Children scatter after tearing off hunks of bread. Platters of thick, doughy sesame-topped bread creamy feta cheese honey and a thin, round, sweet-tasting potato “kugel” called koukou are also placed on the tables. There is an open kitchen at the back from which they bring trays of hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon and dates. I am aware that I stand out, even more so as I scribble in my notebook-I was told that this is the only service in which I can snap photos and take notes.Īs the two-hour service comes to a close, the women put down their prayer books to set two tables, one for men and one for women, for a typical Iranian breakfast. The women all wear pants, which are considered formal in Iran. The women smile as I maneuver around groups of chairs to find an empty place with a view of the Ark. Men sit on one side, women on the other, divided by a short, waist-high panel. A few hundred members of the congregation are already praying. I climb the synagogue’s two flights of stairs and enter the sanctuary, a low-ceilinged room with windows along the side, letting the morning light in. But the head of the community, introduced to me only as Mr. For example, those outside the congregation can find it difficult to gain entry to the Abrishami as well as other synagogues. It occupies a distinct, separate space within the larger Muslim society. I wanted to see the reality of its Jewish community and to experience a slice of Jewish life in a country effectively isolated for decades. Two-thirds of the Jewish community live in Tehran, mostly in the southern part of the city, and, in addition to the synagogues, run a hospital, private schools and restaurants. “We consider ourselves Iranian Jews, rather than Jewish Iranians,” says 41-year-old Abrishami member Farah Akbari. It is also a population that expresses a lot of national pride. Iran’s Jews are Mizrahic and Orthodox, but a relaxed version, with varying degrees of observance. They elect their own deputy to parliament and have certain rights of self-administration. Under the Islamic Constitution, Jews are an officially recognized religious minority. Iran has the oldest and largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel, though the Jewish population has shrunk more than 80 percent since the 1979 revolution and the founding of the Islamic republic. This country, which in the West is mostly associated with an oppressive government and human-rights abuses, debates over nuclear talks and terrorism, is also home to 15,000 Jews. The Abrishami is one of an estimated 60 synagogues in Iran-and the largest of the more than 20 in Tehran. Dressed in a headscarf and manteau, a light robe covering neck to knee that all women must wear in public, I am especially pleased that the weather is kind, neither too hot nor too cold. The selihot prayers said in the period leading up to the High Holidays will be recited this morning, and the 500-seat Abrishami is nearly full. I have been told to arrive early for the Thursday prayer service. I have been in Iran less than 12 hours, and I am now in the heart of Tehran’s Jewish community: the Abrishami Synagogue, in middle-class central Tehran. It is just after dawn on October 2, 2014-two days before the start of Yom Kippur-and Tehran’s notoriously bad traffic is already clogging the roads, filling the air with fumes.
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