Like most others, Shemyon
was not keen to talk about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
recent address to U.S. Congress, or the problems between Israel and
Iran. He says those politics have no place here.
Iran’s Jews unfazed by strife with Israel … Click HERE to see short video
Shot screen from the video
Iran’s Jewish community in Esfahan: We ‘feel at home’
Esfahan, Iran (CNN) If you’re looking for the Jewish community in the Iranian town of Esfahan, you won’t have to search for long.
The main synagogue is on Palestine Square,
right in the heart of Iran’s third largest city. There are public
prayers several times a day — sometimes with more than a hundred people
in attendance.
The Jewish community in Iran does not hide
its heritage. At the synagogue, Michael Malakon leads the prayer
service. He says he is proud of his Jewish identity. And even in a
country that is so hostile towards Israel, Malakon says he can practice
freely and that he has many Muslim friends.
“I hang around with all kinds of young
people and I have a lot of Muslim friends,” Malakon tells CNN after
finishing the noon prayer on a Monday. About 20 people were in
attendance, usually from local businesses around the synagogue. None of
them tried to hide the fact that they were Jewish — and inside the
synagogue the Star of David is proudly displayed in many places,
alongside passages from the Torah.
Long history
There have been Jews in Iran for more than
2,500 years. Many left the country after the Islamic Revolution in 1979
that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. Khomeini said Iran
wanted to destroy Israel, but he also issued a fatwa, a religious
decree, saying that Iranian Jews were different to those in Israel and
should be considered an integral part of the Islamic Republic.
Sion Mahgrefte is the head of the Jewish
community in Esfahan. He declined to comment directly on political
matters, especially in the current heated environment, but he did say
that the members of his community felt very much at home in Iran.
“Israel and Iran are countries,” he said.
“And we consider ourselves Iranian Jews, not Israeli Jews. So the
hostilities between Israel and Iran do not affect us.”
There is even a Jewish representative in
Iran’s parliament. And aside from the vibrant Jewish community in
Esfahan — there are 13 synagogues in the city — there are also several
Orthodox Cathedrals representing a sizable Christian community.
‘We just want peace’
Most of Esfahan’s Jews are business
people. In the center of town there is a shopping mall, known to people
here as the “Jewish Passage” because so many businesses are
Jewish-owned. When our crew arrived there they found Muslim and Jewish
shop owners joking around.
One of them is Said Shemyon, who owns a
clothing store. His friends call him “Mordechai,” and he showed us some
Hebrew prayer books he always keeps in the store.
Like most others, Shemyon was not keen to
talk about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent address to
U.S. Congress, or the problems between Israel and Iran. He says those
politics have no place here.
“We just want peace,” he said. “We really
hope that all these problems can be solved one day, God willing. We are
just hoping for unity and peace.”
There are about 1,500 Jews in Esfahan
these days. The community’s leaders conduct religious studies for the
younger members of the congregation.
While Sion Mahgrefte is adamant that they
have no problems with their Shia neighbors, he does acknowledge that
friends living abroad often worry about them.
“Of course sometimes people we know who
live in Israel or elsewhere are very concerned about us, and they tell
us we are crazy to live here,” he says. “But then we tell them how
things are and they calm down.”
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