Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

"Judaism and Zionism Are Not One"
Tuesday, May 1, 2007

One of the chapters in WHERE GOD WAS BORN that gets the biggest reaction is the one on the time Mrs. Feiler Faster and I spent in the Jewish Community in Iran. "Jews in Iran?" many say. Yes. The Jewish community in Iran is the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel -- 35,000 people. The CSM checks in:

Iran's Jews are buffeted by inflammatory rhetoric from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about "wiping Israel off the map" and denying the Holocaust, and a politically charged environment that often equates all Jews with Israel and routinely witnesses the burning of the "enemy" flag.

But despite what appears to be a dwindling minority under constant threat of persecution, Iranian Jews say they live in relative freedom in the Islamic Republic, remain loyal to the land of their birth, and are striving to separate politics from religion.

They caution against comparing Iran's official and visceral opposition to the creation of Israel and Zionism with the regime's acceptance of Jews and Judaism itself.

"If you think Judaism and Zionism are one, it is like thinking Islam and the Taliban are the same, and they are not," says Ciamak Moresadegh, chairman of the Tehran Jewish Committee. "We have common problems with Iranian Muslims. If a war were to start, we would also be a target. When a missile lands, it does not ask if you are a Muslim or a Jew. It lands."

Labels: Judaism, Middle East

Posted by B Feiler at 8:03 AM
Permalink Digg this Post Email this Post

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...: How easy we here in 'the West' seem to forget this....
Thank you.
Shalom.; May 1, 2007 9:31:00 PM EDT