Jews of Iran

Jews have a very deep and storied history in Iran. While communities emerged in various cities throughout Iran and the Persian Empire, the bulk of Persian Jewry existed in the city of Tehran. Jews first arrived in Iran shortly after the Babylonian Expulsion, when Babylonia was subsumed by the rising Persian Empire. Although Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Judea, many chose to stay in Persia. Many groups of Persian-speaking Mizrahi Jews outside of Iran trace their origin to Persia as well, such as the Bukharian and Kavkazi Jews. While there is no unified Persian-Jewish language, many Iranian Jews speak various dialects of a language referred to as Judeo-Persian. Prominent Biblical figures are also buried in Iran, such as Esther and Mordechai, who are at the center of the story of Purim. 

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Jews have a very deep and storied history in Iran. While communities emerged in various cities throughout Iran and the Persian Empire, the bulk of Persian Jewry existed in the city of Tehran. Jews first arrived in Iran shortly after the Babylonian Expulsion, when Babylonia was subsumed by the rising Persian Empire. Although Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Judea, many chose to stay in Persia. Many groups of Persian-speaking Mizrahi Jews outside of Iran trace their origin to Persia as well, such as the Bukharian and Kavkazi Jews. While there is no unified Persian-Jewish language, many Iranian Jews speak various dialects of a language referred to as Judeo-Persian. Prominent Biblical figures are also buried in Iran, such as Esther and Mordechai, who are at the center of the story of Purim. Read More

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JTA — Jewish prayer in a mosque. Hookah smoke in a kosher kitchen. Hebrew school study under portraits of ayatollahs. When former Associated Press photographer Hassan Sarbakhshian spent almost two years between 2006 and 2008 among the Jewish communities in Iran, those are some of the images […]

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