כל הזכויות שמורות © לשידורי יהדות איראן חומרי ארכיון

כל הזכויות שמורות © לשידורי יהדות איראן חומרי ארכיון

כל הזכויות שמורות © לשידורי יהדות איראן חומרי ארכיון

Please note: the full version of this program can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHNsL1EKR-s One of Israel’s most successful pop stars, Rita, discovered her love of singing as a child in her native Iran. But it was her family’s migration to the Jewish state that enabled her to build a career as a singer, while also posing challenges that she had to overcome as part of an Iranian immigrant family. Rita’s passion for her Persian heritage eventually led her to produce a Farsi-language album, All My Joys, in 2012. In this Persians of Israel episode, Rita tells VOA’s Michael Lipin how the album’s popularity with Iranians caught her by surprise and inspired her to reach out to the Iranian people. She also reveals how her interactions with Iranians have led her to set a new – and perhaps daring – career goal.

What is it like to be an Iranian in Israel? While not one day goes by without the news headlines speaking about the animosity between Iran and Israel, you would almost forget that there are also Iranians living in Israel: Iranian Jews who moved to Israel shortly after the independence of Israel or after the Islamic revolution in 1979. How does this community of nearly 250,000 souls cope with the daily tension between their homeland and their promised land? Bahram Sadeghi (born & raised Iranian and living since his eighteenth in the Netherlands) and Dikla Zeidler (born in Eilat to an Israeli father and a Dutch mother, living in the Netherlands since she was eight) decided to ask some well-known Iranian Israelis, including singer Rita Jahan-Foruz and radio host Menashe Amir, the simple question: what is it like to be an Iranian Israeli?

At the beginning of the 20th century, a constitution was established in Iran, which, in theory, made Iranian Jews equal citizens. However, a significant change in their status occurred only during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, who implemented modernizing reforms in the country. The economic and social position of the Jews changed further due to the establishment of the State of Israel and its relations with the Iranian Shah. This series will examine the history of the Jewish community in Iran from its earliest days to the present, in light of social, cultural, and political developments both in Iran and beyond. We will highlight the experience of Jews in Iran as a case study of the status of a Jewish minority under Muslim rule, and specifically under Shia Muslim rule. Additionally, various aspects of the culture and life of the Iranian Jewish community will be reviewed. The series will present primary sources from the period, alongside research on the Jews of Iran in particular and Jews in the Muslim world in general. Orly Rahimiyan, Researcher of Iranian Jewry https://www.bac.org.il/en/events/?seriesID=1225 -- Credit: Alireza Zarafshani For more: https://www.bac.org.il/en/videos

CNN's Reza Sayah profiles a community of Persian Jews in Iran.