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://iranwire.com/en/features/5032|title=Ayatollah Gives Thumbs Down to Women in Stadiums}}</ref>)
* ] – Prime Minister of Iran (alleged to have Iranian Jewish ancestry<ref>{{cite book|last1=Milani|first1=Abbas|title= Eminent Persians The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, Volumes One and Two|date=19 December 2008 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815609070 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ixU33FaG_dgC&q=Jewish%20hekmat}}</ref>)
* ] – political activist
* ] – former ] of the ]
* ] – American politician and current member of the ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nysenate.gov/senators/anna-m-kaplan |title=Anna M. Kaplan|date=13 November 2018|access-date=2019-04-29}}</ref>
* ] – former President of Israel
* ] – former Israeli ]
* ] – former Jewish member of the Majlis of Iran
* ] – former head of the ]
* ] – humanitarian and peace activist
* ] – Jewish member of the Majlis of Iran
* ] – chairman of the board of the ] and leader of Iran's Jewish community
* ] – Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset
* ] – Deputy ] at the ]
* ] – American politician
* ] – political journalist
* ] – attorney and politician
* ] – Israeli poet, researcher
* ] – journalist, politician
* ] – political activist and writer
* ] – attorney, activist
* ] – Israeli politician, member of the ]
* ] – Iranian-born Senior Vice President of International Affairs for the ]
* ] – Israeli colonel
* ] – Israeli politician, member of the Knesset
* ] – former Israeli politician
* ] – Israeli journalist and politician
* ] – international lawyer (convert to the Bahá’í faith)
* ] – attorney, worked for the ]

===Science and academia===
* ] – professor of history at ] (born to a family of Jewish descent that converted to the ])
* ] – professor of Iranian studies at ]
* ] – neurosurgeon specializing in surgical treatment of brain tumors and aneurysms
* ] – professor, physician
* ] – physician, entrepreneur
* ] – historical-comparative linguistics in ]
* ] – physicist and philosopher
* ] – compiled an early and influential ] dictionary
* ] – court physician
* ] – academic and chemist
* ] – historian best known for his extensive research on the ]; author of ''Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran: The Outset of the Diaspora''.
* ] – professor of the history and culture of Iranian Jews
* ] – discoverer of ]
* ] – expert in ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.davinciprostatectomy.com/articles_samadi.htm |title=Da Vinci® Prostatectomy – is There Sex After Surgery? Yes – if You Choose the Right Procedure |access-date=2008-10-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706054024/http://www.davinciprostatectomy.com/articles_samadi.htm |archive-date=2008-07-06}}</ref>
* ] – professor of religious studies and Middle Eastern History at ], and author of books on Iranian Jewish culture
* ] – historian & founder of the ] (born to Jewish parents who converted to the Baháʼí Faith)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/obituaries/ehsan-yarshater-dead.html |title=Ehsan Yarshater, Iran Scholar With a Monumental Vision, Dies at 98 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=18 September 2018 |access-date=2021-02-22|last1=Radjy |first1=Amir-Hussein}}</ref>
* ] – Israeli neurologist, neuropharmacologist
* ] – cosmetic surgeon
* ] – orthopedic surgeon
* ] – plastic surgeon
* ] – plastic surgeon and television personality

===Business and economics===
* ] – British businessman
* ] – American fashion designer
* ] – Iranian billionaire (convert to Islam)
* ] – leading Iranian conservative politician (convert to Islam)
* ] – American restaurateur
* ] – founder and CEO of ]
* ] – Iranian-American attorney, entrepreneur
* ] – real estate developer New York City
* ] – prominent businessman executed by the Islamic Republic
* ] – billionaire shopping mall developers
* ] – former ] agent, central figure in the Iran–Contra affair
* ] – real estate developer in New York City
* ] – real estate developer in Los Angeles and journalist
* ] – businessman
* ] – billionaire property developer and art collector
* ] and ], landowners, diplomats, and tycoons hailing from ], Iran (]) (see ])<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Husain|first=Ruquiya K.|title=Khwaja Israel Sarhad: Armenian Merchant and Diplomat|date=2004|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44144740|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=65|pages=258–266|jstor=44144740|issn=2249-1937}}</ref>
* ] – president and CEO of ]
* ] – American billionaire, ] of ]
* ] – co-founder and former ] of ] dating app
* ] – co-founder of ] snack food company
* ] – co-founder of ] snack food company
* ] – New York City real estate developer
* ] – Iranian-born businessman and convicted criminal
* ] – founder of Empire Management Real Estate
* ] – investment advisor
* ] – businessman, longtime friend of ]
* ] – co-founder and former CEO of ] dating app
* ] – businessman, played a critical role in the ]
* ] – economist
* ] – co-founder of Magnum Real Estate Group
* ] – founder of ] dating app
* ] – co-founder of Everipedia, co-founder of ]
* ] – Canadian real estate developer
* ] – American financier
* ] – Manhattan real estate developer
* ] – Founder of ]
* ] – founder of ] domain
* ] – founder of ]
* ] – Iranian industrialist (convert to the Bahá’í Faith)
* ] – art dealer, businessman
* ] – art dealer, owner of several ] art galleries
* ] – businessman, founder of the international ]
* ] – Iranian-born businessman
* ] – businessman, figure in the ]
* ] – American real estate developer
* ] – co-founder of Staple Street Capital
* ] – entrepreneur, venture capitalist, professor, and inventor of ]

===Art and entertainment===
* ] – creator of Bratz dolls
* ] – stand-up comedian
* ] – actor
* ] – architect, designer of the ] in Tehran (born to a family of Jewish descent that converted to the ])
* ] – artist
* ] – Israeli performer, singer, and actor
* ] – composer
* ] – film director
* ] – actor, producer, screenwriter
* ] – Iranian-born Mexican actress and model
* ] – French-Iranian painter
* ] – Iranian-born architect
* ] – writer and poet
* ] – singer
* ] – architect, painter
* ] – director, screenwriter
* ] – prominent American music executive
* ] – writer, best known as author of ''Off the Derech''
* ] – comedian and businessman. Founder of the ]
* ] – writer, translator (convert to Bahá’í Faith)
* ] – author of historical fiction
* ] – Canadian film director and producer
* ] – American author
* ] – writer
* ] – musician
* ] – photographer
* ] – Israeli writer, screenwriter
* ] – Israeli pop star
* ] – writer, entrepreneur
* ] – prominent Iranian architect (convert to the Bahá’í Faith)
* ] – filmmaker
* ] – performance poet
* ] – writer
* ] – English actress
* ] – Iranian-born American actress
* ] – choreographer
* ] – Israeli hip-hop singer
* ] – Israeli hip-hop singer and right-wing activist
* ] – high-end fashion designer<ref>. Jewishsf.com (1996-12-20). Retrieved 2011-05-09.</ref>
* ] – Iranian-born American actor, recipient of the Sephard award at the Los Angeles ] Film Festival<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schleier |first1=Curt |title=A Night at the Sephardic Film Festival |url=https://jewishjournal.com/old_stories/2160/ |access-date=27 November 2018 |work=] |date=28 October 1999}}</ref>
* ]- writer
* ] – film producer

===Religious figures===
* ] – previous ] ]
* ] – American rabbi<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/316453/a-prayer-for-my-father/|title=A Prayer for my Father|date=28 May 2020|website=Jewish Journal}}</ref>
* ] – former chief rabbi of Iran
* ] – former chief rabbi of Iran
* ] – current chief rabbi of Iran
* ] – Baháʼí leader (born to a family of Jewish descent that converted to the ])
* ] – Iranian rabbi
* ] – former chief rabbi of Iran
* ] – prominent religious leader
* ] – Sephardic rabbi
* ] – rabbi, religious scholar
* ] – biblical scholar

===Miscellaneous===
* ] – Persian-language broadcaster in Israel
* ] – wrestler
* ] – educator, public figure
* ] – American Paralympic athlete
* ] – track and field athlete
* ] – women's rights activist who pioneered reforms on ]. Founded the first Iranian Jewish women's organization (''Sazman Banovan Yahud i Iran'') in 1947
* ] – author, blogger, and humor writer best known for Man Repeller, an independent fashion and lifestyle website
* ] – journalist, author, and feminist activist. Columnist for ''Zan-e-Ruz'' magazine ''Kayhan'' daily newspaper (1964–1973)
* ] – philanthropist, founder and director of ]
* ] – Iranian-Israeli chess master
* ] – member of ]
* ] – founder of the micronation ]


==See also== ==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] – a small community of Persian Jewish descent which lives in ], a city in the ] province of ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* ]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{NoteFoot}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}


=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{JewishEncyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=210&letter=P |article=Persia}}
* {{cite book |first=Habib |last=Levy |title=Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran |publisher=Mazda Publishers |location = Costa Mesa, CA |year=1999}}
* "Iran. 1997" (1997). '']'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. ]. Keter Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-965-07-0665-4}}
* {{cite book |first=Bernard |last=Lewis |author-link=Bernard Lewis |title=The Jews of Islam |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-691-00807-3 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Littman |first=David |author-link=David Littman (historian) |year=1979 |title=Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia |journal=The Wiener Library Bulletin |volume=XXXII |issue=New series 49/50}}
* {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Foltz |author-link=Richard Foltz |title=Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present |publisher=Oneworld publications |location=London |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-78074-308-0}}
* {{cite book |first=Eliz |last=Sanasarian |title=Religious Minorities in Iran |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-77073-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521770736}}
* {{cite journal |last=Shalom |first=Sabar |title = Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (review) |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=95 |issue = 2, Spring 2005}}
* {{cite conference |last=Wasserstein |first=Bernard |title = Evolving Jewish Ethnicities or Jewish Ethnicity: End of the Road? |book-title = Conference on Contextualizing Ethnicity: Discussions across Disciplines, Center for the International Study of Ethnicity |location = North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina |year=2003}}
* {{cite book |first=Charles James |last=Willis |title = Persia as It Is: Being Sketches of Modern Persian Life and Character |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |location=Cambridge |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-4021-9297-5}}
* Karmel Melamed, ''JTA International Wire News Service'', 20 February 2007.
* ]: ''The Jews of Iran. The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World''. I.B. Tauris, London/New York 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-78076-888-5}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
==Notes==
*
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
*
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Bahaism, Conversion to | first = Moshe | last = Sharon | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World | editor-first = Norman A. | editor-last = Stillman | editor-link = Norman Stillman | publisher = Brill Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/bahaism-conversion-to-COM_0002940?s.num=86&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.start=80&s.q=Persian | year = 2010}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Aliya to Mandatory Palestine and Israel from Iran | first1 = Orly R. | last1 = Rahimiyan | author-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World | editor = Norman A. Stillman | editor-link = Norman Stillman | publisher = Brill Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/aliya-to-mandatory-palestine-and-israel-from-iran-SIM_000750?s.num=15&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.q=Iran | year = 2015}}
*


; Media
==References==
* {{YouTube|_iNektvD5i4|Documentary about Iranians in Israel}}
*{{JewishEncyclopedia}}
*
* "Iran. 1997" (1997). '']'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. ]. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8
*
* {{cite book | first=Bernard | last=Lewis | title=The Jews of Islam | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton | year=1984 | id=ISBN 0-691-00807-8}}
* , edited by Charles F. Horne,
* {{cite journal | last = Littman | first = David | authorlink = David Littman (historian) | year = 1979 | title = Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia | journal = The Wiener Library Bulletin | volume = XXXII|issue=New series 49/50}}
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304095326/http://www.savepasargad.com/audio-visual2/Kurosh-Englisg.htm |date=4 March 2010 }}
* {{cite book | first=Eliz | last=Sanasarian| title=Religious Minorities in Iran
* on the Digital collections of ], University of Haifa
| publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | year=2000 | id=ISBN 0-521-77073-4}}
* {{cite journal | last = Shalom | first = Sabar | title=Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (review) | journal = The Jewish Quarterly Review | volume = 95|issue=2, Spring 2005}}
* {{cite conference | last = Wasserstein | first = Bernard | title=Evolving Jewish Ethnicities or Jewish Ethnicity: End of the Road? | booktitle = Conference on Contextualizing Ethnicity: Discussions across Disciplines, Center for the International Study of Ethnicity | location=North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC | year=2003}}
* {{cite book | first=Charles James| last=Willis| title=Persia as It Is: Being Sketches of Modern Persian Life and Character | publisher=Adamant Media Corporation | location=Cambridge | year=2002 | id=ISBN 1-4021-9297-5}}


; Miscellaneous
==External links==
*
*
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926105709/http://derakhte-zendegi.com/ |date=26 September 2023 }}
*
*
*
*
*
*
* at ] Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
*
*
*
*
* '']''. ], ]


{{Religion in Iran}}
{{Asia in topic|History of the Jews in}}
{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{Ethnic groups in Iran}}
{{Iranian citizens abroad}}
{{Mizrahi Jews topics}}
{{Sephardi Jews topics}}
{{Jews and Judaism in Iran}}


{{authority control}}
]


]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 07:29, 18 December 2024

Jewish community of Iran "Jews of Iran" redirects here. For the 2005 Dutch documentary, see Jews of Iran (film). Ethnic group
Iranian Jews
یهودیان ایرانی
יהודי איראן‎
Gathering of the Zionist Federation in Iran, 1920
Total population
300,000350,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
 Israel200,000–250,000
 United States60,000–80,000
 Iran9,826
 Canada1,000
 Australia~740
Languages
Iranian languages (Persian, Judeo-Persian, Bukharian, Kurdish), Hebrew, English
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Bukharian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Kurdish Jews, Afghan Jews, Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews, Mizrahi Jews
Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Religion
Texts
Tanakh
Talmud
Rabbinic
History
General
Ancient Israel
Second Temple period
Rabbinic period and Middle Ages
Modern era
Communities
Related groups
Population
Land of Israel
Africa
Asia
Europe
Northern America
Latin America and Caribbean
Oceania
Denominations
Culture
Customs
Music
Art
Cuisine
Literature
Languages
Politics
Jewish political movements
Zionism

Iranian Jews (Persian: یهودیان ایرانی, romanizedYahudiyān-e Irāni; Hebrew: יהודי איראן, romanizedYehudei Iran) constitute one of the oldest communities of the Jewish diaspora. Dating back to the biblical era, they originate from the Jews who relocated to Iran during the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Books of the Hebrew Bible (i.e., Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah) bring together an extensive narrative shedding light on contemporary Jewish life experiences in ancient Iran; there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Iran since at least the time of Cyrus the Great, who led Achaemenid army's conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and subsequently freed the Judahites from the Babylonian captivity.

After 1979, Jewish emigration from Iran increased dramatically in light of the country's Islamic Revolution. Today, the vast majority of Iranian Jews reside in Israel and the United States. The Israeli community of Iranian Jews is mostly concentrated in the cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Netanya, Kfar Saba, and Holon. In the United States, there are sizable Iranian Jewish communities in Los Angeles (Tehrangeles), Beverly Hills, and in Great Neck. Smaller Iranian Jewish communities also exist in Baltimore and in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. According to the 2016 Iranian census, the remaining Jewish population of Iran stood at 9,826 people; independent third-party estimates have placed the figure at around 8,500.

Terminology

Today, the term Iranian Jews is mostly used in reference to Jews who are from the country of Iran. In various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used in reference to Jews who speak various Iranian languages. Iranian immigrants in Israel (nearly all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as Parsim. In Iran, Persian Jews and Jewish people in general are both described with four common terms: Kalīmī (Persian: کلیمی), which is considered the most proper term; Yahūdī (یهودی), which is less formal but correct; Yīsrael (ישראל‎) the term by which Jewish people refer to themselves, a reference to being the Children of Israel. The term Johūd (جهود) was also used. It has very negative connotations and considered by many Jews as offensive.

History

Main article: History of Jews in Iran

Jews had been residing in Persia since around 727 BC, having arrived in the region as slaves after being captured by the Assyrian and Babylonian kings. According to one Jewish legend, the first Jew to enter Persia was Sarah bat Asher, grand daughter of the Patriarch Jacob. The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Esther contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia and accounts of their relations with the Persian kings. 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 effected "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 BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.

Jews in ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. Iranian Jews lived in the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still extant) communities not only of Iran, but also the Armenian, Georgian, Iraqi, Bukharan, and Mountain Jewish communities.

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."

Achaemenid period (550–330 BC)

Under Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great allowing Hebrew pilgrims to return to the Land of Israel and rebuild Jerusalem, painting by Jean Fouquet circa 1470

According to the biblical account Cyrus the Great was "God's anointed", having freed the Jews from Babylonian rule. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus granted all the Jews citizenship. Though he allowed the Jews to return to Israel (around 537 BC), many chose to remain in Persia. Thus, the events of the Book of Esther are set entirely in Iran. Various biblical accounts say that over forty thousand Jews did return (See Jehoiakim, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Jews).

The historical nature of the "Cyrus decree" has been challenged. Professor Lester L Grabbe argues that there was no decree, but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. He also argues that the archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle", taking place over perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30,000. Philip R. Davies called the authenticity of the decree "dubious", citing Grabbe. Arguing against the authenticity of Ezra 1.1–4 is J. Briend, in a paper given at the Institut Catholique de Paris on 15 December 1993, who denies that it resembles the form of an official document but reflects rather the biblical prophetic idiom."

Mary Joan Winn Leith believes that the decree in Ezra might be authentic and, along with the Cyrus Cylinder, that Cyrus, like earlier rulers, was through these decrees trying to gain support from those who might be strategically important, particularly those close to Egypt which Cyrus wished to conquer. She also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control."

By some accounts, the tomb of the prophet Daniel is located in Susa. The Second Temple was eventually (re)built in Jerusalem, with assistance from the Persians, and the Israelites assumed an important position in the Silk Road trade with China.

Under Darius the Great

Main article: Second Temple

Cyrus ordered rebuilding the Second Temple 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 BC, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.

Under Ahasuerus (Bible)

According to the Book of Esther, 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 the 6th century BC. According to the story, Haman and his wife Zeresh instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. The plot was foiled by Queen Esther, the Jewish Queen of Persia. As a result, Ahasuerus ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. The events of the Book of Esther are celebrated as the holiday of Purim.

Parthian period (247 BC – 224 AD)

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Jewish sources contain no mention of the Parthian influence; "Parthia" does not appear in the texts. The Armenian 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.

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 Judean 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.

Sasanian period (226–634 AD)

Main article: Exilarch
Hebrew version of Nizami's "Khosrow va Shirin"

By the early third century, Persian Empire influences were on the rise again. In the winter of 226 AD, Ardashir I overthrew the last Parthian king (Artabanus IV), destroyed the rule of the Arsacids, and founded the dynasty of the Sassanids. While Hellenistic influence had been felt amongst the religiously tolerant Parthians, the Sassanids intensified the Persian side of life, favored the Pahlavi language, and restored the old dualistic 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 AD) 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 (or 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 Ifra Hormizd was half-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, 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 King" because of his bright and quick intellect.

Arab conquest and early Islamic period (634–1255)

With the Islamic conquest of Persia, the government assigned Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, to the status of dhimmis, non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic empire. Dhimmis 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 to (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 were treated as somewhat inferior.

Mongol rule (1256–1318)

In 1255, Mongols led by Hulagu Khan 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 the Ilkhanate, building a capital city in Tabriz. The Ilkhanate Mongol rulers abolished the inequality of dhimmis, and all religions were deemed equal. It was shortly after this time when one of the Ilkhanate rulers, Arghun Khan, preferred Jews 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 in Tabriz suffered a period of violent persecutions from the Muslim populace instigated by the clergy. The Syriac Orthodox 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 in Tabriz a pronounced turn for the worse, as they were once again relegated to the status of dhimmis (Covenant of Omar). 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, many Jews converted to Islam. The most famous such convert was Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, a physician of Hamadani origin who was also a historian and statesman; and who adopted Islam in order to advance his career in Öljeitü's court in Tabriz. However, in 1318 he was executed on charges of poisoning Öljeitü and his severed head was carried around the streets 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.

Safavid dynasty (1501–1736)

Conversion of Iran from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam

Main article: Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam
Synagogue in Tehran. A postcard from the Qajar (1794–1925) period.
Hamedan Jews in 1918

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. Safavids 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, Shah Abbas II 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. There were rumors 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.

Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796)

Nadir Shah (1736–1747) allowed Jews to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad. As many Jews were traders, they were able to prosper due to the connection of Mashhad to other cities along the Silk Road, most notably in Central Asia. In 1839, in an event known as Allahdad incident, many members of the Jewish community were forced to convert to Islam or left Mashhad, to Herat in Afghanistan or cities such as Bukhara in today's Uzbekistan. They became known as "Jadid al-Islams" (new Muslims) and appeared to superficially accept the new religion, but continued to practice many Jewish traditions, i.e. as Crypto-Jews. Except a few individuals, the community permanently left Mashhad in 1946, either to Tehran, but also to Bombay and Palestine. Most of them still live as a tightly knit community in Israel today.

Bābāʾī ben Nūrīʾel, a ḥāḵām (rabbi) from Isfahan translated the Pentateuch and the Psalms of David from Hebrew into Persian at the behest of Nāder Shah. Three other rabbis helped him in the translation, which was begun in Rabīʿ II 1153/May 1740, and completed in Jomādā I 1154/June 1741. At the same time, eight Muslim mullahs and three European and five Armenian priests translated the Koran and the Gospels. The commission was supervised by Mīrzā Moḥammad Mahdī Khan Monšī, the court historiographer and author of the Tārīḵ-ejahāngošā-ye nāderī. Finished translations were presented to Nāder Shah in Qazvīn in June, 1741, who, however, was not impressed. There had been previous translations of the Jewish holy books into Persian, but Bābāʾī's translation is notable for the accuracy of the Persian equivalents of Hebrew words, which has made it the subject of study by linguists. Bābāʾī's introduction to the translation of the Psalms of David is unique, and sheds a certain amount of light on the teaching methods of Iranian Jewish schools in eighteenth-century Iran. He is not known to have written anything else.

Qajar dynasty (1789–1925)

The advent of the Qajar dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions.

A Jewish gathering celebrates the second anniversary of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in Tehran.

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."

In the 19th century, the colonial powers from Europe began noting numerous forced conversions and massacres, usually generated by Shi'a clergy. Two major blood-libel conspiracies had taken place during this period, one in Shiraz and the other in Tabriz. A document recorded after the incident states that the Jews faced two options, conversion to Islam or death. Amidst the chaos, Jews had converted, but most refused to convert to Islam – described within the document was a boy of age 16 named Yahyia who refused to convert to Islam and was subsequently killed. The same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of Shiraz over a similar incident. The Allahdad incident of 1839 was mentioned above. 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, Mazandaran 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.

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:

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.

A group of Persian Jewish refugees escaping persecution back home in Mashhad, Qajar Persia, were granted rights to settle in the Sikh Empire around the year 1839. Most of the Jewish families settled in Rawalpindi (specifically in the Babu Mohallah neighbourhood) and Peshawar.

In 1868, Jews were the most significant minority in Tehran, numbering 1,578 people. By 1884 this figure had risen to 5,571.

In 1892, an Ottoman archival record indicates that a group of 200 Iranian Jews who tried to migrate to the Land of Israel were returned to Iran.

In 1894, a representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, 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 1901, the riot of Shaykh Ibrahim was sparked against the Jews of Tehran. An imam began preaching on the importance of eliminating alcohol for the sake of Islamic purity, leading to an assault against Jews for refusing to give up the wine they drank for Sabbath.

In 1910, there were rumors 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 Iranian Jews. In the late 19th to early 20th century, thousands of Iranian Jews immigrated to the territory of present-day Israel within the Ottoman Empire to escape such persecution.

Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979)

A ketubah Jewish marriage contract Iran 1930, Younes & Soraya Nazarian library, University of Haifa Digital collections

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, 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.

By 1932, Tehran's Jewish population had risen to 6,568. During World War II, Iran declared itself neutral, but was invaded by Anglo-Soviet forces in 1941. During the Allied occupation, many Polish and Jewish refugees that escaped Nazi-occupied Poland settled within Iran (see Iran–Poland relations).

At the time of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there were approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in Iran, the historical center of Iranian Jewry. Over 95% have since migrated abroad.

The violence and disruption in Arab life associated with the founding of Israel and its victory in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War 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 to 1953, about one-third of Iranian Jews, most of them poor, immigrated to Israel. David Littman puts the total figure of Iranian Jews who immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 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. By 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 fraction of a percent 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 100,000 Jews in Iran, mostly concentrated in Tehran (60,000), Shiraz (18,000), Kermanshah (4,000), and Isfahan (3,000). Jews were also located in other various cities throughout Iran, including Urmia (800), Salmas (400), Miandoab (60), Baneh, Mashhad, Kashan, Sanandaj, Saqqez, Tazeh Qaleh, Chichakluy-e Bash Qaleh, Garrus, Qaslan, Hamadan, Tuyserkan, Nahavand, Kermanshah, Hashtrud, Zehab, Babol, Siahkal, Damavand, Bushehr, Kazerun, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Sarakhs, Yazd, Arak, and Khorramabad.

Islamic Republic (1979–present)

At the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, 80,000–100,000 Jews were living in Iran. From then on, Jewish emigration from Iran dramatically increased, as about 20,000 Jews left within several months of the revolution alone. The majority of Iran's Jewish population, some 60,000 Jews, emigrated in the aftermath of the revolution, of whom 35,000 went to the United States, 20,000 to Israel, and 5,000 to Europe (mainly to the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland).

Some sources put the Iranian Jewish population in the mid and late 1980s as between 50,000 and 60,000. An estimate based on the 1986 census put the figure considerably higher for the same time, around 55,000. From the mid-1990s to the present there has been more uniformity in the figures, with most government sources since then estimating roughly 25,000 Jews remaining in Iran. These less recent official figures are considered bloated, and the Jewish community may not amount to more than 10,000. A 2012 census put the figure at about 8,756.

Ayatollah Khomeini met with the Jewish community upon his return from exile in Paris, when heads of the community, disturbed by the execution of one of their most distinguished representatives, the industrialist Habib Elghanian, arranged to meet him in Qom. At one point he said:

In the holy Quran, Moses, salutations upon him and all his kin, has been mentioned more than any other prophet. Prophet Moses was a mere shepherd when he stood up to the might of pharaoh and destroyed him. Moses, the Speaker-to-Allah, represented pharaoh's slaves, the downtrodden, the mostazafeen of his time.

At the end of the discussion Khomeini declared, "We recognize our Jews as separate from those godless, bloodsucking Zionists" and issued a fatwa decreeing that the Jews were to be protected.

Habib Elghanian was arrested and sentenced to death by an Islamic revolutionary tribunal shortly after the Islamic revolution for charges including corruption, contacts with Israel and Zionism, and "friendship with the enemies of God", and was executed by a firing squad. He was the first Jew and businessman to be executed by the Islamic government. His execution caused fear among the Jewish community and caused many to flee Iran.

Soli Shahvar, professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Haifa describes the process of dispossession : "There were two waves of confiscation of homes, farmlands and factories of Jews in Iran. In the first wave, the authorities seized the properties of a small group of Jews who were accused of helping Zionism financially. In the second wave, authorities confiscated the properties of Jews who had to leave the country after the Revolution. They left everything in fear for their lives and the Islamic Republic confiscated their properties using their absence as an excuse".

During the Iran–Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, Iranian Jews were conscripted into the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, and 13 were killed in the war.

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, "Khomeini didn't mix up our community with Israel and Zionism – he saw us as Iranians."

In June 2007, though there were reports that wealthy expatriate Jews established a fund to offer incentives to Iranian Jews to immigrate to Israel, few took them up on the offer. The Society of Iranian Jews dismissed this act as "immature political enticements" and said that their national identity was not for sale.

Jews in the Islamic Republic of Iran are formally to be treated equally and free to practice their religion. There is even a seat in the Iranian parliament reserved for the representative of the Iranian Jews. However, de facto discrimination is common.

Current status

Yusef Abad synagogue in Tehran

Iran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and, like the Zoroastrians and Christians, they are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament. Siamak Moreh Sedgh 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 60,000–85,000 Jews in Iran; most other sources put the figure at 25,000. In 2011 the Jewish population numbered 8,756. In 2016 Jewish population numbered 9,826. In 2019 the Jewish Population numbered 8,300 and they constitute 0.01% of Iranian population, a number confirmed by Sergio DellaPergola, a leading Jewish demographer.

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 was the spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran from 1994 to 2007, when he was succeeded by Mashallah Golestani-Nejad. In August 2000, Cohen met with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for the first time. In 2003, Cohen and Motamed met with Khatami 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 26 January 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 jewelry and dealing in antiques, textiles and carpets.

Societal environment

Iranian Jewish men are conscripted into the Iranian Armed Forces like all Iranian men. Many Iranian Jews fought during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) as drafted soldiers, and about 15 were killed.

An Israeli news outlet, Israel Hayom, reported that Iranian Jews in Israel say that they viewed Iran as their home and were allowed to practice Judaism freely, but that there was suspicion and fear too.

Following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head rabbi of Iran, Yehuda Gerami, visited the family of Soleimani and issued anti-Israel statements. He later discussed the matter with an American audience, saying that Israel's attacks on Soleimani had stoked tensions in the Jewish community in Iran, and he felt the need to take public action to de-escalate the situation. He is reported to have said that the Iranian Jewish community prefers to avoid such political entanglements. On 31 July 2024, the Tehran Central Jewish committee issued a statement condemning the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and called for an Iranian response.

It has been asserted that the majority of Iranian Jews prefer to stay in Iran because they are allowed to live a comfortable Jewish life there, but Sam Kermanian, who served as Secretary-General of the Iranian American Jewish Federation for fifteen years, disputed this claim, stating that the majority of Iranian Jews are elderly and only speak Persian, and as a result they are less naturally inclined to emigrate. According to Ran Amrani, an Iranian-born Israeli director of a Persian language radio station with close ties inside Iran, wealthy Iranian Jews won't leave because the international sanctions on Iran have so downgraded Iran's currency in value that they would see a massive drop in their standard of living in Israel, with those who own multiple homes in Iran unable to afford a single apartment in Israel, while poor Iranian Jews would find it difficult to restart their lives in Israel in middle age. Amrani claimed that while Jews are allowed to practice their religion, they live in fear of being accused of spying for Israel and that they publicly distance themselves from Israel and Zionism to ensure their own security.

Opinion over the condition of Jews in Iran is divided. One Jewish voice presenting a benevolent view of the Iranian Islamic government and society toward Jews is film producer Haroun Yashayaei, who says " Khomeini didn't mix up our community with Israel and Zionism—he saw us as Iranians." Privately, many Jews complain of "discrimination, much of it of a social or bureaucratic nature." The Islamic government appoints the officials who run Jewish schools, most of these being Muslims, and until 2015, required that those schools must open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Criticism of this policy was the downfall of the last remaining newspaper of the Iranian Jewish community which was closed in 1991 after it criticized government control of Jewish schools. Instead of expelling Jews en masse like in Libya, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen, the Iranians have adopted a policy of keeping Jews in Iran.

The desire for survival may prompt Iranian Jews to overstate their anti-Israel positions. Their response to the questions regarding Israel have been outright denial of Israel or staying quiet. An example of the dilemma of Iranian Jews can be observed in this example :"We hear the ayatollah say that Israel was cooperating with the Shah and SAVAK, and we would be fools to say we support Israel. So we just keep quiet about it... Maybe it will work out. Anyway, what can we do? This is our home."

Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them, at least in part for their 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 of having been in 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 2024, the pending execution of Persian Jew Arvin Ghahremani was delayed by a month after a global campaign calling for his commutation and criticism that Ghahremani was being subjected to a discriminatory judicial system that prioritized Muslims over Jews.

Contact with non-Persian Jews

A Persian Jew prays in a synagogue in Shiraz, Iran, 1999.

Rabbis from the Haredi sect Neturei Karta, 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 it has also allowed those Iranians who are 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.

Iranian Jews are generally allowed to travel to Israel and emigrate abroad, though they must submit passport and visa requests to a special section of the passport office, face restrictions on families leaving en masse, and travels to Israel must be done via a third country. However, the rate of emigration has been low. Between October 2005 and September 2006, 152 Jews left Iran, down from 297 during the same period the previous year, and 183 the year before that. Most of those who left allegedly cited economic and family reasons as their main incentives for leaving. In July 2007, Iran's Jewish community rejected financial emigration incentives to leave Iran. Offers ranging from 5,000 to 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 than the average annual income for an Iranian. However, in late 2007 at least forty Iranian Jews accepted financial incentives offered by Jewish charities for immigrating to Israel.

Synagogues and Hebrew schools

See also: List of synagogues in Iran

Most Jews live in Tehran, the capital. Today Tehran has 11 functioning synagogues, 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. Traditionally however, Shiraz, Hamedan, Isfahan, Tabriz, Nahawand, Babol and some other cities of Iran were home to large populations of Jews. At present there are 25 synagogues in Iran. Isfahan has a Jewish population of about 1,500, consisting mostly of businesspeople. As of 2015 there were 13 synagogues, including the primary synagogue on Palestine Square. In Esfahan, many Jewish businesses are concentrated in an area called "Jewish Passage".

Legal discrimination

Iranian Jews remain under various discriminatory legal restrictions regarding their position in society. Jews are prohibited from holding significant governmental and decision-making positions. A Jew may not serve on the Guardian Council, as President, or as a military commander. Jews may not serve as judges, and aside from the seat reserved for a Jew in the Majlis, Jews may not become a member of the Majlis through general elections. A Jew may not inherit property from a Muslim. By law, if one member of a Jewish family converts to Islam, that person inherits all family property. Jews also do not have equal rights to Qisas, or retribution, in the Iranian judicial system. For example, if a Jew were to kill a Muslim, the family of the victim would have the right to ask that the death penalty be imposed, but if a Muslim kills a Jew, the penalty would be left to the discretion of the judges with the wishes of the victim's family carrying no legal weight.

Islamic curriculum

In 1996, there were still three schools in Tehran in which Jews were in a majority, but Jewish principals had been replaced. The school curriculum is Islamic and the Tanakh is taught in Persian, rather than Hebrew. The Ozar Hatorah organization conducts Hebrew lessons on Fridays. The government monitors activities in Jewish schools to ensure that the main language of education is Persian and not Hebrew.

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.

Ancient Jewish sites

Many cities in Iran have Jewish sites or sites related to Judaism in some way. Prominent among these are Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Tomb of Daniel in Susa, Tomb of Habakkuk in Tuyserkan and the Peyghambarieh mausoleum in Qazvin.

There is a pilgrimage site near Isfahan (Pir Bakran) dedicated to Serah.

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), a 16th-century Spanish scholar, in Kashan, which are also visited by Muslim pilgrims.


On 16 December 2014, authorities in Tehran unveiled a monument to slain Iranian Jewish soldiers who died during the country's long and bitter war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988. Banners showed the images of fallen soldiers, hailed as "martyrs" in Farsi and Hebrew inscriptions. "We are not tenants in this country. We are Iranians, and we have been for 30 centuries," said Ciamak Moresadegh, the Iranian Jewish parliamentarian. "There is a distinction between us as Jews and Israel," added a shopkeeper in the historic city of Isfahan. "We consider ourselves Iranian Jews, and it has nothing to do with Israel whatsoever. This is the country we love."
The tombs of Mordechai and Esther were desecrated during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

Demographics

The Jewish Encyclopedia estimated that in 1900 there were 35,000 Persian Jews in Iran (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.

Iranian Jews also emigrated to form smaller communities in Western Europe (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 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 Baháʼí faith.

Iran

Iran's Jewish population was reduced from 150,000 to 100,000 in 1948 to about 80,000 immediately before the Iranian Revolution, 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. In the 2000s, the Jewish population of Iran was estimated by most sources to be 25,000, (sources date from 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively) though estimates varied, with some as high as 40,000 in 1998. and some as low as 17,000 by 2010 However, the official census in August 2012 indicated that there were only 8,756 Jews still living in Iran. In the 2016 Iranian census, the remaining Jewish population of Iran was 9,826 As of 2021, only 8,500 Jews still live in Iran. After Israel, it is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East. 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 allowed one seat in the Majlis.

Israel

Main article: Iranian Jews in Israel

The largest group of Persian Jews is found in Israel. 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.

A June 2009 Los Angeles Times blog article about Iranian-Israeli Jews showing solidarity with the Iranian protestors said, "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. In Israel, Persian Jews are classified as Mizrahim. Both former President Moshe Katsav and former Minister of Defense and former head of the opposition in the Knesset Shaul Mofaz are of Persian Jewish origin. Katsav was born in Yazd and Mofaz was born in Tehran.

Since at least the 1980s, Iranian Jews in Israel have traditionally tended to vote Likud.

United States

The United States is home to 60,000–80,000 Iranian Jews, most of whom have settled in the Greater Los Angeles area, in Great Neck, New York and Baltimore, Maryland. 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 Los Angeles, as well as the San Fernando Valley communities of Tarzana and Encino.

Beverly Hills

See also: History of the Iranians in Los Angeles and History of the Jews in Los Angeles

In particular, Persian Jews make up a sizeable proportion of the population of Beverly Hills, California. Persian Jews constitute a great percentage of the 26% of the total population of Beverly Hills that identifies as Iranian-American. 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. The community is credited with revitalizing Beverly Hills and re-developing its architecture, and for the development of ornate mansions across the city.

According to the US Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey, 26% of Beverly Hills' 34,000 residents are of Iranian origin. On 21 March 2007, Jimmy Delshad, a Persian Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1958, became the Mayor of Beverly Hills. This election made Delshad 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 16 March 2010.

Prominent Persian Jewish congregations in the Los Angeles area include Nessah Synagogue and the Eretz-Siamak Cultural Center. Persian Jews also constitute a large part of the membership at Sinai Temple in Westwood, one of the largest Conservative congregations in the United States.

The Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) of Los Angeles is a prominent non-profit organization that has been serving the Iranian Jewish community of Greater Los Angeles for the last forty-one years. IAJF is a leading organization in their efforts to fight local and global Antisemitism, protect Iranian Jews domestically and abroad, promote a unified community, participating in social and public affairs, provide financial and psychosocial assistance to those in need through philanthropic activities, and more.

New York

Kings Point, a village constituting part of Great Neck, has the greatest percentage of Iranians in the United States (approximately 40%). Unlike the Iranian community in Los Angeles, which contains a large number of non-Jewish Iranians, the Iranian population in and around Great Neck is almost entirely Jewish.

Several thousand of the Great Neck area's 10,000 Iranian Jews trace their origins to the Iranian city of Mashhad, constituting the largest Mashhadi community in the United States. Many Mashhadi crypto-Jews made their Jewish observances more public again following the rise of the secular Pahlavi dynasty upon performing them privately for almost a century. The Mashadi community in Great Neck operates its own synagogues and community centers, and members typically marry within the community.

The Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) of New York has been serving the Iranian Jewish community for the last sixteen years. The organization's goal is to be a unifier amongst Iranian Jews in the Greater New York metropolitan area and engagement in philanthropic activities.

Related Jewish communities

Mountain Jews

The Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus (primarily Dagestan) are direct descendants of Iranian Jews. They took shape as a community after Qajar Iran ceded the areas in which they lived to the Russian Empire as part of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813. 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.

Bukharian Jews

Bukharian Jews traditionally spoke a dialect of Judeo-Persian and lived primarily the region of Central Asia (today modern day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Until the start of the 16th century, the Jews of Iran and Central Asia constituted one community. However, during the Safavid dynasty, Iran adopted the Shia branch of Islam, while Central Asia retained their allegiance to the Sunni branch of Islam. Due to the hostile relationship between the neighboring states because of this, the links between the Jews of the area were severed, and the Jewish community was divided into two similar but separate communities. Most Bukharian Jews have immigrated to Israel or the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Lakhloukh Jews

There are estimated to be approximately four dozen Persian Jewish families living in Kazakhstan, which call themselves Lakhloukh and speak Aramaic. They still hold identity papers from Iran, the country their ancestors left almost 80 years ago. These Persian Jews lived near the border of Iran and commonly practiced trade to sustain their communities. The most popular Lakhloukh Jewish family being the Malihi family, whom are all descendants of Jaha Malihi (A noble in the Persian Empire)

Languages

Iranian Jews speak standard Persian, Kurdish, and other Iranian languages as their primary tongue, but various Jewish languages have been associated with the community over time. They include:

In addition, Iranian Jews in Israel generally speak Hebrew, and Iranian Jews elsewhere will tend to speak the local language (e.g. English in the United States) with sprinkles of Persian and Hebrew.

Many Jews from the Northwest area of Iran speak Lishán Didán or other various dialects of Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Jews from Urmia, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Saqqez, and some other cities all speak various dialects that may or may not be intelligible to each other. There are less than 5,000 known speakers today and the language faces extinction in the next few decades.

Genetics

Further information: Genetic studies on Jews

Genetic studies show that the MtDNA of Persian Jews descend from a small number of female ancestors.

Another study of L. Hao et al. studied seven groups of Jewish populations with different geographic origin (Ashkenazi, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian) and showed that the individuals all shared a common Middle Eastern background, although they were also genetically distinguishable from each other. In public comments, Harry Ostrer, the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University Langone Medical Center, and one of the authors of this study, concluded, "We have shown that Jewishness can be identified through genetic analysis, so the notion of a Jewish people is plausible."

An autosomal DNA study carried out in 2010 by Atzmon et al. examined the origin of Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Turkish, Greek, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi Jewish communities. The study compared these Jewish groups with 1043 unrelated individuals from 52 worldwide populations. To further examine the relationship between Jewish communities and European populations, 2407 European subjects were assigned and divided into 10 groups based on geographic region of their origin. This study confirmed previous findings of shared Middle Eastern origin of the above Jewish groups and found that "the genetic connections between the Jewish populations became evident from the frequent identity by descent (IBD) across these Jewish groups (63% of all shared segments). Jewish populations shared more and longer segments with one another than with non-Jewish populations, highlighting the commonality of Jewish origin. Among pairs of populations ordered by total sharing, 12 out of the top 20 were pairs of Jewish populations, and "none of the top 30 paired a Jewish population with a non-Jewish one". Atzmon concludes that "Each Jewish group demonstrated Middle Eastern ancestry and variable admixture from host population, while the split between Middle Eastern and European/Syrian Jews, calculated by simulation and comparison of length distributions of IBD segments, occurred 100–150 generations ago, which was described as "compatible with a historical divide that is reported to have occurred more than 2500 years ago" as the Jewish community in Iraq and Iran were formed by Jews in the Babylonian and Persian empires during and after Babylonian exile. The main difference between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi/Sephardic Jews was the absence of Southern European components in the former. According to these results, European/Syrian Jewish populations, including the Ashkenazi Jewish community, were formed later, as a result of the expulsion and migration of Jews from the Land of Israel, during Roman rule. Concerning Ashkenazi Jews, this study found that genetic dates "are incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs". Citing Behar, Atzmon states that "Evidence for founder females of Middle Eastern origin has been observed in all Jewish populations based on non-overlapping mitochondrial haplotypes with coalescence times >2000 years". The closest people related to Jewish groups were the Palestinians, Bedouins, Druze, Greeks, and Italians. Regarding this relationship, the authors conclude that "These observations are supported by the significant overlap of Y chromosomal haplogroups between Israeli and Palestinian Arabs with Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations".

In 2011, Moorjani et al. detected 3%–5% sub-Saharan African ancestry in all eight of the diverse Jewish populations (Ashkenazi Jews, Syrian Jews, Iranian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Greek Jews, Turkish Jews, Italian Jews) that they analyzed. The timing of this African admixture among all Jewish populations was identical The exact date was not determined, but it was estimated to have taken place between 1,600 (4th Century AD) and 3,400 (14th Century BC) years ago. Although African admixture was determined among some South European and Near Eastern populations too, this admixture was found to be younger compared to the Jewish populations. This findings the authors explained as evidence regarding common origin of these 8 main Jewish groups. "It is intriguing that the Mizrahi Iranian and Iraqi Jews—who are thought to descend at least in part from Jews who were exiled to Babylon about 2,600 years ago share the signal of African admixture. A parsimonious explanation for these observations is that they reflect a history in which many of the Jewish groups descend from a common ancestral population which was itself admixed with Africans (most likely Ancient Egyptians), prior to the beginning of the Jewish diaspora that occurred in 8th to 6th century BC" the authors concludes.

Medical conditions

Patients with prolonged paralysis following administration of the anaesthetic succinylcholine are often diagnosed with Pseudocholinesterase deficiency which is a clinically silent condition in individuals who are not exposed to exogenous sources of choline esters. One possible outcome beyond prolonged general paralysis is paralysis of the muscles control respiratory function. This condition is found in the general population at a rate of 1 in 3000, while the condition is found in Persian Jews at a rate of 1 in 10.

Prominent Persian Jews

This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Rita Jahanforuz, an Israeli pop star of Persian descent
Sean Rad, founder of Tinder
Mandana Dayani, activist and entrepreneur

Biblical era

Pre-modern era

Politics and military

Science and academia

Business and economics

Art and entertainment

Religious figures

Miscellaneous

See also

References

Notes

  1. Iranian Australian shows that 3% of them are Jewish.

Citations

  1. ^ "Iranian Jews Living in U.S. Have Complex Feelings About Mideast Crisis". Fox News. 7 August 2006. Archived from the original on 8 August 2006.
  2. ^ Why are people going to Iran?. Jpost.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  3. ^ "Jewish Population by Country 2023". worldpopulationreview.com.
  4. "Jews of Iran: A Modern History". myjewishlearning.com.
  5. ^ "Iranian Census Report 2016" (PDF). Iranian Statistics Agency.
  6. "Who Are Jews". University of Washington. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  7. "Persian Gates". Forward.com. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  8. Gorder, Christian (2010). Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Iran. Lexington Books. p. 8.
  9. Kevin Alan Brook. The Jews of Khazaria Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006 ISBN 1442203021 p. 233
  10. "Բեն Օլանդերի հատուկ ներկայացումը Նյու Յորքում նվիրված Ռաուլ Վալլենբերգին,Երեքշաբթի 9 Նոյեմբերի 2010 թ." Friends-of-armenia.org. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  11. James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles Pappas. An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994 ISBN 0313274975 p. 305
  12. Begley, Sharon. (7 August 2012) Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa's Jews | Reuters Archived 29 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine. In.reuters.com. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  13. The Jews of Iraq. Dangoor.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  14. Iran on the Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  15. Iran – Jews. Country-data.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  16. ^ Gorder, Christian (2010). Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Iran. Lexington Books. p. 17.
  17. Grabbe, Lester L. (2004). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah. T & T Clark. p. 355. ISBN 978-0-567-08998-4.
  18. Davies, Philip R. (1995). John D Davies (ed.). Words Remembered, Texts Renewed: Essays in Honour of John F.A. Sawyer. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-85075-542-5.
  19. Winn Leith, Mary Joan (2001) . "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period". In Michael David Coogan (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World (Google Books). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 285. ISBN 0-19-513937-2. LCCN 98016042. OCLC 44650958. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  20. Johnson, Sara Raup (2005). Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity: Third Maccabees in Its Cultural Context. University of California Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-520-23307-2.
  21. http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/exhibit/parthians/essay.html (see esp para's 3 and 5) Archived 5 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  22. http://www.loyno.edu/~seduffy/parthians.html (see esp para. 2) Archived 15 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  23. A brief history of Iranian Jews Archived 2011-07-09 at the Wayback Machine (see esp para. 20)
  24. Art & Culture, Parthia.com
  25. https://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-4.html (see esp para. 5) Archived 22 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  26. Translation of the inscription of Bahram II, cited after A brief history of Iranian Jews Archived 2011-07-09 at the Wayback Machine. The interpretation of the listed terms is based on J. Wiesehöfer, Das antike Persien (1993), p. 266. The translation of mandak (mktky) "baptists" is tentative, and has also been suggested to refer to the Mandaeans, see Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis und Spätantike Religionsgeschichte: Gesammelte Aufsätze (2020), p. 616 fn 22.
  27. Battuta's Travels Archived 31 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ Littman (1979), p. 3
  29. Joanna Sloame Bukharan Jews. Jewish Virtual Library
  30. Lewis (1984), pp. 33–34
  31. Pirnazar, Jaleh. "The "Jadid al-Islams" of Mashhad". Foundation for Iranian Studies. Bethesda, MD. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  32. "BĀBĀʾĪ BEN NŪRĪʾEL – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  33. Lewis (1984), p. 167
  34. Littman (1979), p. 4.
  35. Lewis (1984), p. 168.
  36. Lewis (1984), pp. 181–83
  37. Tahir, Saif (3 March 2016). "The lost Jewish history of Rawalpindi, Pakistan". blogs.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 27 February 2023. The history of Jews in Rawalpindi dates back to 1839 when many Jewish families from Mashhad fled to save themselves from the persecutions and settled in various parts of subcontinent including Peshawar and Rawalpindi.
  38. Considine, Craig (2017). Islam, race, and pluralism in the Pakistani diaspora. Milton: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-46276-9. OCLC 993691884.
  39. Khan, Naveed Aman (12 May 2018). "Pakistani Jews and PTI". Daily Times. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  40. "Rawalpindi – Rawalpindi Development Authority". Rawalpindi Development Authority (rda.gop.pk). Retrieved 27 February 2023. Jews first arrived in Rawalpindi's Babu Mohallah neighbourhood from Mashhad, Persia in 1839, in order to flee from anti-Jewish laws instituted by the Qajar dynasty.
  41. ^ Sohrabi, Narciss M. (2023). "The politics of in/visibility: The Jews of urban Tehran". Studies in Religion. 53: 4. doi:10.1177/00084298231152642. S2CID 257370493.
  42. Fishman, Louis A. (2020). Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914: Claiming the Homeland. Vol. 1. Edinburgh University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4744-5399-8. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctv2f4v64p.
  43. Littman (1979), p. 10
  44. Levy, Habib. "Part 1/ Part 11." Comprehensive History of The Jews of Iran The Outset of the Diaspora, edited by Hooshang Ebrami, translated by George W. Maschke, Mazda Publishers, 1999.
  45. Littman (1979), pp. 12–14
  46. Lewis (1984), p. 183.
  47. ^ Littman (1979), p. 5.
  48. Sanasarian (2000), p. 46
  49. The History Of Jews In Persia/Iran, ParsTimes. 3 July 2000
  50. "Polish Refugees in Iran during World War II". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  51. Dekel, Mikhal (19 October 2019). "When Iran Welcomed Jewish Refugees". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  52. "Iran During World War II and the Holocaust". www.ushmm.org. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  53. Immigration and absorption Archived 2017-05-15 at the Wayback Machine, The Council of Immigrant Associations in Israel (Pop-up info when clicking on Iran)
  54. ^ Sanasarian (2000), p. 47
  55. "An Annotated Bibliography : Amnon Netzer" (PDF). Thegraduatesocietyla.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  56. "Iran Virtual Jewish History Tour". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  57. Sanasarian (2000), p. 48
  58. Iran – Geography. Mongabay.com. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  59. ^ Harrison, Frances (22 September 2006). "Iran's proud but discreet Jews". BBC News. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  60. ^ "Iran Jewish leader calls recent mass aliyah 'misinformation' bid". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  61. ^ "Iran Jewish MP criticizes 'anti-human' Israel acts". Ynetnews. Ynet. 7 May 2008.
  62. "Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran|csmonitor.com". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 30 August 2005.
  63. ^ Roya Hakakian, 'How Iran Kept Its Jews,' Tablet, 30 December 2014.
  64. ^ Iran young, urbanized and educated population: census, Al Arabiya
  65. Trita Parsi, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States, Yale University Press, 2007. p. 8.
  66. Elghanayan, Shahrzad (27 June 2012). "How Iran killed its future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  67. "They Killed My Husband and Took My Home: Religious Minorities in Iran". IranWire | خانه.
  68. "Revolutionary Guards honor Jewish soldiers at religious memorial in Iran". Times of Israel.
  69. ^ Life of Jews Living in Iran. Sephardicstudies.org. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  70. ""Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran"". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 5 December 2006.
  71. Tait, Robert (12 July 2007). "Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  72. Demick, Barbara. "Life of Jews Living in Iran". The Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture (FASSAC). Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  73. Report Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 16 February 2000, cited from Baháʼí Library Online
  74. 2011 General Census Selected Results (PDF), Statistical Center of Iran, 2012, p. 26, ISBN 978-964-365-827-4
  75. Dellapergola, Sergio (2018). "World Jewish Population, 2017". American Jewish Year Book 2017. Vol. 117. pp. 297–377. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70663-4_7. ISBN 978-3-319-70662-7.
  76. ^ Persian Rabbi Archived 2006-05-19 at the Wayback Machine. Persian Rabbi. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  77. Harrison, Francis (22 September 2006). Iran's proud but discreet Jews. BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  78. Iran: Kisher Info and Synagogues Kosher Delight
  79. Khatami Meets Jewish leaders BBC
  80. ^ Report of Iranian President's visit from Yousef-Abad Synagogue, Tehran Iran Jewish
  81. The Jewish Community of Tehran, Iran Kashrut Authorities in Iran and Around the World
  82. Iran: Jewish Leader Criticizes President For Holocaust Denial Radio Free Europe
  83. Iran's Jews uneasy over Holocaust-denier Ahmadinejad Daily Times
  84. On the Jewish Presence in Iranian History Archived 2008-10-18 at the Wayback Machine Monthly Review
  85. Iran President on Holocaust Denial, 23 September 2009, retrieved 20 August 2023
  86. Sinaiee, Maryam (7 October 2008). "Iran's Jews feel very much at home". The National. Archived from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  87. Elias, Bat-Hen Epstein (12 October 2012). "All the Jews there live in fear that their telephones are tapped". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  88. Berman, Lazar (15 November 2021). "In US, Iran's head rabbi says he condemned Soleimani killing to protect Jews". The Times of Israel.
  89. Iranian Jews: 'Take revenge on Israel for Haniyeh assassination' 31 July 2024 Israel National News access-date=1 August 2024
  90. ^ Perelman, Marc (12 January 2007). "Iranian Jews Reject Outside Calls To Leave". Forward.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  91. Hanan Greenwood (12 January 2020). "'The Jews of Iran are in grave peril'". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  92. Theodoulou, Michael (3 February 1998). "Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  93. "Rouhani accommodates Iran's Jewish students". Al-Monitor. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  94. Sciolino, Elaine, Persian Mirrors, Touchstone, (2000), p.218
  95. Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge Middle East Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 150. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511492259. ISBN 978-0-521-77073-6.
  96. Tait, Robert (12 July 2007). "Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  97. Weinthal, Benjamin (19 May 2024). "Iran's regime postpones execution of young Iranian Jew". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  98. Klein, David (19 May 2024). "Iranian Jew's execution reportedly delayed after prayer campaign by Jews around the world". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  99. Second Historic Mission to Iran. Nkusa.org. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  100. Freund, Michael. (2006-03-08) Neturei Karta sect pays visit to Iran|Jewish News|Jerusalem Post. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  101. Kelsey, David. (2006-03-08) Neturei Karta Prepares Persia for Purim with Solidarity Visit. Jewschool. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  102. Rabbis visit Tehran to support call for Israel's destruction, AFP, 12 March 2006
  103. Harrison, Frances. (2006-09-22) Middle East|Iran's proud but discreet Jews. BBC News. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  104. Krichevsky, Lev. (2006-04-20) Tehran Jews Talk of Future in Iran|Community Briefs Archived 2006-05-30 at the Wayback Machine. Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  105. Iranian Jewish Group in Moscow. Iranjewish.com (2006-03-28). Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  106. Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel, The Guardian, Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  107. Iran's Jews spurn cash lure to immigrate to Israel, The Guardian, Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  108. Economy of Iran
  109. Iranian Jews immigrate to Israel, JTA, 25 December 2007
  110. ^ یافته های طرح آمارگیری جامع فرهنگی کشور، فضاهای فرهنگی ایران، آمارنامه اماکن مذهبی، 2003، وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی، ص 344 (Findings of a comprehensive survey of the country's cultural spaces, Iran, religious statistical report, 2003, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, p. 344)
  111. Pleitgen, Frederik. "Iran's Jewish community in Esfahan: We 'feel at home'." CNN. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  112. ^ "Iran Week: Why Some Iranian Jews Stay". Tablet Magazine. 30 June 2017.
  113. Iran. State.gov (2004-01-01). Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  114. "Mullah Moshe Halevi in Kashan". Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  115. Tharoor, Ishaan (18 December 2014). "Iran unveils a memorial honoring Jewish heroes". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  116. Israel National News OCtober 2023
  117. – Statistics. Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  118. The Conversion of Religious Minorities to the Baháʼí Faith in Iran. Bahai-library.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  119. Michael Theodoulou Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran. The Christian Science Monitor. 3 February 1998 Archived 5 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  120. "Jews of Iran and Rabbinical Literature: Preliminary Notes | Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner". Bjpa.org. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  121. Op-Ed Columnist – What Iran's Jews Say. New York Times (2009-02-22). Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  122. שנתון סטטיסטי לישראל 2008 – מספר 59 פרק 2 – מספר לוח 24. Cbs.gov.il. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  123. ^ ISRAEL: Iranian Jews show solidarity with Iranian protesters|Babylon & Beyond|Los Angeles Times. Latimesblogs.latimes.com (2009-06-23). Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  124. Adam Taylor, Israel's Iranian Jews worry about the nuclear deal, Washington Post, 24 April 2015
  125. ^ Iranian Jews Find a Beverly Hills Refuge : Immigrants: Khomeini's revolution drove 40,000 of them into exile. At least 30,000 may live in or near the city that symbolizes weal. Articles.latimes.com (1990-02-13). Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  126. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly; Abdollah, Tami (15 September 2008). "Community torn by tragedy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  127. Bahrampour, Tara. (2009-01-07) Letter from Los Angeles: Persia On the Pacific. The New Yorker. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  128. Iran Native Becomes Mayor of Beverly Hills By Sonya Geis, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, 1 April 2007
  129. ^ Universe: Total population more information 2006–2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Factfinder2.census.gov
  130. West, Kevin (July 2009). "The Persian Conquest". Wmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  131. "Iranian American Jewish Federation".
  132. Mashhadi Jews in New-York. The Scribe. Spring 2003
  133. The double lives of Mashha... JPost – Cafe Oleh – Ask the Experts. Jpost.com. 22 August 2007 Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  134. In Great Neck, New Orthodox Synagogues – New York Times. Nytimes.com (1997-12-14). Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  135. "Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York". Guidestar.
  136. Brook, Kevin Alan (2006). The Jews of Khazaria (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. p. 223. ISBN 978-1442203020. The traditional language of the Mountain Jews, Juhuri, is part of the Iranian language family and contains many Hebrew elements. (...) In reality, the Mountain Jews primarily descend from Persian Jews who came to the Caucasus during the fifth and sixth centuries.
  137. Shapira, Dan D.Y. (2010). "Caucasus (Mountain Jews)". In Stillman, Norman A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Brill Online. The Mountain Jews are an Iranian-speaking community that took shape in the eastern and northern Caucasus after the areas in which they lived were annexed by Russia from Qajar Iran in 1812 and 1813.
  138. Mountain Jews – by Sarah Marcus – Tablet Magazine – A New Read on Jewish Life. Tabletmag.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  139. Ochildiev, D; R. Pinkhasov, I. Kalontarov. A History and Culture of the Bukharian Jews, Roshnoyi-Light, New York, 2007.
  140. "Bukharan Jews". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 31 August 1991. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  141. In Kazakhstan, Jewish Families Carry On a Tradition Born in Persia Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine. Ncsj.org (1951-02-17). Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  142. Judeo-Iranian – Jewish Language Research Website Archived 29 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Jewish-languages.org (2002-12-27). Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  143. Melamed, Karmel. (2007-02-08) Iranian Jews Rediscover Their Roots In Judeo-Persian Literature | Iranian American Jews Archived 2009-05-14 at the Wayback Machine. Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  144. "Glottolog 4.2.1 – Lishán Didán". glottolog.org. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  145. "Israel". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  146. Häberl, Charles. "The Middle East and North Africa". Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages.
  147. "Genetics and the Jewish identity". The Jerusalem Post.
  148. ^ Atzmon G, Hao L, Pe'er I, Velez C, Pearlman A, Palamara PF, Morrow B, Friedman E, Oddoux C, Burns E, Ostrer H (June 2010). "Abraham's children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". American Journal of Human Genetics. 86 (6): 850–9. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015. PMC 3032072. PMID 20560205.
  149. Katsnelson, Alla (3 June 2010). "Jews worldwide share genetic ties". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2010.277.
  150. ^ Ostrer H, Skorecki K (February 2013). "The population genetics of the Jewish people". Human Genetics. 132 (2): 119–27. doi:10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6. PMC 3543766. PMID 23052947.
  151. Balter M (June 2010). "Human genetics. Who are the Jews? Genetic studies spark identity debate". Science. 328 (5984): 1342. Bibcode:2010Sci...328.1342B. doi:10.1126/science.328.5984.1342. PMID 20538924.
  152. Moorjani P, Patterson N, Hirschhorn JN, Keinan A, Hao L, Atzmon G, Burns E, Ostrer H, Price AL, Reich D (April 2011). "The history of African gene flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews". PLOS Genetics. 7 (4): e1001373. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001373. PMC 3080861. PMID 21533020.
  153. "Genes Tell Tale of Jewish Ties to Africa –". Forward.com. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  154. "Pseudocholinesterase Deficiency –". Medigoo.com. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  155. "Review of serial murders in Iran". Aidanederland. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  156. "The Chain Murders". PBS. December 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  157. "Treatment of Muslims with Jewish ancestry". UNHCR. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  158. Parvaneh Vahidmanesh. "Sad Fate of Iran's Jews". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2018. Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, one of the Shia Grand Ayatollahs, who is close to the government, had Jewish ancestors. He is now known as a radical cleric.
  159. "Ayatollah Gives Thumbs Down to Women in Stadiums".
  160. Milani, Abbas (19 December 2008). Eminent Persians The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, Volumes One and Two. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815609070.
  161. "Anna M. Kaplan". 13 November 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  162. "Da Vinci® Prostatectomy – is There Sex After Surgery? Yes – if You Choose the Right Procedure". Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  163. Radjy, Amir-Hussein (18 September 2018). "Ehsan Yarshater, Iran Scholar With a Monumental Vision, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  164. Husain, Ruquiya K. (2004). "Khwaja Israel Sarhad: Armenian Merchant and Diplomat". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 65: 258–266. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44144740.
  165. Fashion's Tahari: `My head's in N.Y., heart's in Israel'|j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California. Jewishsf.com (1996-12-20). Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  166. Schleier, Curt (28 October 1999). "A Night at the Sephardic Film Festival". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  167. "A Prayer for my Father". Jewish Journal. 28 May 2020.

Sources

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Persia". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  • Levy, Habib (1999). Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers.
  • "Iran. 1997" (1997). Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 978-965-07-0665-4
  • Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3.
  • Littman, David (1979). "Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia". The Wiener Library Bulletin. XXXII (New series 49/50).
  • Foltz, Richard (2013). Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present. London: Oneworld publications. ISBN 978-1-78074-308-0.
  • Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77073-6.
  • Shalom, Sabar. "Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (review)". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 95 (2, Spring 2005).
  • Wasserstein, Bernard (2003). "Evolving Jewish Ethnicities or Jewish Ethnicity: End of the Road?". Conference on Contextualizing Ethnicity: Discussions across Disciplines, Center for the International Study of Ethnicity. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Willis, Charles James (2002). Persia as It Is: Being Sketches of Modern Persian Life and Character. Cambridge: Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4021-9297-5.
  • Karmel Melamed, Persian Jews politicking on Rodeo Drive JTA International Wire News Service, 20 February 2007.
  • Houman M. Sarshar: The Jews of Iran. The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World. I.B. Tauris, London/New York 2014, ISBN 978-1-78076-888-5

External links

Media
Miscellaneous
Religion in Iran
Religions
Recognized
Official
Minorities
Unrecognized
Minorities
Other religions
Jews and Judaism
History
Population
Diaspora
Languages
(Diasporic)
Philosophy
Branches
Literature
Culture
Studies
Italics indicate extinct languages
Ethnic groups in Iran
Locals
Immigrants and expatriates
Immigration to Iran
By country
See also
Iran Iranian diaspora
Asia
East
South
Southeast
West
Europe
North America
Oceania
South America
See also
Mizrahi Jews topics
By nationality
History
By community
Languages
Religion and culture
Politics
Sephardi Jewish topics
Origins
Dispersion
Modern history
Languages
Religion and culture
Politics
Major communal organizations
Studies
Other
  Jews and Judaism in Iran  
History
Groups
People
Politics
Other
Synagogues
Schools
(former)


Categories: