Living Under the Mullahs


T


here are 13 synagogues in Tehran, five Jewish schools


where young Jews study Hebrew and religious texts, and a kosher butcher. Yehuda Gerami, Iran’s chief rabbi,


recently told The Times of Israel that there were now six kosher restaurants in Tehran, two in Shiraz, and two in Isfahan. Plus, he said, the community has been permitted to open a Jewish seminary in Tehran to educate future rabbis. And unlike Jewish institutions in


time, if episodically, said Hakakian. Most Jews who left Iran did so


soon in the early days of the revolu- tion, after some 20 prominent Jews were executed, among them, Habib Elghanian, one of Iran’s wealthi- est philanthropists, president of the Tehran Jewish Society, and a busi- nessman who had introduced plas- tics to the country. Those who fl ed went mostly to


the U.S. and to Israel, whose Iranian Jewish population now totals nearly a quarter of a million. A turning point


she said. Yet such tolerance has its limits.


Under Islamic law, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, other “people of the book” — the Bible’s Old and New Testaments — are considered “dhim- mis,” protected minorities but with lesser legal standing. Still, despite such discrimination,


Jewish Culture in Iran


for Iran’s Jews came in May 1979, Hakak- ian recalled, when Supreme Leader Aya- tollah Ruhollah Kho- meini assured a Jewish delegation in Qom that if they supported the regime and submitted to Islamic dic- tates, they would not be considered allies of the “Godless, blood-sucking Zionists.” That meeting established the political rules of the road for Jews,


13 Synagogues 10 Kosher restaurants 5 Jewish schools 1 Kosher butcher 1 Jewish seminary


1 Member of Parliament


SOURCE: Yehuda Gerami, Iran’s chief rabbi, speaking to The Times of Israel.


Iran’s Jews have fared far better than the estimated 300,000 Baha’is, Iran’s largest religious minority by far, which the Islamic regime does not recognize and has ruthlessly persecuted. Yet Iranian Jews, particularly after Oct. 7, live on a political and psychological preci- pice, anxious about the future and afraid to express opinions that might jeopardize them- selves, their families,


and their community. They know the regime closely monitors them. Sabti considers them “hostages”


Iran does not want to lose, given their propaganda value. Hamas’ sei- zure of hostages in Gaza, he added,


Europe and the U.S., synagogues and Jewish schools in Iran do not require round-the-clock security. Compare this to France, which reported 360 antisemitic episodes in the first three months of this year, an average of four a day. While they are entitled to one member of Parliament each, Jews and other non-Muslims are not permitted to hold senior positions in the government, military, or intelligence agencies. Even all principals and most professors at Jewish schools are Muslims. “The average


SAYEH


Iranian is not anti- Jewish,” said Janatan Sayeh, who left Iran 11 years ago and is now a research analyst at the Foundation for


Defense of Democracies


in Washington, D.C. “Antisemitism in Iran comes mainly from the regime,” he said.


was an echo of the Islamic Republic’s original playbook. Like the Israelis Hamas has held


in Gaza’s tunnels and private homes, Iran used the more than 60 U.S. dip- lomats seized in 1979 and held for 444 days as political pawns, a pivotal episode in U.S.-Iranian relations. In sum, while the remnants of


Iran’s Jews are surviving, they are not truly thriving.


AUGUST 2024 | NEWSMAX 51


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