SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
269
MESAMED VLADIMIR
Professor at the University of Jerusalem, Israel
The Jewish Community of Iran: Ambivalence of Existence
under the Regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Abstract. The Jewish community of Iran is today the largest in the Middle East. Many
other Jewish communities in this region finished their life being, for centuries, a symbol
of the co-existence between Muslims and Jews. However, the Jewish presence in the
Islamic Republic of Iran did not complete and now numbers, according to various
estimates, 16-18 thousand persons. Even before the Islamization of the Middle East, Iran
became one of the most important centers of Jewish life. During the Islam era, the
situation of non-Muslim minorities began to be determined by general Muslim legal
norms. A significant aggravation in the situation of Iranian Jews was opened with the
declaration of Shiism as the state religion of Iran in the period of the Safavids (1502-
1736). In the era of the Kajar rule (1796–1925), religious and social restrictions
remained a daily reality. The 20th century turned out to be truly revolutionary for Iranian
Jews. Constitutionalist Revolution of 1905-1911 proclaimed the equality of all faiths,
including Jews, who received the right to representation in Iranian parliament. The
policy of Iranian nationalism in 1930-1970. was welcomed by most of the Jews, who felt
themselves as a part of the cultural heritage of the country and its ancient history.
But despite the apparent conformity of the bulk of Iranian Jews, it soon became clear
that it would be difficult for Iranian Jews to fit into the new conditions that were
governed by the country's ongoing policy of total Islamization of Iranian society, and a
radical restructuring of all spheres of life. The policy of the Islamic regime in the
country towards the Jewish religious minority proceeds from the following postulate: a
clear differentiation is made between Jews, on the one hand, and Israel and Zionism, on
the other. However, the declarations of the Islamic leaders of IRI show that they identify
Iranian Jews with Israel and Zionism, sometimes wrapping it in sophisticated verbal
forms from which primitive anti-Semitism is appearing.
Keywords and expressions: Iranian Jewish community,. Safavids, the constitutional
revolution, cultural heritage, the Islamic regime, Israel and Zionism.
Аннотация.
Эроннинг яҳудийлар жамоаси бугунги кунда Яқин Шарқдаги энг
йирик жамоадир. Ушбу минтақадаги кўплаб бошқа яҳудий жамоалари асрлар
давомида мусулмонлар ва яҳудийлар ўртасида яшашнинг рамзи бўлган ўз ҳаёт-
ларини тугатдилар. Аммо, Эрон Ислом Республикасида яҳудийлар ҳозирги кунда
ҳам мавжуд ва турли хил ҳисоб-китобларга кўра 16-18 минг кишидан иборат. Яқин
Шарқ исломлаштирилишидан олдин ҳам Эрон яҳудийлар жамоасининг энг муҳим
марказларидан бирига ҳисобланарди. Ислом даврида мусулмон бўлмаган озчилик-
ларнинг аҳволи умумий мусулмон ҳуқуқий меъёрлари асосида белгиланишш бошлан-
ди. Эронлик яҳудийларнинг аҳволи кескин равишда ўзгарди. Сафавийлар (1502-1736)
даврида шиялик Эроннинг давлат дини деб эълон қилинди. Кажар ҳукмронлиги
даврида (1796-1925) диний ва ижтимоий чекловлар кунлик ҳақиқат бўлиб қолди.
20-аср Эрон яҳудийлари учун чинакам инқилобий бўлиб чиқди. 1905-1911 йиллардаги
конституциявий инқилоб Эрон парламентида вакиллик ҳуқуқини олган барча
динларнинг, шу жумладан яҳудийларнинг тенглигини эълон қилди.
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
270
Аммо Эрон яҳудийлари учун мамлакатни бутунлай исломлаштириш сиёсати ва
янги тузилмаларни тубдан қайта қуриш билан бошқариладиган янги шартларга
мослашиш қийин бўлиши аниқ эди.
Таянч сўз ва иборалар: Эрон яҳудийлар жамоаси, Сафавийлар, конституция-
вий инқилоб, маданий мерос, исломий режим, Исроил ва сионизм.
Аннотация. Еврейская община Ирана является ныне крупнейшей на Ближнем
Востоке за пределами Израиля. Большинство других еврейских общин стран региона
уже полностью или в основном завершили свое существование, будучи в течение многих
веков своеобразным символом сосуществования между мусульманами и иудеями.
Еврейское присутствие в Иране продолжается и сегодня, и община является вполне
жизнеспособной, насчитывая, по различным оценкам, 16-18 тысяч человек. Еврейская
община Ирана имеет весьма длительную историю, будучи еще до исламизации региона
одним из важнейших центров еврейской жизни. Социально-политические условия ее
существования в исламскую эпоху определялись и определяются действующими в
исламском сообществе юридическими нормами, касающимися немусульманских рели-
гиозных меньшинств. Во время правления династий Сефевидов ((1502-1736) и Каджа-
ров (1796-1925) иранские евреи подвергались насильственной исламизации и всяческим
притеснениям. Конституционалистская революция 1905-1911 г. даровала иранским
евреям подлинное равенство со всеми другими конфессиями. Настоящего расцвета
община достигла при династии Пехлеви, особенно при последнем шахе Мохаммаде-Резе.
В период после победы в стране Исламской революции иранская еврейская община
пребывает в состоянии амбивалентности. Одновременно с официально декларирован-
ной ныне действующей Конституцией полноправием иудаизма как признанной религии,
иранские евреи зачастую олицетворяются с Израилем, который объявлен в стране
врагом действующего режима.
Опорные слова и выражения: Иранская еврейская община, Сефевиды, консти-
туционная революция, культурное наследие, исламский режим, Израиль и сионизм.
Background.
Nowadays the majority of the Jewish communities in the Middle
East region are in danger of completely disappearing. It was these communities that
were symbolizing the coexistence of Jews and Muslims during many centuries. In the
countries of the Near East with the predominance of Muslim population, personalities
of Jewish origin outstanding in art and science had been living and working. Intensified
after the formation of the State of Israel, the process of repatriation of Jews to their
historical homeland led to a real political exodus of Jewish communities from Islamic
countries, forced by political and ideological factors. In Syria, for example, you’ll
hardly find a Jew, whereas there were numerous and prosperous Jewish communities
there, whereas it was one of the centers of Jewish scholarship in the Middle Ages, and
the books of Syrian rabbis were well known in Europe and published all over the world.
Practically depleted is the Jewish life in Egypt, with which the whole history of Jews’
formation is intrinsically linked. It was here that the main events of Jewish history
happened – the deliverance from slavery and the exodus. In the Middle Ages Jewish
life became again active, and Jewish education reached the highest level. It was in
Egypt that such a genius of Jewish scholarship as Saadia Gaon flourished. On the eve
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
271
of the State of Israel’ foundation, 65,000 Jews lived in Egypt, and the community was
considered as the most urbanized and emancipated in Asia and Africa. Nowadays it
consists only of dozens of people. The opening of the historical synagogue Eliyahu
Hanavi in January 2020 in Alexandria, after a major reconstruction, had a main goal to
preserve the memory of this important part of the centuries-old life of Egyptian
society
1
. But at the same time, this is a sign that people in the country are hoping for
revival of Jewish community. Egyptian President al-Sisi invited Jews to return to his
country. “He wants the Jews to breathe new life into the country’s economy, since in
those days when one of the largest Jewish communities of the Arab East lived in the
country, Egypt was experiencing years of economic prosperity”
2
. Almost interrupted is
the Jewish life in Yemen, where the Jewish history dates back to the time of King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
3
. It is regrettable to note the disappearance of Jewish
life in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Of course against such a
background, the many thousandth Jewish presence in the Islamic Republic of Iran can
be considered quite unprecedented. Today, the largest Jewish community of the Middle
East outside Israel lives in Egypt. Its quantitative indicators vary. In 2015, a deputy of
the Iranian parliament from the Jewish community of the country Siamak More-Seddek
determined the number of Jews living in Iran at 25 thousand people. The Russian
researcher L. Ravandi-Fadai estimated the number of Iranian Jews similarly
4
. We are
inclined to rate the size of the community at 20 thousand people. The Jewish presence
in the region of the historical Iran dates back to the period of 28 centuries ago, in the
VIII B.C., when in result of the Assyrian captivity the inhabitance of Galilee went to
Media, the first major state in the territory of modern Iran. Two centuries later, in 550
B.C., the Iranian king Cyrus (Persian Kurosh) founded the Achaemenid empire, within
the border of which all Jews of that time lived. Even after promulgation in 538 BC of
the famous declaration of this king, which allowed Jews to “return to Zion”
5
, a
significant part of the Jews, almost completely assimilated and achieved social and
economic well-being, preferred to remain in the Achaemenid empire. Thus, the first
core of the Jewish Diaspora east of Euphrates, in the territory of modern Iran, was
founded. For many centuries, Jews were living there in peace, and their life in the
foreign environment was defined by the famous saying of the prophet Jeremiah: “seek
the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile”. It is in the
1
Eliyahu Hanavi: What reopening the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue means for Egypt / January 22,
2020.
-
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/egypt-opens-eliyahu-hanavi-
2
Egypt has invited Jews to return to the country - https://radis.org/?p=23861 February 25, 2019
3
Miryam Tangi.A Memory of the Last Jews of Yemen/ - https://blog.nli.org.il/en/yemen-
4
Раванди-Фадаи, Л.М. Этно-конфессиональные проблемы в современном Иране // Иран при
М. Ахмадинежаде. М.: ИР РАН, 2013. С.180. According to other estimates it is “less than 10,
000 people”. [Israel Ha-yom, December 16, 2019. P.3].
5
Иерусалим в веках. Часть 2. Тель-Авив: Открытый университет Израиля, 1997. С. 13.
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
272
context of the benevolent attitude of Iranian kings toward Jews that the appearance of such
historical characters as Mordecai and Esther can be explained. To Esther is devoted one of
the books of the canonical Jewish Bible, she is the central character there. In memory of
these events the annual Jewish holiday Purim has been established, it is now one of official
holidays in the state of Israel. In December 2008 the Iranian authorities declared the tomb
of Queen Esther in Hamadan province a national heritage site.
Jewish communities, living for centuries in Iranian states, were deeply influenced
by Iranian culture and religion. On the eve of Iran’s Islamization a fairly large and well
organized Jewish community was living there, developing the local self-government.
The authorities showed sufficient tolerance towards the Jewish community: Jews were,
for example, in governmental structures, reaching the very top of them. There were
even mixed marriages. An example is the King Yazdegerd I who married a Jewish girl,
Shushandoht. However, persecution of Jews was also known. They reached a peak
under King Peroz. In 472, the Jewish community of one of the country’s oldest cities,
Isfahan, was accused of killing two Zoroastrian (this was the country’s official religion)
priests. This accusation was enough to kill half of the Isfahan Jewish community,
destroy all the synagogues of the city and forbid the study of the Torah. However, the
last century of the Jews of pre-Islamic Iran was quiet, demonstrating the possibility of
genuine interfaith harmony. With the turn to Islam in the VII century, the situation of
non-Muslim minorities began to be determined by general Muslim legal norms. Even
during the life of the prophet Muhammad, Jews, along with Christians, were recognized
as “people of the Book”, which gave them protection of life and property and the right
to practice their religion. At the same time, they had no political rights and were
significantly infringed on civil rights. Their traditional occupations have also changed.
Whereas under the Sassanids many Jews were engaged in agricultural production, with
the advent of Islam and the introduction of a significant land tax in the caliphate, many
former Jewish farmers were forced to look for other areas of employment. In the X
century the prohibition of Jews from joining the civil service and holding any official
post that would give them power over Muslims came into force. Gradually, in the
largest cities of Iran at that time - Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz - wealthy merchants from
among local Jews were appearing, who began to participate in large financial
operations, acquire international trade skills, having gained strong positions in the
financial sphere over time. This, however, did not remove the acuteness of the principle
of separating Jews from Muslims. To the X century peculiar mandatory dress codes for
the Jewish community of Iran are developing, in particular, Jews were ordered to wear
yellow stripes on their clothe
1
. Mongol invasion of Iran in the 13th century was marked
by rare religious tolerance, for the Mongols who conquered Iran were pagan shamanists.
They treated Jews quite favorably, and the latter went during this through the period of
prosperity and full use of their abilities, having a unique opportunity to actively
participate in government affairs. It was then that such prominent Jewish statesmen
1
Штереншис М.В. Евреи: история нации. Израиль, Герцлия: Исрадон, 2008. С. 239.
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
273
entered the political arena as Sa’ad al-Dowla, Rashid al-Din, Abu-Said Bakharhan Ilhani,
"who made a career in the administrative system of the Mongol rulers in Iran."
1
Then the Torah was first translated into Farsi, Jewish-Persian literature was
developing. However, in those same years the first Jewish pogroms were noted - in
1291 in Tabriz
2
. The conquest of Iran by the Timurids at the end of the fourteenth
century have been particularly devastating for the Jewish community, which at that
time suffered innumerable losses from the cruelty of the conquerors. However, in cities
where the population did not resist and agreed to pay tribute to the conquerors, Timur’s
troops did not touch anyone. This is exactly what happened in Shiraz in 1388, where a
large Jewish community lived, including more than 10 thousand people
3
. A significant
deterioration in the situation of Iranian Jews was recorded after the declaration of
Shiism as the state religion of Iran during the rule of the Safavids (1502 - 1736), which
is associated with the essence of this trend in Islam, characterized by an acute
intolerance of the “infidels.” Hatred of the Jews reached its peak at that time, the mass
expulsion of Jews from their homes, the destruction of homes and synagogues, and a
sharp increase in the tax burden became common. The sacred property of the Jewish
community was destroyed - the Torah scrolls, books of the sages. In Isfahan, Shah
Abbas I ordered wild dogs to attack religious authorities of the Jewish community, they
were bit to death. This happened on the central square of the city in the presence of a
large crowd of people
4
.
Unprecedented size reached the violent Islamization. Although Jews who had
converted to Islam were under the constant control of the clergy, as well as despite the
exemption of these “new non-Jews” from tax, the vast majority of “new Muslims”
(Jadid ol-Islam) continued to secretly practice their former religion. Under the Afshar
dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1736 to 1795, the level of Shiite extremism was
significantly reduced, and the first shah of this dynasty, Nadir Shah Afshar, even tended
to equalize Jews with Muslims in their rights. To this end, as a preliminary step, he
allowed them to settle in the holy Shiite city of Mashhad. However, the positive
measure did not go beyond this.
Under the Kajar dynasty (1796 - 1925), countless religious and social restrictions
have become the daily reality of the life of the Jewish community. Their whole life has
become a chain of brutal persecutions and harassments. In Iranian society, Jews were
considered inferior beings - “najes”. This is how the Muslim population of Iran perceived
them: “They ... are not protected and treated with the most terrible contempt and, when
1
Shterenshis M. Tamerlan and the Jews. London and New York: Routledge Curson, 2002. P.24
2
Shterenshis M. Tamerlan and the Jews. P.24.
3
Jewish Communities in the East in XIX-XX c. Iran. - Ed. By Haim Saadun. Jerusalem: Ministry
of Education of Israel. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 2005. P. 78 (Hebrew).
Jewish Communities in the East in XIX-XX c.
4
Amnon Netzer. History of Jews in New Time. - Tel Aviv, 1982, p. 227 (Farsi)
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
274
appropriate, each one tries to express them his hostility”
1
. The famous orientalist and
traveler Arminius Vambery, a Hungarian Jew by birth, who was wandering a lot in the
XIX century in Iran, described the situation of Iranian Jews of that time as follows: "I do
not know any more miserable, helpless, and pitiful individual on God’s earth than the
Jahudi in those countries."
2
Here is another testimony: Justin Perkins writes in his book
“A Residence of Eight Years in Persia” (1843) about the life of Jews in the northern Iran:
"... if the Messiah does not come immediately, the Jews will be destroyed."
3
Besides of
all this, the terrible unsanitary conditions inherent the whole Iran at that time led to
epidemics that took off in the middle of the 19th century the lives of almost half of the
Jews living in the country. The remaining ones were concentrated mainly in Hamadan,
Tehran, Yazd, Shiraz, Isfahan, Urmia, Kermanshah, Mashhad, and some other cites . The
Muslim population around them was mostly hostile to Jews.
In the second half of the XIX century information about the plight of Iranian Jews
has reached Europe, and authoritative international organizations appealed to their
governments to put pressure on the Iranian authorities and demand that they stop
discrimination against Jews. Iranian Jews associated many hopes for improving their
situation with the visits of Iranian monarch Nasr al-Din-Shah to Europe in 1873, 1878
and 1889. Since Iran at that time was modernizing at an accelerated pace, and the shah
tried to present himself as a progressive and liberal ruler in the eyes of Europeans, in
many European capitals deputies of the most influential Jews were organized and
submitted petitions to the Iranian shah with requests to ease the situation of Iranian
Jews. At a meeting in Paris in July 1873, a Jewish delegation was presented to the
Iranian shah, led by Isaac Cremieux (1796 - 1880), a well-known French statesman,
lifelong Senator of the National Assembly, who told him about repressions against his
Jewish subjects. ”The Shah replied in rage that this was utter nonsense, and that he was
treating the Jews in his country even better than the Muslims.”
4
However, the European
voyages of the Iranian Shah resulted in some facilitation of the living conditions of
local Jews; this travels convinced him of the need to improve the lives of Jews and
repeal the excessively odious anti-Jewish laws. At the same time, they acquainted the
Europeans with the fully isolated Eastern Jewish community.
The Fateful XX century: rise and fall
At the turn of the XIX - XX centuries the main occupations of the Jews were small-
scale trade, various crafts, and usury. Among the Jews there were representatives of
professions “not approved by Islam” - dancers, musicians. At the same time, in the
literacy rate Jews significantly exceeded the Muslim population, where even half of the
1
Риттих П.А. Политико-статистический очерк Персии. Спб., 1896. С. 49. (Political and
statistical essay about Persia).
2
Vambery A. The Story of My Struggles. London: T. Fisher Udwin, 1905. P. 424.
3
Cited from: David Menashri. Jews in Iran in the periods of Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic
republic (manuscript), Tel Aviv, 2005, p.2 (Hebrew).
4
Amnon Netzer. History of Jews in New Time. - Tel Aviv, 1982, p. 243 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
275
merchants were illiterate. In Jewish population, the literacy reached 90% among men,
and 20% among women.
1
XX century turned out to be truly revolutionary for Iranian Jews, the number of
which at the beginning of the century was rated by researchers at 83 thousand people
2
.
As for the whole country, the century began with the Constitutionalist Revolution of
1905 - 1911, which Iranian Jews warmly welcomed
3
. It established a parliament,
abolished conservative feudal institutions, and proclaimed the equality of all faiths,
including that of Jews, who received the right to be representated in the parliament.
However, the actual emancipation of Iranian Jewry is associated with the establishment
of a new Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. Its founder Reza Shah Pahlavi set as his goal the
secularization and modernization of the country, for which he planned to implement a
series of significant social and economical reforms. It should be noted that Reza Shah
did not have much sympathy for Jews, although he was not noticed in anti-Semitism
either. The rise to power of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran significantly reduced the level of
religious dominance and undoubtedly had a positive impact on the development of
Jewish community life in the country. Positive were also numerous reforms in socio-
political and cultural life, as well as the transition to a secular education system.
Jews were now allowed to study at state educational institutions, enter the civil
service, and serve in the army and gendarmerie. It is undoubtedly important that they
were allowed to live not only in Jewish quarters. The exit of Jews from the ghetto took
place first in large cities and was gradually spreading throughout the country.
One of the many other reforms was the introduction of a uniform type of clothing
for all citizens of the country, which reduced discrimination of Jews at the everyday
life. An important stage in the development of the Jewish education network was the
opening of the largest school in Iran,“Kurosh”, in the capital of the country in 1931.
The first weekly newspaper written in Judeo-Persian “Shalom” has been launched
in Iran, marking an important stage in the “national awakening of Iranian Jews.”
4
1930
- 1940 were the time of cultural flourishing of Iranian Jewish community. In 1948, the
Jewish population of Iran exceeded 100 thousand people
5
. Theater groups and musical
ensembles arose, which gained fame in the whole Iran. National intellectuals appeared.
The most brilliant of them was Solayman Haïm, famous as the “father of modern
Persian lexicography”
6
, who published, starting in 1937, the first Farsi-English and
1
Кузнецова Н.А. Иран в первой половине XIX века. М.: «Наука», 1983. С. 182. (Iran in the
first half of XIX c).
2
Тер-Оганов Н. Евреи Персии на рубеже XIX – XX веков // «Корни», Москва-Киев, №24,
октябрь-декабрь 2004. С. 116-124. (Persia on the turn of XIX – XX c.)
3
The book on Jewish quarter in Tehran, which was destroyed by the Islamic regime.
https://radis.org/?p=9706, May 30, 2019.
4
Levy H. Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1999. С. 511.
5
«Исраэль ха-Йом, December 16, 2019, p.3 (Hebrew)
6
50
th
Death Anniversary of Solayman Haim, the outstanding author of bilingual Persian
Dictionaries. -
https://radis.org/?p=42580, February 4, 2020 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
276
Farsi-French dictionaries. S. Haim was one of the first Iranian Jews to receive a modern
secular education at the American College in Tehran. Reforms in the field of economics
allowed Iranian Jews to show their business ability and initiative, which for centuries
were limited due to living in the ghetto. At the legislative level, the taking of the
humiliating per capita taxation jizya from Jews was stopped. The policy of Iranian
nationalism and exaltation of pre-Islamic history of the country, praising its identity
under Reza Shah was approved by the majority of Jews, who felt that they were part of
the cultural heritage of the country and its ancient history. However, a real flourishing
the Iranian Jewish community in all spheres of life was experienced during the years of
the “white revolution” associated with Iran’s exit from the crisis situation in domestic
and foreign policy by the beginning of the 1960s. The ambitious plans of Shah
Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi to turn the country into the “fifth industrial power of the
world” and bring it “to a highest civilization”
1
were a very difficult task, given that in
the early 1960s 82% of the country’s population lived below the official subsistence
level, and Iran was an economically fairly weak state. As Dahlia Sofer, a contemporary
American writer of Iranian-Jewish origin, wrote, the Shah wanted “that both he and his
country should be as they could never be."
2
Nevertheless, the Shah worked out and
implemented a comprehensive socio-economic and political stabilization program,
called the “White Revolution”. These one and a half decades - 1963 – 1978 - were a
time of significant success in the country’s industrial development, of reforms in the
agricultural sector, and notable cultural transformations. A “quite modern and
diversified infrastructure”
3
was created in the country. During the years of the “White
Revolution”, the Jewish community in Iran underwent unprecedented development and
began to really enjoy almost absolute cultural and religious autonomy. As for political
rights, the position of the Jews in these years was practically no different from that of
Muslim population of the country.
The cultural and educational standard of living of Iranian Jews has noticeably
increased; in their midst such specialists as doctors, engineers, pharmacologists, and
university professors have become frequent. The prestige and role of Iranian Jews in the
country’s life was greatly enhanced by the growth of Israel’s international prestige,
especially after its victory in the Six Day War in June 1967, and the success of the
Jewish state in the development of advanced technologies, economics, culture, science.
Moreover, very important were bilateral relations between Iran and Israel, which
reached their peak during this period. They were of a mutually beneficial nature and
fully met the expectations of Iranian government. For Shah Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi,
who considered himself as the successor to the legendary Cyrus, the heyday of the
1
Агаев С.Л. Иран между прошлым и будущим. События, люди, идеи. М.: Издательство
политической литературы, 1987. С.6. (Iran between past and future. Events, people, ideas).
2
Софер Д. Сентябри Шираза. М.: «Книжники», «Текст», 2009. С. 138. (The Septembers of
Shiraz).
3
Иранская революция 1978 – 1979. Причины и уроки. М.: «Наука», Гл. ред. восточной
литературы, 1989. С. 24. (Iranian revolution’s causes and lessons).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
277
country’s Jewish community and the high level of relations with Israel really
demonstrated his loyalty to the national values and ideals of history and had a
significant ideological meaning. On the eve of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, its Jewish
community - approximately 80 thousand people - made up less than 0.25% of the
country’s population. However, the economic weight of the community, its
professional level and cultural potential were much higher than this indicator. It was
rightfully considered one of the richest Jewish communities in the world. Most Jews
belonged to the middle class. Among the 4 thousand professors and senior lecturers of
Iranian universities and colleges, there were 80 Jews, which was 2%. Two of them
were holders of the highest state award in the field of science: prof. Iraj Lalhazari - the
Dean of the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Tehran University, and Professor in Genetics
Shmuel Rahbar, who worked in the department of biochemistry of the same university.
Jews were on the eve of the Islamic Revolution 6% of physicians, 4% of approximately
69,000 Iranian university students
1
, and the majority of them were studying the most
prestigious specialties. An indicator of the special attitude towards the community was
the fact that the organization of Jewish students was the only public structure of Iranian
university students officially allowed by the authorities
2
. On the eve of the Islamic
Revolution, in 1978, in the Jewish community of Iran more than 90% of men under the
age of 60 and about 70% of women were literate, which was significantly higher than
the national average - 69% among men and 48% among women
3
.
During the “White Revolution” (1963 - 1978), the Jewish community in Iran
underwent an unprecedented development and began to really enjoy absolute cultural
and religious autonomy. Yeshivas (religious schools) appeared, and the number of
schools where Jewish disciplines were taught increased. In Tehran alone, about 30
synagogues were functioning. The leadership of the country’s Jewish community, its
religious authorities, maintained close relations with the last Iranian monarch
Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi and more than once received an audience in Shah’s palace.
As it was already mentioned, the successes of Israel played an important role for the
Jewish life in Iran. The partnership with Iran since the second half of the 1950s until the
end of the 1970s helped Israel to solve the problem with oil supply. In those years, 60 -
90% of oil import to Israel were from Iran. Iran was the only Muslim country violating
the Arab embargo on oil supplies to Israel. Before the Islamic revolution 1979 there
was a rather strong Jewish community in Iran, as was already mentioned above. In
spite of this, negative phenomena were felt in the life of the community. Jewish exit
from the ghetto weakened ties between community members. The retreat of a
significant part of youth from religion has become noticeable. In these years, a
phenomenon was noted that was difficult to predict only a few decades ago: among
1
Menashri D. Education and the Making of Modern Iran. Ithaca and London: Cornell University
Press, 1992. P. 213
2
Ibid. P. 295.
3
Ibid.
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
278
Jews mixed marriages, although relatively few, were registered, mainly with Muslims
1
.
These cases were seen by the religious leaders of the community as a danger for Iranian
Jews to lose their identity and to assimilate.
There were more serious challenges as well. The “White Revolution” was going in
Iran hand in hand with accelerated modernization and westernization, which motivated
the majority of the Muslim population dominating the country to return to traditional
moral values. For ordinary people, this was associated with religion, Islam, and the
clergy came to the forefront. They led the rise of the anti-Shah movement, which
became noticeable in Iran in the mid-1970s. The traditional clergy in Iran was opposed
to the monarch and for centuries hostile to the Jews. They considered them as the
Shah’s “fifth column”. The Six-day war of Israel with the Arab countries of 1967 led to
an aggravation of relations between the radical Muslim clergy and the Jewish
community of Iran. That is why in all anti-government demonstrations organized by the
opposition, mostly religious, anti-Israel slogans were appearing. Israel was considered
the main partner of the “dictatorial and anti-national regime of the Shah.” Often,
participants in anti-Shah demonstrations demanded the deportation of Iranian Jews to
Israel
2
. In such situations, cases of the devastation of Jewish community institutions in
the capital and on the periphery of the state have been repeatedly noted.
All former benefits of Iranian Jews turned evil to them. Their economic prosperity,
proximity to the Shah, support for his political course, solidarity with Israel and with
the “American imperialism” did not bode well for the Jewish community of the country
in the light of a noticeable weakening of central authority and the strengthening of anti-
Shah opposition. It is clear that anti-Semitic sentiments have risen sharply in Iranian
society. This can be judged by the text of the leaflet, which was sent to the addresses of
the Jews or pasted on the doors of their apartments and houses in the summer of 1978.
Here is a small excerpt from it.
WARNING
For information of the Jewish community of Iran
“Hey, you, the blood drinkers of each of us Muslims, who have accumulated and
are accumulating our wealth at our expense in our Muslim country! You have taken
possession of our homes, our property, our shops, our gardens and plantations, and it is
because of you that prices are rising daily. The end of your golden life has come. We
warn you: leave our country as soon as possible. If you do not follow our call, we will
wipe out you all, young and old. You don’t have much time left to escape. National
Front of Islamic Youth of Iran. June 2, 1978. “
3
The events of September 8, 1978, when bloody clashes between government forces
and anti-Shah opposition forces, accompanied by numerous victims, gave a new
impetus to anti-Jewish sentiments. Rumors circulated in Tehran that Israeli troops
participated in the crackdown of the demonstrations. Publications of the Iranian press,
1
Sanasarian E. Religious minorities in Iran. Cambridge: University Press, 2000. P.7.
2
Jewish communities on the East in XIX - XX c. – P.21
3
Cited from: D.Menashri. Iran during the Revolurion. – Tel Aviv, 1995. P. 196-197 (Hebrew).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
279
which reported that numerous Iranian Jews were active on the side of the Israeli
military formations, also contributed to the escalation of anti-Jewish sentiments. In such
circumstances, the leadership of the Jewish community considered it reasonable to
dissociate themselves from the Shah and show solidarity with the participants of
demonstrations having anti-state slogans in November 1978. Thereby Jewish
population was expressing full support for the impending Islamic revolution.
There was no unity within the Jewish community in relation to the dramatically
changed reality. A significant part of young people, mostly educated, who have strayed
from Zionism and, quite in the spirit of new trends in society, identified themselves with
the anti-monarchist forces. They were proponents of leftist ideology, and in opposition to
the traditional part of the community, which saw a real threat in future events.
On February 13, 1979, two days after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the
leadership of the Jewish community organized a demonstration in Tehran under the
banner of supporting the new regime. But despite the apparent conformity of the bulk of
Iranian Jews, it soon became clear that it would be difficult for Iranian Jews to fit into the
new conditions that were governed by the country’s ongoing policy of comprehensive
Islamization of Iranian society, and a radical restructuring of all spheres of life.
The Jewish community under Islamic regime. Ambivalent existence.
The policy of the Islamic regime towards the Jewish religious minority in the
country is declaratively based on the following postulate: A clear-cut differentiation is
made between Jews, on the one hand, and Israel, and Zionism, on the other. However,
the statements of the Islamic leaders of the country show that they often in fact identify
Iranian Jews with Israel and Zionism, wrapping it in sophisticated verbal forms, from
which, nevertheless, primitive anti-Semitism peeps out. Despite the assurances of
various Iranian religious leaders that they oppose Zionism, Israel, Jewish control of the
world, and not Judaism and the Jewish people, in fact their ideological doctrine is a
combination of Muslim anti-Jewish ideas and European anti-Semitism. On the other
hand, the Shiite clergy who came to power consider the ethnic and religious diversity of
Iranian society within the framework of the Muslim dogma, according to which the
Islamic community is a single nation. On the basis of this postulate, the Constitution of
the country fixed in its article 11 the provision that all Muslims form a single
community, thus proclaiming unity on a religious basis and removal of ethno-
confessional features. However, article 13 enshrines the rights of followers of other
religions, which, within the framework of the current constitution, can freely administer
their religious rites and established customs. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s
Constitution also contains certain requirements for Muslims in terms of their relations
with representatives of religious minorities; they should be treated within the
framework of the principles of Islamic justice and respect for human rights. At the same
time, it is stipulated that requirement will be implemented only in cases of loyalty of
religious minorities to Islam and the regime of the Islamic republic, which in fact creates
the possibility of persecuting ethnic and confessional movements that put forward
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
280
political slogans
1
. Any activity of national and religious minorities (confessional
differences are decisive in Iran) is considered to undermine the power of the central
government; it is regarded as directed against the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Significant danger to the Jewish community of Iran was the immediate anti-Israeli
orientation of the regime’s foreign policy. The official declaration of Israel as an enemy
of Islamic Iran causes permanent outbreaks of anti-Semitism both in the everyday life
and at state levels. The manifestations of anti-Semitism in the media and the speeches
of the country’s top leaders are frequent. Iran and Israel fenced off each other by an
impenetrable wall. For instance, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the
postal and telephone communications of Iran with Israel were disconnected, and
correspondence and telephone conversations between citizens of the two countries were
officially banned.
Anti-Israelism, of course, was determined by the political orientation of Khomeini,
who held extremist positions in relation to the Jewish state, which logically followed
from his hostility to all forces supporting the last Iranian shah. At the same time, at a
meeting of Khomeini with the leaders of Iranian Jewry, held in May 1979, he has
promised security for the Jews, provided they “distance themselves from Zionism and
Israel.”
2
Khomeini himself, and later his successor as the spiritual leader of the country,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeatedly made sharply hostile remarks on Jews and
Judaism. Jews are considered the “sworn enemies” of Islam, and Israel and Zionism are
regarded as archenemies of the whole Islamic world. Khomeini in his writings, in
particular in one of the most famous – “Hokumate Eslami” (“Islamic Government”),
repeatedly emphasized the hostility of Jews towards the Islamic religion during the
entire period of Islamic-Jewish dialogue. The increasing pressure on the Jews as the
“fifth column” of the newly ousted regime was accompanied by the mass
expropriations of their property by decision of the revolutionary tribunals. Thus, the
Islamic revolution resulted in the beginning of the exodus of the Jewish community
from Iran. Many families fled the country, losing all their property. Here is just one
example. The international television channel “Iran International” showed on
December 25, 2020 an interview with Musa Rustamian, a resident of the Israeli city of
Rehovot. He said that during the last Iranian Shah he had a three-story house in Abbas-
Abad, next to Karaj in the vicinity of Tehran. He also owned an office building in
Tehran, as well as a large garden. Financially, the family of M. Rustamian belonged to
the middle class, and lived quite well off. In the first post-revolutionary months, at the
verdict of the Revolutionary Court, all property was expropriated, and the family had to
flee the country with nothing. “There were a lot of people like me, who lost everything;
they took property worth billions of dollars from us, leaving us poor”.
3
1
Иранская революция 1978 – 1979. С. 211.
2
Jewish communities in the East in XIX – XX c. С. 25.
3
Description of the looting of the property of Iranian Jews by the regime of the Islamic Republic
of Iran. https://radis.org/?p=40066. 26 December 2019
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
281
It was difficult for many to come to terms with various restrictions imposed by the
Islamic regime, for example, the persecution for the fact that “... hair are visible from
under the hijab, jeans are too tight, makeup is used or nails are painted.”
1
In just twenty
years after the establishment of the Islamic regime in the country, more than 55
thousand Jews left Iran, while about 10 thousand Jews hastily emigrated from the
country on the eve or immediately after the Islamists had come to power. The property
they lost is estimated at $ 31.3 billion
2
. According to estimates for 2018, approximately
22 thousand Jews remained in Iran. A relatively sharp decrease in the Jewish
population of Iran was noted during the years of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980 - 1988. It
was during the war that there was a surge in anti-Semitism at the everyday level.
Dismissals of Jews who held relatively high posts or forcing them to conversion to
Islam in order to maintain their position in society took place. The hypertrophied
hostility towards Zionism and Israel as a global threat, escalated in Iran from the
beginning of the new regime, led to a terror campaign in the country. Its victims were
dozens of Jews, mostly Jewish activists and big businessmen. Among them was Habib
Elganian, who was executed on charges of Zionist activity in 1979. Soon the same fate
befell another major businessman - Albert Danielpour, later - the owner of a hotel chain
Beruhim Avrahami. Until mid-1983, ten more leaders of Iranian Jewry were executed
and their property has been confiscated. In subsequent years, repressions were
continued, and until the end of the 1990s 19 people were executed by hanging.
3
However, by the mid-1980s, after the revolutionary upheaval, the Jewish community
returned to its former normal life. Compared to the Shah period, its existence under the
Islamic regime can be characterized as ambivalent. One facet of ambivalence is the
official status of an ethno-confessional community that enjoys equal rights with other
similar non-Muslim communities of Islamic Iran - Zoroastrians and Christians. It
received back the right declared by the Constitution of 1906 to elect a deputy to the
Assembly of the Islamic Council (parliament), which the community lost in August
1980 “due to ties with Israel and the environment of the ousted shah.”
Iran’s election law allows a tiny community of 0.04 percent of the country’s
population to have a representative in parliament. During the years of the Islamic
regime, 6 Jews were elected members of parliament. In general, the Jewish deputies of
the Iranian parliament occupy clearly expressed collaborative positions. Accusations
against Israel as the main enemy of Iran and of the entire Islamic world are often heard
from them. Islamic Iranian authorities “recommend” Jewish deputies and leaders of the
country’s Jewish community to show solidarity with all actions of a national scale. “On
Jerusalem Day, they are heading demonstrators, loudly proclaiming the slogan “Death
1
Обретшие свободу // Новости недели, 6 февраля 2020 г. С. (18 Finding the freedom).
2
«Исраэль ха-Йом, December 16,2019 г. P. 2-3 (Hebrew).
3
Месамед В.И. Иран: равноправны ли персы, курды, армяне, евреи, сунниты, бехаиты? /19
апреля, 2007 г. http://www.iimes.ru/?p=5692.
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
282
to Israel!”, and treading the Israeli flags more furiously than others.”
1
After
assassination of the Iranian major general of the “Sepahе Cods”, Qasem Soleimani, the
Jewish community published a statement, where the confidence was expressed that “in
Iran dear to us, there will be many new Soleimani’s who will wipe out the atrocities of
the Big Devil”
2
. The Chief Rabbi of Iran, Yehuda Gerami, led a delegation of Jewish
community that arrived at the home of the deceased to express his condolences and
“demonstrate the unity of the Iranian people.” Another Iranian Jew, community activist
Solomon Kohen-Sadek, told the media that on this day the community reiterates its
support for the ideals of the Islamic Revolution
3
.
However, there were also cases when Jewish deputies tried to really defend the rights
of the community. So, in October 1999, then a Jewish Majlis deputy Manouchehr Elyasi
demanded that the parliament should respect the rights of a group of arrested Jewish
“spies”. An active position on upholding the rights of his ethno-confessional minority
was also taken by the deputy Maurice Motamed (elected twice - in 2000 and 2004), who
was recalled from the legislative div ahead of schedule during the second cadence.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the entire socio-cultural infrastructure of the Jewish
community, which had functioned before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, was recreated.
This applies to various cultural, social and religious organizations and institutions, the
number of which has significantly decreased after the reduction in the number of Iranian
Jews. In Tehran, a computer training center is functioning at the community level; there is
a trilingual (Farsi-English-Hebrew) Internet portal of the local Jewish community. There
are four Jewish private educational institutions in school form in the country: two for girls
and two for boys, all in the capital, which cover half of Jewish children; the rest go to
public schools. Outside of Tehran, only Sunday schools or classes are functioning for
Jewish children, open on Fridays - Muslim weekends. Jewish pupils learn Tanah in
Persian. Classes at the school are also held on Saturday, and anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli
plots are widely represented in the textbooks used.
Most Iranian Jews are now concentrated in three cities - Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz,
with more than half of them in the capital
4
. Note that by decision of the Tehran city
authorities, the historic Jewish quarter of the city has been completely demolished
5
. 20
out of 40 synagogues operating in Iran are concentrated in the capital. Most Iranian
Jews comply with all the requirements of Judaism. In general, the Iranian Jewish
1
The Jewish community expressed its condolences to the religious leader of Iran on occasion of
the death of Qasem Soleimani. - https://radis.org/?p=40566 , January 3, 2020 (Farsi).
2
Ibid.
3
Iranian Jews join chorus of condemnation at Qassem Soleimani's assassination - :
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/iranian-jews-join-chorus-of-condemnation-at-qassem-
soleimani-s-assasination-1.495178, January 9, 2020.
4
Sarshar H. (ed.) Jewish Communities of Iran. Columbia University; Center for Iranian Studies.
New York, 2011. Р. 78.
5
The book on Jewish quarter in Tehran, which was destroyed by the Islamic regime.
https://radis.org/?p=9706, May 30, 2019 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
283
community is now more religious than in the pre-revolutionary period, and the local
synagogues are more crowded than then.
The second facet of ambivalence is the bursts of anti-Semitism at the domestic and
state levels that have naturally resulted from the implementation of the anti-Israeli
policy that have not subsided all the years after the proclamation of the Islamic
Republic. Such tendencies were aggravated in the years of crisis in the country, when,
on the basis of economic difficulties and the financial crisis, it became necessary to
search for an external enemy, cementing the nation. This inevitably led to the escalation
of anti-American hysteria and, of course, to the accusation of all the deadly sins of his
ally Israel, and Zionism. Continuation of this chain resulted in repression against the
Jewish community of Iran, which for many in Iran is still associated with Israel. In Iran,
local Jews are still being prosecuted because of trying to establish ties with relatives in
Israel. So, since the fall of 2019, Mashalla Pesar-Cohen is serving a three-year prison
term due visiting his relatives in Israel and going to holy places for Jews in Jerusalem.
Pesar Cohen is a resident of Shiraz. In September 2019, agents of security services
rushed into his house, brought him to a pre-trial detention center, and then to a prison
cell
1
. At the same time, official declarations by the authorities indicate that it became
possible to restore relations with relatives and friends living abroad, including in Israel.
There is enough evidence showing that anti-Semitic propaganda and various acts to
discredit Jews are a planned campaign targeted at specific sections of Iranian society.
Each of the actions pursues specific goals, achieved both in the internal Iranian and
external fields. For example, the arrest in February 1999 in Iran of a group of 13 Jews
who were accused of spying for Israel. Most of them were full-time workers of the
local, second largest in the country after Tehran, Jewish community: rabbis, ritual meat
cutters, Torah scribes, Hebrew teachers, attendants of the Jewish cemetery. The
investigation concluded that this “spy network” had been created more than twenty
years ago. None of the investigators was even embarrassed by the fact that the majority
of those under investigation had been then at a minor age. Among the “spies” was also
a quite young person: Navid Balazade; at the time of his arrest he was only 16 years
old. The Iranian press was then full of slogans “Death to Zionist spies!”, “We demand a
speedy trial of Israeli-American spies!” However, the case of 13 arrested Jews
provoked a serious reaction in the world. Appeals to the Iranian government on their
release in the summer of 1999 were sent by Argentina, Great Britain, Canada,
Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, France, the USA, the European Union, and a number of
international organizations. It turned out that the arrest of a group of “spies” was
directly related to the internal political struggle between Iranian conservatives and
liberals. The policy of getting out of political and economic isolation and
rapprochement with the West, being implemented by Iranian pragmatic president
Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, was faced with fierce rejection of the conservative wing
1
Iranian Jew was sentenced for three years because of visiting his relatives in Israel.
https://radis.org/?p=37269, November 2, 2019 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
284
of the Iranian clerical leadership. The urgently and timely concocted case of the Israeli
espionage network was intended to put an end to hopes for the Iranian “thaw” and
block the undoubted success of the liberals in overcoming Iran’s international isolation.
Let us touch on another “Jewish-spy” campaign. At the beginning of 2018, the right-
wing radical newspaper “Vatan Emruz” (“Homeland Today”) announced the
disclosure of a “spy network” under the guise of environmental activities. According to
the publication, what the security forces uncovered turned out to be a large network
with extensive highly professional plans, using the latest achievements in espionage
1
.
The subtitle on the first page of the newspaper reads: “3 Jews in the spy network of the
“Green Movement”. It turned out that this is a company engaged in the study of wild
animals. There were there three Jews associated with the campaign, “the main cog of
which was Morad (Moshe) Tahbaz, a Jew with three citizenships - Iranian, British and
American.” The environmental company of Tahbaz enjoyed the patronage of the
Iranian authorities and carried out orders under the state environmental program.
Studying wild animals, the group traveled throughout the country, but had a special
passion for those areas, where the strategic objects of the Iranian missile program were
located, for example, in the province of Semnan. These objects, in particular,
Kharturan, were especially interesting for Israel, since there were missile launchers
there that were potentially dangerous for the “Zionist regime”. The newspaper quoted
General Ismail Haji-zade, commander of the IRGC air forces of Iran, claiming that
rockets from this area can hit targets in Israel, which are 1300 km away. The purpose of
the campaign was to discredit Iranian liberals in their confrontation with
fundamentalists through the Jewish “card”.
During recent decades, there were in Iran several cases where radicals were trying
to ascribe Jewry as a degrading characteristic to some leaders of the Islamic regime in
order to discredit them. For this purpose, the term “hidden Jews” even has been coined
in the country. So, in October 2009, articles appeared in the world and Iranian media
pointing to the Jewish roots of then Iranian President M. Ahmadinejad. The London
Daily Telegraph then claimed that “the president’s constant verbal assault against Israel
and Jews may be an attempt to prove his loyalty to Shia Islam while making every
effort to hide his Jewish past... By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed
any suspicions about his Jewish connections”, and that “every family that converts into
a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.” A more recent
example is the use of the same device in the history of finance and property abuses of
the well-known Larijani family in Iran. The 5 Larijani brothers are the sons of the
popular Shiite theologian Ayatollah Amoli. All of them - Fazel, Baker, Mohammad-
Javad, Ali and Sadek - occupied or are occupying now serious posts in the hierarchy of
power of the Islamic Republic, but Ali and Sadek rose to the highest posts. Ali Larijani
is the current speaker of the parliament; Sadek was until February 2019 the head of the
country’s judicial branch. At the end of 2016, in local media allegations were flashing
1
Espionage under the green umbrella. // Vatane Emrooz. February 18, 2018 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
285
that the Larijani clan, in fact, has Jewish roots, but once they converted to Islam, “in
order to undermine the foundations of the Islamic regime from the inside and ultimately
bring it down”. Of course, the widespread propaganda of “Jewishness” of the Larijani
family in the Iranian media, aimed at an internal audience, contributed to the escalation
of anti-Semitic sentiments in Iranian society.
Certainly, the situation in the Jewish community is affected by a change in the
political situation in the country. In fact, the community lives in a state of fragile
equilibrium, which can be disturbed at any time. The ups and downs of internal Iranian
politics are reflected in the Jewish community as well. Liberalization that occurred in
the country after the Iran-Iraq war or the coming to power of liberal presidents S.M.
Khatami in 1997 - 2005 and H. Rouhani in 2013, all this favorably affected the
situation of the community. During these years, some acute problems were solved that
could not be coped with earlier. So, under S.M. Khatami the conditions for Iranian Jews
to travel abroad were facilitated, it became possible to restore relations with relatives
and friends living abroad, including in Israel. Positive was also such indicative step as
the opening of a monument to Jewish soldiers who had been killed during the Iran-Iraq
war of 1980 – 1988 at the Tehran Jewish cemetery in December 2014. The opening
ceremony was attended by Iran’s vice speaker Mohammad Hassan Abatorrabi Fard.
The purpose of the ceremony was to demonstrate to the whole world that Islamic Iran is
in fact a multi-confessional state in which religious freedom is provided not only for
Muslims, but also for adherents of other religions, including the Jewish one. Earlier, in
2013, Tehran honored the memory of a world-class scientist, the legendary Iranian
lexicographer from among local Jews, Solayman Haïm. Then the brainchild of his
whole life was presented - a complete Persian-Hebrew dictionary. It is important that
the dictionary was introduced by the ex-speaker of the country’s parliament, Golam-
Hossein Haddad-Adel. It is also of great significance that in Iran governmental care is
taken of such places of worship of Jews as the grave of the Jewish holy prophet Daniel
in Susa (Shush) in the province of Khuzestan, where the tomb was built in the Muslim
style, as well as the grave of the prophet Habakkuk in Western Iran, which is holy for
both Jews and Muslims. As for ambivalence, it must be remembered that more than
once incidents occurred in Iran around other objects of Jewish cultural and historical
heritage. Most often, they were associated with the tomb of Esther and Mordecai in
Hamadan in the ancient Susa (Sush). So, on December 12, 2010 a crowd of people
gathered there chanting the slogans “Death to Israel!” and calling for the destruction of
this building
1
. Demonstrators demanded the transformation of this Jewish shrine into an
object of exclusively Islamic cultural heritage. This seems to be a reaction to the
allegations in the Iranian media that Israel is systematically destroying the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, which is the third most important shrine of the Islamic world.
Conclusion.
The realities of the Jewish community’s existence in Iran after the
victory of the Islamic revolution in 1979 allow us to make the following conclusion.
1
Nedaye sabz-e azady, December 15,2010 (Farsi).
SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВО С Т О К О ВЕ ДЕ Н И Е
/ ORIENTAL STUDIES 2020,
№
2
286
Throughout this period the community and the country’s leadership have been trying to
maneuver between positioning the Jewish community as the embodiment of the free
existing, officially recognized religion on one hand, and the policy of anti-Israelism and
anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Judaism steadily implemented by the Islamic
regime on the other hand. Iran’s policy is balancing on the fragile face of both. The
regime of the Islamic republic never officially approved the systematic persecution of
its Jewish citizens, but throughout the entire post-revolutionary period, anti-Semitic
statements were regularly voiced by the country’s highest religious leaders and
published by the conservative press. However, the Jewish community of Iran is still
considered the largest in the Middle East region. Under the conditions of the Islamic
regime, which subjected it to incredible trials, it continues to lead its religious and
community life. Faced with many difficulties - a sharp decrease in their numbers,
economic deprivation, discrimination at the household level, the community is trying to
preserve its cultural and material heritage. While some consider Iranian Jews to be
pawns in the political game waged by the IRI, it is important to carefully consider the
very phenomenon of the survival of the community in such extreme conditions. It is
alive in spite of increase of Iran’s isolation, in spite of Iran’s stubborn destructive policy
“against Israel and Jews everywhere in the world.”
1
However, the survival of the
community and its live to a large extent depend on the fate of the Islamic regime in Iran,
which is now going through hard times. In the case of further “tightening the screws”, the
Iranian Jewish community can expect what happened to almost all Jewish communities in
the Middle East – the exodus that has already been occurring to a large extent.
Recall the foresight of the Jewish high priest Ezra. As you know, he went to Iran
already in the era of Cyrus’ son, King Darius, trying to return the Jews home. Ezra told
the Jews there: “Do not delude yourself with cultivated arable land, rich gardens, spring
water and life-giving air, wonderful tranquility and complete prosperity. I foresee the
day when
minyan
(minyan is a group of ten adult Jewish men, sufficient for worship
and a number of religious ceremonies) for Saturday prayers will not be found in your
flourishing community. Do not rely on your current security, because the days will
come when this country will be empty of Jews and your situation could not be
compared with the worst days experienced by your ancestors”
2
1
Lipner Sh. The Jewish People in 2017: Fault Lines, Threats, and Opportunities // The Israel
Journal of Foreign Affairs. Vol. 11. № 2. 2017/5777. P. 173.
2
Ali=Asqar Mostafavi. View of the life of Iranian Jews. - Tehran, 1369/ 1990. P. 137-138(Farsi)
