That was one of the questions The Jewish Daily Forward asked their correspondent to answer when they unexpectedly received a one week visa to visit Iran. It took two years to secure the visa and most observers agree the timing has to do with the nuclear deal.
Larry Cohler-Esses spent a week travelling in Iran and came back to publish: How Iran’s Jews Survive in Mullahs’ World.
Saturday is a workday in Iran’s capital, and women in chadors and men in business suits hurried by us without so much as a glance. Moreover, the night before, when several hundred worshippers gathered for Friday night services at the Yousef Abad Synagogue in North Tehran, I noticed, too, that the sanctuary’s large entrance remained open to the street as people spilled out for breaks to shmooze in crowds on the sidewalk outside. No security of any kind was in sight.
Doubtless, Larry Cohler-Esses was thinking of the Buenos Aires bombing when he wrote this. In 1994, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building was
bombed killing 85 people and injuring hundreds. Though there were numerous discrepancies in the investigation, both the FBI and Israeli agencies believe a Hezbollah operative bombed the community center. Hezbollah is the Lebanese Shi'a militia founded in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. It receives support from Iran.
“Compared to Europe,” boasted Dr. Siamak Moreh Sedgh, the Jewish community’s elected representative in Iran’s parliament, “synagogues here are one of the safest places.” He also said proudly, “We have a high rate of people following Halacha,” or traditional Jewish law, “and a low rate of assimilation. The rate of intermarriage among Iranian Jews is less than 1%.”
Iran had a pre-revolution population of 100,000 Jews. Most of them fled shortly after the revolution following the high-profile execution of two Jewish community leaders. There are large diaspora communities in Israel and
Los Angeles (or
Tehrangeles if you prefer). The article notes the class divide among those who emigrated. Dr. Siamak Moreh Sedgh, the Jewish community’s elected representative in Iran’s parliament is quoted as saying “The rich had the money to move to America and re-establish themselves there. The poor, who had nothing to lose, moved to Israel.”
That left the middle-class, of whom 10-20,000 still live in Iran.
Even cash bonus offers from Israel ranging from $10,000 for individuals to $61,000 for families have failed to move those now living there to leave.
Part of the reason they haven't left is the rich community life described in the article, and doubtless the comfort of existing in a culture that has been home to their ancestors for centuries.
The Jews’ security is aided by a fatwa that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s founder, issued shortly after he came to power. Even as he shifted Iran into an anti-Israel mode, his fatwa declared Iran’s Jews to be a fully protected minority community and forbade any attacks on them.
The regime draws a pretty firm line between the status of Iranian Jews, who are considered a minority indigenous to Iran, and "Zionists" whom it derides.
Some of this delicate balance broke down during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who seemed to relish controversy, particularly with respect to Israel, the US and Jews. The article notes that Jewish community leaders and their parliamentary representative lodged vocal protests to Ahmadinejad's statements and those of his supporters. Yet most of them were couched in language that highlighted Western responsibilitiy for the Holocaust (with the implication that Iran's treatment of its Jewish community was superior).
The Jewish community is not the only minority in Iran. There are ethnic minorities, primarily Azeri and Kurd; their relations with the Persian population has ocassionally been tense. There are religious minorities as well, about 5-10% of Iranians follow Sunni or Sufi Islamic traditions. There are 300,000 Christians and tens of thousands of Baha'i (whose religion is not "recognized" and who are actively persecuted). There are a million Yarsanis mostly among the Kurds. Though there is some religious diversity, conversions can lead to severe persecution.
There are also 25-60,000 Zoroastrians in Iran. They follow the 3-4,000 year old religion founded by the Indo-Iranian spiritual leader Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) which was the primary Iranian religion prior to the arrival of Islam. It shares some elements with the Vedic religion that is the root of modern Hinduism as well. My hometown, Bombay, was home to more Zoroastrians than any other city, but their population is rapidly declining for a variety of factors including migration to the west. Most are descendants of groups that fled Iran after the Arab/Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century. If any of you are reading, happy Pateti!
The takeaway is that Iran (like every other country) is a more complex place than those outside it (including self-serving politicians) like to admit.
“We are a country of paradox,” Moreh Sedgh said. Noting other recent communal victories, such as permission to close Jewish schools on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, rather than Friday, the Muslim day of rest, he said: “Sometimes we do something and have some success…. We think all these problems can be solved as domestic problems. If it comes from the outside. that will make it harder.”
There's a second article on the Forward's site from the same visit: A Jewish Journalist's Exclusive Look Inside Iran
In the heart of Fars Province on Iran’s high desert plateau in the South, a stark and bare large limestone tomb juts out of the landscape. It’s in the middle of nowhere. But the understated burial place of Cyrus the Great still draws Iranians on pilgrimage.
Mohammad Parvi, a retired sugarcane factory worker, told me he was there with his family on this pitilessly hot and shadeless July afternoon because he wished to pay homage to “our ancestor, the grandfather of all Iranians.”
Cyrus, way back in the sixth century BCE, he averred, “exported human rights to the other nations. He denounced slavery. He made people respect each other.”