For 100 years, my best friend’s family lived a double life as “hidden Jews” in Mashad, #Iran. In 1839, thousands of Muslims viciously attacked the #Jewish ghetto of Mashad in a bloody pogrom known as the “Allahdad” (Gd’s Justice). 36 Jews were slaughtered. Many women were raped. 7 Jewish girls were kidnapped and forced to become child-brides. The remaining 300 Jewish families were given an impossible choice: convert to Islam, or die immediately. Like the Marrano Jews of Spain who pretended to convert to Catholicism while hiding their true Jewish identity, the 300 Jewish families in Mashad - including my best friend’s family - pretended to convert. Outside their homes, by all appearances, Mashadi Jews truly converted. They adopted Muslim names, They regularly attended services at the mosque. They bought halal meat and Muslim-made bread. They even appeared to fast during Ramadan. But at home, in their basements and behind shuttered windows, they secretly continued to devoutly observe Judaism. Shabbat candles - which were made secretly in their basements - were lit under a cover, so they couldn’t be seen through windows. Women would wear traditional Muslim clothes - called chador - but would clandestinely use those cloaks to smuggle Torahs, prayer shawls and other ceremonial objects throughout the community. Families kept dogs and cats, so they could feed them the Muslim meat they bought while they themselves ate kosher meat, ritually slaughtered in secret and smuggled home under the women's chadors. During Passover, women would bake Matzah in basements after the children were sleeping, so if the children were ever questioned by Shia fanatics (which was common) they wouldn’t have any information to divulge. And to keep their children from intermarrying, children were betrothed at a young age, so if Muslims came asking for their hand, they would be told the girls were already engaged. For 120 years Mashadi Jews prayed that the day would come when they would be able to live freely as Jews. They suffered a secret double life, filled with fear, because they had no way to escape the radical Muslims who wanted to oppress, persecute and erase Jews from existence. But today’s Jews are finally free. Today’s Jews have our ancestral indigenous homeland #Israel. Today’s Jews know that the #October7Massacre is just another rinse and repeat of bloody pogroms like the “Allahdad” where Jews are slaughtered, raped and looted to satisfy antisemitic blood lust. This war isn’t about land. It was NEVER about land. It’s about a genocidal desire to destroy Jews from existence. 🔥AND WE ARE GOING NOWHERE🔥 #AmYisraelChai #NeverAgainIsNow #IStandWithIsrael #HamasISIS #HamasRapists #BelieveIsraeliWomen #BringThemHomeNow #DefundUNRWA
@persianjewess As Iran's Jews we are among the oldest Jewish communities in the world. We've lived & endured in Iran for 2700 years... today, we fill fight on! #AmYisraelChai
@persianjewess You are amazing! Thank you for your post. This made me cry! I have many Mashadi friends and I always admired them for their will & persistence and love of Judaism. They continued to stay Jewish no matter how they suffered. Some of the older ones I knew still had Muslim names.
@persianjewess @FissileFinance Many Jews that came to the US after WWII hid their identities, changed names, converted - are you familiar with Atlantis Morissette's story - she had no idea she was even Jewish until she 30yrs old both her Grandparents Holocaust survivors
@persianjewess @MarinaMedvin Am YIsrael Chai. I believe the Jewish people will never be removed from the land again. God’s promises are eternal.