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- Jews Have Been Living in Persia Since Biblical Times. Jewish people have been living in Persia (roughly modern-day Iran) since the second part of the First Temple era.
- Several Biblical Figures Are Buried in Iran. Iranian Jews (and Muslims) proudly and reverently point to tombs of Mordechai and Esther in Hamedan, Habakkuk the Prophet in Toyserkan (around an hour away from Hamedan), Daniel the Prophet in Shush (southern Iran), and even Serach, Daughter of Asher, in Isfahan, reflecting the region’s long and rich Jewish history.
- Their Rabbis Are “Mullahs” Along with the terms rav and hakham, popular among many Sephardim, Persian Jews often referred to their rabbis as mulla, Arabic (and Persian) for “master.”
- Persian Jews Are Not Technically Sephardim. European Jews sometimes lump all Middle-Eastern Jews together under the general rubric of Sephardic. However, Persian Jews have their own ancient traditions that far predate the rise of Sepharad in the 10th century.
Persian Jews or Iranian Jews (Persian: یهودیان ایرانی Yahudiyān-e Irāni; Hebrew: יהודים פרסים Yəhūdīm Parsīm) 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 Persian Empire.
Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities. The Persian Jewish communities include the ancient (and until the mid-20th century still-extant) communities not only of Iran, but also the Armenian, Georgian, Iraqi, Bukharan, and the Mountain Jewish communities.
Today, Jews participate in Iranian civic and political life. Many Jews join the Iranian masses in protesting the State of Israel on the annual “Qods Day” (Jerusalem Day), and during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), Iranian Jews supported the war effort by donating ambulances and surplus goods as well as making hospital visits.
Mar 20, 2024 · Jews settled in the land of Persia (Iran) on four different occasions: in 609-611 BCE, following the first Exile of 722 BCE, caused by the Assyrians; in 538 BCE, following the second Exile of...
Oct 24, 2012 · The show, the first ever in the United States on Iranian Jews, traces the 3,000 year-long history Iranian Jewry with more than 100 objects ranging from archeological artifacts to intricately...
Nov 30, 2016 · INTRODUCTION. Jewish communities have been living upon the Persian plateau since ca. 721 BCE, when King Sargon II (r. 721-705 BCE) relocated large communities of conquered Israelites “in the cities of the Medes” (western and northern regions of present-day Persia; 2 Kings 17:6; 18:10-11).
