I was surprised to open up yesterday’s New York Times and find an article on Iranian Jewry. “There are still Jews in Iran?!” I exclaimed. Apparently, there are and according to Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen, they are thriving there.
It’s hard to believe such positive news when so many of us are still worrying about the Jews in Venezuela and wherever else response to Israeli warfare breaks out into violent anti-Semitism (did you hear about the students at York University in Toronto?). But “What Iran’s Jews Say” paints a much happier picture of Jews in the diaspora, and amazingly, even Jews in Arab countries. Let’s just hope the news stays positive.
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 
Unfortunately, that was a political article. The situation is very different than he portrayed it. I have spoken to Iranian Jews who have managed to leave the country recently and what they are able to say after they have left the country is very different from what they can say while still there. No matter where one travels, reporters and tourists see and hear a very different reality from that of the people living in a country.
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Thanks, DrSavta, I was pretty cynical about the article and it’s nice to know my feelings were not totally unfounded.
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I’ve read it as well. My wife is Iranian and I can tell you that Jews over there live in relative peace with their Muslim neighbors. By all means it’s not the Garden of Eden, they still get harassed here and there. But guess what? Jews get harassed all the time in the galut (exile). It’s called the galut for a reason, it’s a fact of life. Ideally we should all be in the Holy Land.There are about 30,000 Jews left in Iran. Israel needs to bring them home.
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I have a very good friend who still has family in Iran, and when we visited Israel in December, her family happened to be in Israel for an uncle’s heart surgery … it was the first time she had seen them in 15-20 years (I forget precisely how long). My friend’s family escaped illegally from the country, and she can never return and her family finds it difficult, if not impossible, to leave. If you ever want to know more, I’m sure she’d love to speak with you. She’s a beautiful Persian Jew — as a person and as a proud Jewess.
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