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JEWS - BACKGROUND:
In 1986 there were an estimated 50,000 Jews in Iran, a decline from about
85,000 in 1978. The Iranian Jewish community is one of the oldest in the
world, being descended from Jews who remained in the region following the
Babylonian captivity, when the Achaemenid rulers of the first Iranian empire
permitted Jews to return to Jerusalem. Over the centuries the Jews of Iran
became physically, culturally, and linguistically indistinguishable from the
non-Jewish population. The overwhelming majority of Jews speak Persian as
their mother language, and a tiny minority, Kurdish. The Jews are
predominantly urban and by the 1970s were concentrated in Tehran, with
smaller communities in other cities, such as Shiraz, Esfahan, Hamadan, and
Kashan.
Until the twentieth century the Jews were confined to their own quarters
in the towns. In general the Jews were an impoverished minority,
occupationally restricted to small-scale trading, moneylending, and working
with precious metals. Since the 1920s, Jews have had greater opportunities
for economic and social mobility. They have received assistance from a
number of international Jewish organizations, including the American Joint
Distribution Committee, which introduced electricity, piped water, and
modern sanitation into Jewish neighborhoods. The Jews have gradually gained
increased importance in the bazaars of Tehran and other cities, and after
World War II some educated Jews entered the professions, particularly
pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry.
The Constitution of 1979 recognized Jews as an official religious
minority and accorded them the right to elect a representative to the Majlis.
Like the Christians, the Jews have not been persecuted. Unlike the
Christians, the Jews have been viewed with suspicion by the government,
probably because of the government's intense hostility toward Israel.
Iranian Jews generally have many relatives in Israel--some 45,000 Iranian
Jews emigrated from Iran to Israel between 1948 and 1977--with whom they are
in regular contact. Since 1979 the government has cited mail and telephone
communications as evidence of "spying" in the arrest, detention,
and even execution of a few prominent Jews. Although these individual cases
have not affected the status of the community as a whole, they have
contributed to a pervasive feeling of insecurity among Jews regarding their
future in Iran and have helped to precipitate large- scale emigration. Most
Jews who have left since the Revolution have settled in the United States.
Data
as of December 1987, Source: Library of Congress / Federal Research
Division.
Other Iranian Locations:
JEWS- BACKGROUND
ACTIVITIES AGAINST JEWS IN IRAN
NEWS FROM IRAN
PERSIAN FOOD AND RECIPES
GENERAL INFORMATION ON IRAN
IRAN- JEWISH HISTORY
SYNAGOGUES IN IRAN & JEWISH AND KOSHER IRAN
ISRAELI LEADERS WHO WERE BORN IN IRAN
IRANIAN MUSIC
JEWS AND THE ORIENTAL RUG BUSINESS IN IRAN
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