Welcome Home!
Photo by Temple Beth El (San Antonio, TX)
Forty new immigrants from Iran arrived in Israel yesterday, marking this year’s emigration from Iran at 200 (up from 65 last year). The newcomers will settle in the South where they will begin Hebrew language classes and begin making the transition to an Israeli way of life.
Donations from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews will help them start their life here, as each new immigrant will receive $10,000 on top of their aliyah benefits.
It reminds me of an excerpt from a Yehuda Amichai poem, “All the Generations Before Me,”
All the generations before me
donated me, bit by bit, so that I’d be
erected all at once
here in Jerusalem, like a house of prayer…
This post updates: “Iranian Jews Offered $10,000 Each to Come to Israel.“
Recommended Reading
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews:
- Learn more about the Fellowship: “Trend Alert: Christian Philanthropy to Israel– Jewish Agency Invites Christian Members to Board”
Persian Jews and Iran:
- “Good News from the Jewish World: the Fight Against Anti-Semitism” (Iran’s favorite TV show “Zero Degree Turn” features a love affair between a Palestinian Muslim man and a French Jewish women– check out the video)
- “Favorite Israel Donation: Honoring the Memory of Fallen Soldiers” (Given by American Persian Jew Younes Nazarian to the University of Haifa)
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December 26, 2007 at 6:30 pm |
I’m glad these people are safely in Israel. With MadManDinejad in office, Iran does not seem like a safe place for Jews to live.
O/T
This is so cool:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124713
December 26, 2007 at 6:36 pm |
Very. Leave it to the Technion. And of course, how Israeli that the guy in charge is named Zohar (roughly translated as “divine light”).
I like this part best:
“Zohar sees the Bible project as a modern throwback to the etching of the ancient text. “We carved it in stone – silicon and gold. We did it the ancient way – just much, much smaller,” he said.”
I don’t think the size of it hit me until I saw the comparison with the fingertip.
December 27, 2007 at 6:31 pm |
These Jews still in Iran are being used to do P.R. damage control for the regime there. You should read about how the Iranian government is trying to use the Jews still living in Iran for propaganda purposes:
http://jewishjournal.com/iranianamericanjews/2007/12/irans-regime-uses-jews-again-for.html
December 27, 2007 at 6:57 pm |
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the link. I’ve actually been reading all about it. All that new news came out after this entry was published.
So what do you think?
Maya
December 28, 2007 at 12:44 pm |
UPDATE:
The new immigrants from Iran are staying in absorption centers in Ra’anana and Be’er Sheva. There are a number of Persian speakers in Be’er Sheva, so this will make at least their initial transition easier.
February 6, 2008 at 11:03 pm |
[...] “Israeli Philanthropy Update: 40 Iranian Jews Arrive in Israel with Help of Jewish Agency̶… [...]
November 10, 2008 at 2:13 am |
Are you the same Joe Hamadani that attended EIU in 1975? If so, please email.
March 28, 2009 at 3:12 pm |
As an Iranian American and not a Jew I feel sad that Jews feel the need to migrate from Iran. They have been welcomed in Iran for thousands of years when no one else in the region did. They have contributed to the culture and very fabric of makes Iran. Most Iranians share my sentiment. No one including Muslims should feel that hey are not welcomed in the very land that gave them life and so much opportunity.