An American Journalist's Report on the Jewish Community in Iran

Iran, which has seen rallies and ceremonies for the past 36 years with the constant slogans of 'Death to Israel', remains the homeland and birthplace of the largest Jewish community in the Middle East, after Israel and Turkey. The Jews who have stayed in Iran say they have no intention of leaving. A detailed report recently published by NPR reminds us that the number of remaining Jews in Iran has decreased to 9,000 – while it was estimated that 100,000 to 125,000 Iranian Jews lived comfortably and prosperously in this land during the last year of the Pahlavi monarchy. The NPR journalist, who was invited to Iran on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic and visited Jews in Tehran and Isfahan in their synagogues, writes that understanding the presence of Jews in this country is difficult for those looking at Iran from the outside. However, the NPR journalist writes that in seeking to understand the complexities of the presence of Iranian Jews under the Islamic Republic of Iran, he first visited the kitchen of a Jewish restaurant in Tehran; a restaurant that has been in operation for 35 years. While the Jewish butcher and chefs in the kitchen are preparing kebabs with kosher slaughter, 'David Shomer', the son of the restaurant owner, tells the NPR journalist, to his surprise, that he is personally aware that there are many other restaurants that are considered better than this one, but the Shomer family restaurant still has its customers. In response to the NPR journalist's question, 'What does being Jewish in the Islamic Republic of Iran mean?', David Shomer laughs and says, 'Everything is great; I have a car, I have a job, and everything I want is provided for me here.' While a sign of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the regime, and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is installed on the wall of the restaurant, David Shomer also claims that Jews are citizens with equal rights in Iran. The NPR journalist notes that the Iranian regime also uses the presence of Jews in this country to prove its claim of having a tolerant society. But this is not new; Jews have lived in Iran for over 2,700 years, and their existence in this land is part of the history of the Middle East. Siamak Marzban, the representative of Jews who is one of five representatives of religious minorities in the parliament, recounts part of this history for the American journalist. Marzban, who is a general surgeon, states that 'Iran is a country of incredible contradictions' while he himself continuously smokes Winston cigarettes and adds that here, where the biggest political problem is with Israel, you can see one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East. The 'Sepehr' hospital, which Dr. Marzban manages in southern Tehran, has a long history of charitable work, but recently most of its staff and patients are also Muslims. This hospital, like in the days of Dr. 'Sepehr', is still a place for free treatment for followers of all religions; a place where the NPR journalist met Dr. Marzban. The representative of Jews in the parliament was taken on a recent trip to New York with Hassan Rouhani; however, Ahmadinejad also took him with him on his controversial trips to New York. Marzban emphasized in these trips in fluent English, including in interviews with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, that in the conflict between Israel and Iran over Iran's nuclear program, he accepts the belief that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'not to dictate terms for the people of the region.' Jews have been scattered in Iraq and Iran since being exiled from their ancient homeland to Babylon; nearly three thousand years have passed since the formation of the first Jewish community in Iran. During the time of Cyrus the Great, the only person referred to as 'the savior' in the entire Torah, he freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity and sent a caravan with trusted individuals and important treasures taken from the Jewish Temple in the ancient land of Israel by invaders back to Jerusalem to restore it to the Jewish holy temple. Some of the Jews freed from Babylon went with this caravan to Jerusalem, but the rest remained in the land of Iran under the rule of Cyrus the Achaemenid. The descendants of the Jews who remained in Iran after Cyrus's decree of freedom lived in this land for nearly three more centuries and even stayed during the Mongol invasion until the 1980s and 1990s of the 20th century, when the Islamic Republic came to power in Iran, which made anti-Israel sentiment and slogans of 'Death to Israel' its hallmark, leading to an unprecedented emigration of Jews from Iran to other parts of the world. The continuity of Jewish life in Iran for nearly three thousand years was only shaken after the establishment of the Islamic Republic; the execution of Habib Elghanian, one of the great Jewish philanthropists and a wealthy merchant accused of having connections with Israel, frightened many Jews. However, Dr. Marzban explains to the NPR journalist, like dozens of other journalists who have interviewed him over the years in Iran and abroad, that 'a distinction must be made between Judaism and Zionism.' 'Zionism' in Hebrew means the nationalism of the Jewish people. Many Iranian Jews believe in their ethnic nationalism but refrain from expressing it in Iran, emphasizing that if Iranian nationalism is a pride for Iranians, why should Jews deny their nationalism? Dr. Marzban takes pride in the fact that Jews with professional and scientific capabilities in today's Iran can still contribute to society, but government jobs are still not given to them; a fact that Marzban speaks of with Iranian modesty and only states that he hopes the day will come when Jews will have access to government jobs. Recently, Sheikh Ali Younesi, an advisor to Hassan Rouhani, officially announced that Jewish students studying in other schools are allowed to not attend school on Saturday, the holy day of the week for Jews. The NPR journalist, during his trip to Iran and while in Isfahan, also visited the synagogue of the city's Jews and arrived there while the morning prayer was in progress. According to this American journalist, Iran, with many historical attractions and its vibrant people, is seeking to attract more tourists during Hassan Rouhani's era; he has seen many Iranians eager to improve relations with America but writes that they are hesitant about the realization of this desire. A relatively elderly man in Isfahan approached this journalist and said in English that he had lived in America for 20 years and also has American citizenship but decided to return to Iran. He introduces himself as Daniel Aineh-Sazan, who was previously a resident of New York; the Aineh-Sazan family is from Isfahan's Jews. Mr. Daniel, who returned to Isfahan to mourn his mother's death, has not found a wife in America and is now seeking help for his life in Isfahan but has come to the conclusion that the Jewish community in Isfahan has significantly diminished. The NPR journalist concludes his article by stating that in a Middle East that today faces religious violence and intolerance towards religious minorities, 'Jews in Iran are resisting this trend on a daily basis.'