Chuck Grimes wrote: > I learned from an ex-Israeli work mate, that Iran at one > time had the largest Jewish population outside Europe (US). I have no idea > if that's true.
It used to be the largest. According to the Wikipedia (and it doesn't seem to be far off): >>At the time of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there were >>approximately 140,000–150,000 Jews living in Iran, the historical center of >>Persian Jewry. About 95% have since migrated, with the immigration >>accelerating after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when the population dropped >>from 100,000 to about 40,000. Following the Iranian Revolution, some 30,000 >>Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel, while many others went to the United >>States and Western Europe. [a lot of them came to Los Angeles.] >> On March 16, 1979, Habib Elghanian, the honorary leader of the Jewish >> community, was arrested on charges of "corruption", "contacts with Israel >> and Zionism", "friendship with the enemies of God", "warring with God and >> his emissaries", and "economic imperialism". He was tried by an Islamic >> revolutionary tribunal, sentenced to death, and executed on May 8, one of 17 >> Iranian Jews executed as spies since the revolution. >>Estimates of the Jewish population in Iran until the census 2011 vary. In >>mid- and late 1980s, it was estimated at 20,000–30,000, rising to around >>35,000 in mid-1990s. The current Jewish population of Iran is 8,756 according >>to the most recent Iranian census. >> Opinion over the condition of Jews in Iran is divided. One Jew active in >> arguing on behalf of a benevolence view of the Iranian Islamic government >> and society toward Jews is film producer Haroun Yashyaei, who tells visitors >> and reporters the Ayatollah "Ruhollah Khomeini didn't mix up our community >> with Israel and Zionism," and "Take it from me, the Jewish community here >> faces no difficulties." Privately many Jews complain to foreign reporters of >> "discrimination, much of it of a social or bureaucratic nature." The Islamic >> government appoints the officials who run Jewish schools, most of these >> being Muslims and requires that those schools must open on Saturdays, the >> Jewish Sabbath. Criticism of this policy was the downfall of the last >> remaining newspaper of the Iranian Jewish community which was closed in 1991 >> after it criticized government control of Jewish schools. Instead of >> expelling Jews en mass like in Libya, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen, the Iranians >> have adopted a policy of keeping Jews in Iran.<< I've heard that Jews are treated significantly better than the Baha'i are. Of course, it still sound pretty bad. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
