How the Central Organization of Iranian Immigrants is helping community
“I regret to say that while many Iranian Jews did very well in Israel, we as a community gave up on our identity as Iranians."
By HAGAY HACOHENUpdated: NOVEMBER 17, 2018 06:33Zion Hasid, head of the Central Organization of Iranian Immigrants in Israel, with a poster of the Tiferet Zion V’Sara synagogue he built in Jerusalem.(photo credit: HAGAY HACOHEN)
In 1963, Zion Hasid realized he could no longer stay in Iran.“Some friends and I, all Jews, went to a different town to do some trading,” he explains in his Jerusalem office. “It was the time of the Jewish New Year so we took the bus to the seaside, sang a few songs, and wanted to return to where we were staying. Unfortunately we missed the last bus back and there were no taxis. We hired someone who had a car to drive us and he crashed the car. Thank God, no one was killed.”“During the trial a few things became apparent; the driver was drunk and he did not have a valid driving license,” Hasid says. “Yet the judge found him not guilty and blamed us for the accident. Why? Because our Jewish songs confused the driver and he lost control of the car.“It was there and then I said to myself,” Hasid explains, “I can no longer remain in Iran. I went to my father and told him I wanted to go to Israel and asked if he would come with me. He said: ‘You are free to go, but I will stay here.’ When I asked him why, he explained that Jerusalem is a holy city and he was unsure that they would let us live there,” Hasid says. “So I told my father, let us try and live in Jerusalem. In the worst possible case we can always go back to Iran!”The entire Hasid family settled in Jerusalem and became one of the largest contractors in the capital.In his Jerusalem office, there are photographs of the Tiferet Zion V'Sara Synagogue Hasid which he built in Jerusalem, a visible proof of the strong emotional connection he feels toward the City of David. There is also a picture of the Chehel Sotoun Palace built by the 17th-century Shah Abbas II in Isfahan. The name of the palace, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, means “40 columns,” as there are 20 columns supporting it and their reflection in the pool below doubles the number to 40. Next to that is a photo of Pasargadae, the burial place of mighty Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to return to Zion and rebuild the Temple, ending the Babylonian captivity.“Do you know [founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran] Ruhollah Khomeini wanted to raze that site to the ground?” Hasid says, and adds it was regular people who lay down in front of bulldozers. “The Cyrus Cylinder is the oldest declaration of human rights in the world, it is in the United Nations, why do you wish to dishonor his grave?” (The UN has a copy presented to it by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi in 1971, the original is in the British Museum.)When I mention efforts by the Islamic Republic of Iran to keep good relations with Jews, such as the 2008 decision to include the Tomb of Esther and Mordecai in Hamadan in the official list of government-protected Iranian cultural sites, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wishing Jewish people happy holidays, Hasid is visibly dismayed.“This is all for show,” he says sadly. “The government helps the Jewish community clean cemeteries or rebuild a synagogue and that makes the news all over the world.”As he describes it, “Iranians had little affection for Jews even before the Islamic revolution, they would call us najis [ritually unclean] and if we would sit on the bus on a rainy day, no Iranian would sit next to us because water transmits the impurity.”
As Israel is a society of immigrants, I ask Hasid how he views the future of Iranian Jewish culture in Israel.“We keep taarof [manners]” he says. “As that is a very big part of our culture, I wish to build a cultural center for Iranian Jews in Jerusalem that would serve us for conferences and lectures.“I regret to say that while many Iranian Jews did very well in Israel, we as a community gave up on our identity as Iranians and very much accepted that we are Israelis now,” Hasid continues. “Not all Jewish communities in Israel have done so.“I want there to be MKs in the Knesset who will promote Iranian issues,” Hasid says. “Which is why I hope to run on behalf of the Likud Party in the future.”“For 15 years there hasn’t been a leader interested in Iranian Jewish issues in Israel,” Hasid says. “I hope to provide our community with a home, and an address, in Jerusalem.”
