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March 5, 2004
Iranian Jews at story's locale
RAHEL MUSLEAH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
For Jews in America, Purim recalls events that took place in a
faraway country, in a city with a funny, almost fairy-tale name:
Shushan. But what if Shushan were as close as New York is to Boston?
What if Esther had grown up in Chicago or you could visit her grave
in Washington, D.C.?
That was the privilege of the Jews of Iran, a community of 80,000
before the revolution in 1979. Many made the pilgrimage to the city
of Hamadan where, under a simple brick dome, two ancient wooden
tombs still lie side by side. One, draped in shimmering cloths,
is labelled "Ester" in English and Hebrew; the other,
also swathed in vibrant color, reads "Mordekhay."
Parvaneh Sarraf remembers visiting at the age of 19, on a family
vacation from her hometown of Shiraz. "People were standing
and praying, giving tzedakah, lighting candles," recalls Sarraf,
teacher, adult educator and assistant principal at North Shore Hebrew
Academy in Great Neck, N.Y. The tombs lay sandwiched between two
rooms an anteroom in which people removed their shoes and
another which held a Torah scroll and religious objects people had
donated. On Purim, people brought and read their Megillot at the
tombs. "Since Purim happened in Iran we feel much closer to
it," said Sarraf. "We had tangible places to go to, to
remember."
The city of "Shush" still exists in Iran today. Hamadan,
almost 120 miles north of Shush, was the summer residence of King
Ahasuerus, according to The Comprehensive History of the Jews
in Iran by Dr. Habib Levi. When the king died, he writes, Esther
did not feel safe in Shushan and fled to Ectabana modern-day
Hamadan where she was sure the large Jewish population would
shelter her. Scholars have not verified the burial site as that
of Purim's heroes, but no matter, that is the tradition.
The Persian Jewish community, which is more than 2,500 years old,
has dispersed to Israel, California and New York, but for the 25,000
Jews left in Iran, the mausoleum remains a sacred space. Neglected
for centuries, it was renovated during the reign of Mongols in the
13th century, when a Jewish minister served in the court. In 1961,
a major earthquake damaged the structure and the Jewish community
association of Tehran, which oversaw Jewish organizations around
the country, supervised its restoration.
"During the year I worked on the project, no matter what difficulties
I had in business or with people, I would think about the restoration
and it lifted the burdens off my shoulders," said Ruhollah
Monasebian, who oversaw the project. Monasebian, 89, now of Great
Neck, recalls that the arched doorway to the tomb was intentionally
low. "No matter who the person the highest dignitary
to the common person you have to bow in order to enter."
Purim was more than a one-day extravaganza in Iran. To commemorate
the three-day fast Queen Esther proclaimed, people fasted for a
day a week before Purim, said Dr. Jack Moallem, a pediatric immunologist
from Tehran, now of Great Neck. In Sarraf's community, some fasted
for three days. The Purim celebration itself continued for two days,
beginning on the 14th of Adar and extending into the next day, "Shushan
Purim." According to the Megillah, the Jews in Shushan made
the 15th a "day of feasting and gladness." By the early
to mid-20th century, the fast was moved to the day before Purim,
when Ta'nait Esther is observed in all other communities, and the
celebration was limited to one day, said Moallem.
The women took pride in cooking and serving a special halvah, which
was also sent as mishloach manot. Made of roasted rice or wheat
flour and sugared water, it was cut into diamonds and decorated
with slivered almonds or pistachios. Each city had its own recipe,
using different spices cilantro seed, cardamom, saffron,
dates, rosewater.
"Maybe it was our way of emulating the offerings in the Temple,
which were made of flour and oil," Moallem speculates. Mourners
also brought halvah to the synagogue; a blessing was recited before
eating it. "The aroma was thought to be good for the neshamah,
the soul of the deceased," said Moallem.
Though costume parties and carnivals only came into vogue in the
20th century, imported from Israel, "Purim was like an American
Chanukah for us," said Sarraf. Adults and children gave and
received gifts.
Rabbi David Shofet of Nessah Israel Congregation and Education Centre
in Santa Monica, Calif., offers another custom from the community
of Kashan: If a couple were engaged, the man was expected to go
to his fiancee's house and read the Megillah. "It was a test,"
said Shofet. "Not everyone could do it."
Children and their families made cloth effigies of Haman, hung them
in the courtyards of their homes and burned them with adult supervision.
"It was wishful thinking," said Shofet, who grew up in
Tehran. "In the Islamic dynasties in Iran until 1925, when
Reza Pahlevi came to power, there was much persecution and fanaticism.
People may have been trying to express their inner rage at their
suffering." The ideas of Haman never die, he added.
The history of the Jews of Mashad provides one example. In 1736,
Nader Shah, the ruler of Iran, enticed 40 Jewish families to move
to his new capital of Mashad with promises of privileges and financial
incentives, said Moallem, but the Jews were confined to ghetto-like
neighborhoods in the fervently Muslim city. In 1839, a pogrom incited
by rumor resulted in a decree against the Jews: conversion or death.
More than 200 families converted, but continued to practise Judaism
secretly, marrying within the community in order to preserve their
Judaism. Though they now can practise Judaism openly, they remain
tightly knit communities wherever they live today.
"Purim tells the truth about what it has been like for Jews
to live in many countries throughout the world. Too often we have
been blamed for a country's problems," said Sarraf. "But
Purim is about survival. By the wisdom of women we were saved. Esther
was there in the moment we needed her."
Shahnaz Goldman, Monasebian's daughter, said Persian women are more
connected to Esther in America than they were in Iran. "Every
Purim there's a certain pride we take because Esther comes from
our country," said Goldman, who married an American of Ashkenazi
descent.
Sarraf draws inspiration from Esther's story for the role of Iranian
Jewish women today.
"Esther, which means 'star' in Persian [Ashtar]
was beautiful, brave and smart enough to know how to live in two
worlds," she said. "This is wisdom. The queen didn't forget
where she came from. We keep our faith no matter what."
Rahel Musleah is an award-winning journalist and author
of the forthcoming Apples and Pomegranates: A Rosh Hashanah
Seder (Lerner/Kar-Ben). She presents programs on Purim and other
Jewish holidays. Her Web site is www.rahelsjewishindia.com.
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