This Purim, think of the 10,000 Jews who cannot celebrate

In late June last year, a group of Jews – both men and women – gathered together at a local synagogue for a special event. The Chief Rabbi spoke of the community’s strong allegiance to the country – a Jewish Member of Parliament heartily concurred. Jewish soldiers, dressed in their military fatigues, were in the audience. Photographers took pictures of those assembled.

And then the attendees – at Tehran’s Abrishami Synagogue – went home.

After all, they had not wanted to be there. The word had gone out that local Jews should attend, “in support of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” You can decide for yourselves whether you believe this was an optional invitation.

For many years, the remaining 10,000 or so members of the Iranian Jewish community were effectively showcased by the Ayatollahs as proof that their deep seated hatred was merely of Israel, rather than of Jews themselves. Iran’s remaining Jews served as a useful tool of regime – for example, in late October 2023, Jews – again led by the Chief Rabbi of Iran, rallied to condemn “Zionist brutality”, in pictures shared by one of the regime’s news agencies.

But last year, the regime was comprehensively humiliated, its intelligence and military weakness laid bare by Israel for the world to see. For days on end, fighter jets proudly emblazoned with the Star of David enjoyed total control of Iranian airspace, wreaking havoc on sites associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s nuclear programme.

The response to that was perhaps inevitable. The Jewish Association of Iran, the community’s leading body, was coerced by the regime into sending out messages warning Iranian Jews that contact with people abroad was off limits, and that any discussion of what had taken place during the 12-day war earlier that month would be closely monitored. At the Abrishami synagogue event, the Chief Rabbi of Iran told those listening – his Jewish audience and the inevitable regime handlers – that “Iran’s Jewish community not only supports its nation and sovereignty, but stands in a united front alongside the Iranian nation in support of Iranian soil.” The token Jewish representative in Parliament claimed in his speech that Israeli strikes on Iran had destroyed Iranian Jewish homes (no proof of this was provided).

And those Jews in the synagogue were the lucky ones. Dozens of members of the community were seized and interrogated by the regime in the wake of the 12 day war, reportedly including rabbis and cantors. Late last year, the regime imprisoned an Iranian-American Jewish man, Kamran Hekmati. His ‘crime’? Visiting Israel 13 years ago, for his son’s bar mitzvah.

Tonight and tomorrow, Jews around the world will gather together to read the story of Purim – Megillat Esther. It tells of the triumph of the Jewish people over those who wished to destroy them – and its setting is the Achaemenid Persian Empire – with modern Iran as its heartland. The ruins of the city of Shushan – Susa, one of the Imperial capitals, lies in the West of Iran, south of the modern-day city of Dezful. The Jews of Iran are the modern day descendants of those most directly impacted by that story.

Yet while Jews around the world celebrate, the Jews of Iran cannot. In the days following the elimination of Ayatollah Khamenei – and with the direct connection made, by Jewish communities in Israel and elsewhere, between the ancient Purim story and the modern day Iranian regime – for the Jews of Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan to rejoice would be perilous. Last year there was video footage of Purim celebrations at the site traditionally held by Persian Jews to be the tomb of Mordechai and Esther in the city of Hamadan (known as Ecbatana in the ancient world). This year such a celebration would be acutely dangerous.

In the wake of the intrigues in the Imperial Palace which saw the humbling of Haman and the elevation of Mordechai, through the offices of Esther, the consort of the Great King, Ataxerxes, messages were sent throughout the Empire to inform Jewish communities of the news of their deliverance. This year, it is the Jewish community of Persia itself – modern day Iran – which hopes for deliverance, along with millions of their Iranian compatriots.

As we celebrate reading the Megillah, we should spare a moment to pray for the deliverance of that community – and the hope that next year we may be able to visit them, in a free Iran.