Persian Jewish Community in North America

Although Persian Jews had lived relatively peacefully and successfully for a century in Mashad—one of the largest cities in Iran and a holy site for Shi’ah Muslims—the Shi’ite community suddenly revolted against the Persian Jewish community in March 1839, storming the synagogues, destroying sacred Torah scrolls, and killing dozens of people. A few of the Jews managed to escape, pleading with the local imam to stop the violence. The imam agreed, on condition that the Jewish community immediately convert to Islam. Knowing that this was the only way to preserve their lives, the “Mashadi Jews,” as they came to be known, agreed to convert.

For 86 years, the Mashadi Jewish community openly practiced Islam. They adopted Muslim names, learned the Muslim prayers, attended mosque regularly, sent their children to Qur’anic school, and even took pilgrimages to Mecca. From the beginning of the “conversion,” however, the Mashadi Jewish community made a secret pact to preserve their heritage and religion. In order not to draw suspicion, meat would be bought from the open market only to be given to the dogs, while kosher meat was prepared in the confines of Jewish households and distributed secretly from courtyard to courtyard. Although outwardly the members of the community had Muslim names, they were also given secret Hebrew names. Upon return from the Friday prayers at the mosque, the Jewish community would gather in secret meeting rooms to welcome the Sabbath. Stores remained open on the Sabbath, but children would often work on these days instead of their fathers.

Even with these precautionary measures, the community would have been exposed and possibly destroyed if intermarriage had taken place. Therefore, the community methodically arranged the marriages of their members to each other at an early age, ensuring that their secret heritage would be spared. To this day, the Mashadi Jewish community remain one of the most insular Jewish groups in the world, and the 5,000-member Mashadi Jewish community in Metro New York preserves their Mashadi heritage more than any other in the world today.

Living alongside the Mashadi Jewish community in New York City, as well as residing in larger numbers in the Los Angeles area, are many “Tehrani Jews,” who are simply Persian Jews who are not Mashadi. The Tehrani Persian Jewish community in North America numbers over 60,000 people, and they are more open to intermarrying and associating with other Jewish groups. Members of both the Mashadi and Tehrani Jewish diaspora speak Iranian Persian, also known as Farsi.