In Persia for more than 2,500 years, most of the 80,000-100,000 Jews living in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution have left, with only some 8,750-20,000 remaining. Scattered across the country, the biggest Iranian-Jewish communities are in Tehran, Isfahan, and the southern city of Shiraz.
Tehran's Jewish Community
1
An Iranian Jewish man wearing a Tallit reads the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.
2
Iranian Jews carry a Torah scroll out from a cupboard to be read during morning prayers.
3
Iranian Jewish men wearing Tallit shawls read from the Torah during morning prayers.
4
Iranian Jews read from the Torah scroll during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.
5
Iranian Jews read from the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.
6
An Iranian Jew wearing a Tallit performs the morning prayer at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.
7
Iranian Jew Eshagh Akhamzadeh locks the door housing the Torah scroll after placing it in inside a cupboard during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.
8
An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.
9
An Iranian Jew performs prayers at a Tehran synagogue.
10
An Iranian Jew smells a plant to be blessed at a Tehran synagogue.
11
Iranian Jews read the Torah at a Tehran synagogue.
12
An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.
13
An Iranian Jew inspects a special lemon (etrog) used during the celebration of Sukkot, the feast of the Tabernacles, to be blessed at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.
14
A Jewish boy reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.