In Pictures: Tehran's Old Jewish Neighborhoods
The history of Jewish people in Iran dates back to some 2500 years ago when Cyrus the Great, the Persian King (from 559 to 530 BC) conquered Babylon and liberated the Jews from captivity. He is venerated in the Hebrew Bible as Cyrus the Messiah for issuing the decree of liberation to the Jews.
Unlike ghettos in Europe and other countries, Jewish neighborhoods in Iran have never been impoverished or segregated. In many localities, Jews lived peacefully among Muslims and Armenian Christians, prayed freely in synagogues and traded as successful businessmen in Bazaar. They even celebrated some Muslim holidays and occasionally used Islamic names. Some converted to Islam and others intermarried Muslims in cities like Hamedan. There are still many Jews living in Iran, despite Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and the government's official anti-Zionism policy.
The historic pictures shown here (by Sevrugin) depict Tehran's well-known Jewish neighborhoods such as Odlajan:
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