Iranian Jews speak out

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just as Venezuelan Jews have dissociated themselves from attacks on Hugo
Chavez for alleged anti-Semitism, this article points to a reality
different than the one that expected from the mounting media assault on the
president of Iran--even though it is from 8 years ago.


http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/1998/02/03/intl/intl.3.html


INTERNATIONAL
from the February 03, 1998 edition

[ Editor's note: The Christian Science Monitor archive includes stories
dating back to 1980. Some early articles lack sufficient formatting, and
will appear as one long column without paragraph breaks. We apologize for
the aesthetics and hope that the information will still be of value to you. ]

Jews in Iran Describe a Life of Freedom Despite Anti-Israel Actions by Tehran


Michael Theodoulou, Special to The Christian Science Monitor

TEHRAN, IRAN - One of the most striking of many murals in Iran's capital,
Tehran, is a towering portrait of Fathi Shkaki, a leader of the militant
Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad. He was assassinated by Israeli agents in
1995 after he masterminded a series of suicide bombings against Jewish
civilians. A slogan beneath his face hails him as a hero of the Islamic
revolution in Palestine. Yet, stroll a little farther along Palestine
Street and you come to the Abrishami Synagogue, the biggest of 23
synagogues in Tehran. It is regularly attended by some 1,000 worshippers.
It comes as a surprise to many visitors to discover that Iran, a country so
hostile to Israel and with a reputation for intolerance, is home to a small
but vibrant Jewish community that is an officially recognized religious
minority under Iran's 1979 Islamic Constitution. "[Ayatollah Ruhollah]
Khomeini didn't mix up our community with Israel and Zionism - he saw us as
Iranians," says Haroun Yashyaei, a film producer and chairman of the
Central Jewish Community in Iran. Like Iran's Armenian Christians, Jews are
tolerated as "people of the book" and allowed to practice their religion
freely, provided they do not proselytize. They elect their own deputy to
the 270-seat Parliament and enjoy certain rights of self-administration.
Jewish burial and divorce laws are accepted by Islamic courts. Jews are
conscripted into the Army. "We are one of the oldest Jewish communities in
the world," Mr. Yashyaei says. "When Muslims came to Iran, we had already
been here for centuries." "Take it from me, the Jewish community here faces
no difficulties. If some people left after the revolution, maybe it's
because they were scared," says Farangis Hassidim, a forceful but
good-humored woman who is charge of the only Jewish hospital in Iran. She
adds: "Our position here is not as bad as people abroad may think. We
practice our religion freely, we have all our festivals, we have our own
schools and kindergartens." For her, the well-equipped hospital in central
Tehran is a model of religious harmony. "We have about 200 staff, 30
percent of them Jewish," she says. "These days, I'd say about 5 percent of
our patients are Jewish, the rest are Muslims." A sign outside the hospital
reads in Hebrew: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Nevertheless, many Jews
emigrated after the 1979 Islamic revolution to the United States, the
favored destination, and to Israel. In just under two decades, their
numbers in Iran have dwindled from 100,000 to about 40,000, 25,000 of them
in Tehran. The shah, overthrown in 1979, was on good terms with the Jewish
state; opposition to it was a cornerstone of Khomeini's revolution.

A tight-knit community Like other minorities, many Iranian Jews feared an
uncertain future, although their religious rights were enshrined in the
Constitution. Nevertheless, Iran's Jewish community remains the largest in
the Middle East outside of Israel, and human rights activists confirm that
members are not persecuted because of their religion. Since the Islamic
revolution, the Jewish community has become more tight-knit and devout,
according to worshippers at the Abrishami Synagogue. After prayers, there
is a festive atmosphere as families, greeting each other with the Sabbath
greeting "Shabbat Shalom," spill out into the courtyard. Savory snacks are
handed out as families share gossip and children dart up and down the
stairs playing tag. A small portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini is painted on
the wall of the stairwell. Privately, there are grumbles about
discrimination, much of it of a social or bureaucratic nature. Some
complain it is impossible for Jews to get senior positions in Iran Air, the
national airline, or in the national oil company. A woman teacher says she
has been passed by for promotion several times because she is Jewish and
now hopes to emigrate to Los Angeles. A car-parts dealer says Jews have to
wait much longer for travel documents and exit visas. The most pressing
complaint is that, despite many petitions to parliament, Jewish schools
must open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Like so many other Iranians,
those at the Abrishami synagogue are relying on the new president, Mohamad
Khatami, to support them. "He's a kind man; let's hope he can help us with
this schools question," says the parts dealer. Jews also hope for a genuine
Middle East peace settlement that would enable a more moderate Iran to
recognize Israel, where many Iranian Jews have relatives. That clearly is a
long way off, despite hints over the weekend of some kind of
people-to-people dialogue. Even Mr. Khatami, with his reputation as a
relative moderate, called Israel a "racist, terrorist state" in a recent
interview on CNN television. Contacts with the Jewish state are banned,
although some visit through third countries, while mail is usually routed
through London.

Why leave? At an antiques shop in central Tehran, Isaac, the elderly owner,
says many Jews who once owned shops along the broad, bustling avenue have
left in the past 20 years. He has not seen his sister since she emigrated
to Israel 16 years ago, but he has no plans to leave. "The Jewish community
has been here for centuries, and this shop has been in the family for more
than 50 years," he says, reeling off the famous customers who have visited.
"Gen. [Charles] de Gaulle was here. "But look at this," he adds,
brandishing an old black-and-white photograph of himself with his arm
around curvaceous 1950s film star Gina Lollobrigida, who sports a beehive
hairdo. "Really, it's OK here, and it's home," he says.

--

www.marxmail.org