Lunch & Learn- Jews in 20th Century Iran: National Belonging, Education & Identity

Our bi-monthly Lunch & Learn series looking into Israel and the Middle East will continue in June as our congregant Dr. Danielle Farah leads a presentation, entitled Jews in Twentieth-Century Iran: National Belonging, Education, and Identity.

Jews have lived in Iran for over 2,500 years, with a population of 100,000 at the community’s height in 1945. During the twentieth century, Iranian Jews experienced rapid upward mobility, participated in significant political and social movements, and integrated into several layers of Iranian society. This talk will explore the landscape of Jewish identity in Iran during the 20th century, with a special focus on Jewish-Muslim interactions, political engagement, and the intersection of education and integration. As we examine how Iranian Jews navigated between their Iranian and Jewish identities in an era of new nationalisms, we gain insight into what Jewish emancipation and assimilation looked like in a Muslim-majority country.

Dr. Farah is a 2021-2023 Samuel W. and Goldye Marian Spain Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Rice University. She received her PhD in Jewish History from Stanford University in 2021. Dr. Farah’s scholarship, which lies at the intersection of Jewish history, Middle Eastern history, education history, and transnational studies, examines interreligious encounters, national belonging, and Jewish identity formation in modern Iran and Turkey. As an Iranian-American Jewish woman, her work aims to give voice to Middle Eastern Jews’ experiences.

Register for the Zoom online or call 713.529.5771. A Zoom link will be sent prior to the presentation.