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
![An Iranian Jewish man wearing a Tallit reads the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.](https://gdb.rferl.org/18f957a7-85e4-4964-be1f-a3eb0d903038_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jewish man wearing a Tallit reads the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.
![Iranian Jews carry a Torah scroll out from a cupboard to be read during morning prayers.](https://gdb.rferl.org/59202c23-a269-4c52-99d4-8bb5ee802119_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Iranian Jews carry a Torah scroll out from a cupboard to be read during morning prayers.
![Iranian Jewish men wearing Tallit shawls read from the Torah during morning prayers.](https://gdb.rferl.org/95850f5f-e141-444c-9669-eb6aa8c0fd72_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Iranian Jewish men wearing Tallit shawls read from the Torah during morning prayers.
![Iranian Jews read from the Torah scroll during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.](https://gdb.rferl.org/cf7a2887-cb06-41f5-8079-24f4c09cf782_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Iranian Jews read from the Torah scroll during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue in Tehran.
![Iranian Jews read from the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.](https://gdb.rferl.org/835ea224-608b-490f-ae72-dc21bbf1246f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Iranian Jews read from the Torah during morning prayers at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.
![An Iranian Jew wearing a Tallit performs the morning prayer at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.](https://gdb.rferl.org/77d5aca4-0133-42a6-8485-64da9a7bef73_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jew wearing a Tallit performs the morning prayer at the Yussef Abad Synagogue.
![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.](https://gdb.rferl.org/ab341e5d-66f0-41fa-bb65-e358a77484ce_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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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.
![An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.](https://gdb.rferl.org/3018b45a-5bb0-47cb-b05e-7da4fd147b7e_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.
![An Iranian Jew performs prayers at a Tehran synagogue.](https://gdb.rferl.org/6477faa1-bb71-487e-855d-c369588bb1dd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jew performs prayers at a Tehran synagogue.
![An Iranian Jew smells a plant to be blessed at a Tehran synagogue.](https://gdb.rferl.org/af7f5330-3388-4ee8-98a1-a3e3cc757418_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jew smells a plant to be blessed at a Tehran synagogue.
![Iranian Jews read the Torah at a Tehran synagogue.](https://gdb.rferl.org/734aa0be-72e5-4b33-b3c3-ffade6450407_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Iranian Jews read the Torah at a Tehran synagogue.
![An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.](https://gdb.rferl.org/ac4dba6d-bf5e-40bb-89c7-56d53cb59c8b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An Iranian Jew reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.
![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.](https://gdb.rferl.org/4149a8b0-d251-4c77-909c-bdc85ddefee4_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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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.
![A Jewish boy reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.](https://gdb.rferl.org/afdec16d-ea7f-4423-8564-9c973a3408b8_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A Jewish boy reads the Torah at a synagogue in downtown Tehran.