Iran Heritage

By Helen Eliassian

Tue., March 22, 2005 Adar2 12, 5765

Generations of Jews have protected the holy site. Will the Iranians continue to do so? Women of all religious backgrounds visit the site to pray for children, bringing colorful curtains and cloths to place on the tombs and to donate to an adjacent prayer room.

Though the holiday of Purim is celebrated by Jews worldwide, the story, based as it is in Persia, has special resonance for the Jews of Iran. Recent decades have proved difficult for Persian Jews, many of whom fled the country after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. From a community of about 100,000, an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 now remain.

This month, Jews from across Iran will pray at a shrine in Hamadan, in northwestern Iran, dedicated to the heroes of the Purim story. They will likely be met upon arrival by Muslims and Christians, who pray year-round at the unusual shrine. The building follows the architecture of emamzadeh ("Islamic shrine"), but has walls adorned with Hebrew inscriptions describing Esther and Mordechai's origins. In fact, it might come as a surprise to learn that the story of Purim has resonance for all Iranians.