Persian Jews

such community that have existed for thousands of years and still exist today are the Iranian Jews. Judaism has a rich and millennial history in Iran including the era 2,500 years ago when the first Persian ruler declared religious freedom. But during the Islamic Revolution, as the last Persian monarch left Iran 35 years ago, thousands fled to the United States in search of a new home. Fewer than 30,000 Jews live in Iran today, compared with more than 100,000 in the 1970s. Despite the exodus…

In the post war years, Montreal was the core center of Canadian Jews. Its Jewish population exceeded Toronto’s, and the educational and communal structures built by the Jewish community outdid the smaller centers in Canada. Jews in Canada frequently live in cities or suburbs. Although not as residentially segregated as the Vietnamese, often neighborhoods could be considered “Jewish neighborhoods” because of the amount of Jewish synagogues, schools and Jewish population living there. In Louis…

The three movies, Erbkrank, The Eternal Jew and Jud Suss, all show case various levels of Anti-Semitism that existed in Nazi Germany. The Jew was seen as the destroyer of the true Germany and were thus the culprit for all of their problems. The idea of the Jew as other was clearly displayed in all three movies, in varying means and styles. The audiences for all of the movies clearly impact the manner in which the movies chose to go about exploring the Jewish problem, that reportedly existed…

Mendoza the Jew and Religious Tolerance Religious prosecution against Jews was prevalent all throughout European history. The story of Daniel Mendoza in Schechter and Clarke’s graphic history novel Mendoza the Jew perfectly embodies religious prosecution in eighteenth century England. Daniel Mendoza, an 18th century Jewish boxer, fought a battle in and out of the ring against religious prosecution in late 1700’s England. Being born into a deeply religious Jewish family Daniel learned the…

and the afterlife. Before the Exile and Persian contact, Jews believed that the souls of the dead went to a dull, Hades-like place called "Sheol." After the Exile, the idea of a moralized afterlife, with heavenly rewards for the good and hellish punishment for the evil, appear in Judaism. One of the words for "heaven" in the Bible is Paradise - and this word, from the ancient Iranian words pairi-daeza, "enclosed garden," is one of the very few definite Persian loan-words in the Bible. This…

Looking over the identity wheels and my notes from the interview, I noticed that Mr. D acknowledged certain parts of his identity much more than other parts of his identity. Mr. D is a newly opened bisexual male. He talked about this part of his identity the most throughout our conversations. He talked about how he was a target and how that made him feel. He talked about how his newly found identity was a problem for his wife and that was one of the reasons they got a divorce. How expressed some…

In year ca. 1160 Rabbi Benjamin, son of Jonah, started off on his journey from his native city of Saragossa, Spain and then travelled through many cities in what is now known as Asia, Europe and Africa. This travelogue was first written in Hebrew by Benjamin but was then much later translated and complied by Marcus Nathan Adler. Benjamin documented his travels through explanation of the people, geographical nature, culture and the existence of the Jewish populations. He was connected to his…

experiences as they tend to focus on the Jewish and their search for belonging and identity. Potok separates the modernized Jewish culture in America from what he thinks is the true and original Jewish culture. This mirrors his life as an American Jew born and raised in the New York. Potok values the relationship of family in his books, especially between father and son, as the father would pass on their culture down to the son so that it can be passed for many more generations to come. There is…

nationality and region, but were also very different within their own populations. This included the communities of Jews in these countries. The lives of Henry Buxbaum and Esther show that, while the Jews of West and East Europe during the interwar period had clear overarching distinctions, there was also an abundance of variety and division amongst the Jews of Germany and the Jews of Poland. This is manifested in both their stories as religious, economic, and political struggles and…

faith. Jews for many years had no nation of their own, and so they were disseminated among many other different people and nations. After Expulsion indicates the difficulties the Jewish people went through not only with non-Jews, but also within the ties of Hebrew blood. Jews were not fully accepted by Christians or Muslims and had many separations among themselves. There were influential people within the Jewish community who did what they could to keep their people held together. The Jews were…