{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Mideast\u0026#39;s largest Jewish population outside Israel finds new acceptance by officials' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c55dd8eafeecae16facf' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c55dd8eafeecae16facf' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nMideast\u0026#39;s largest Jewish population outside Israel finds new acceptance by officials\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eIran is home to the largest population of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel. For 3,000 years Jews have been living in Iran but tensions between Iran and Israel have in the past inflamed tensions.  However, Iranian Jews...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eIran is home to the largest population of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel. For 3,000 years Jews have been living in Iran but tensions between Iran and Israel have in the past inflamed tensions.  \u003cbr/\u003eHowever, Iranian Jews celebrating pilgrimage say there is a greater acceptance from the new government of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani.  \u003cbr/\u003eThis old synagogue in central Iran - built more than 100 years ago - is packed once a year with Iranian Jews, the biggest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel.\u003cbr/\u003eJewish families from various Iranian cities embark on a long pilgrimage to Yazd, 700 kilometres from Tehran, taking the bus or train to perform early morning prayers at Molla Aqa Baba Synagogue and pay tribute to the tomb of Harav Oursharga, a sacred rabbi.\u003cbr/\u003eAn old Torah is removed from a cupboard and a prayer leader recites lines to be repeated by the pilgrims.\u003cbr/\u003ePieces of cloth are draped over the book as a form of blessing and Jewish men carry it around the synagogue. The tallit and tefllin are all parts of annual rituals.\u003cbr/\u003eAfter the prayer ceremony, Jewish families have breakfast together at the synagogue to celebrate their identity and to enjoy the greater freedoms granted to them under Iran's new moderate president Hassan Rouhani.\u003cbr/\u003eSanaz Toubian, is Jewish woman who has come the synagogue from Tehran with her mother.\u003cbr/\u003eShe makes this one-day trip to Yazd by train every year along with hundreds of other Jewish followers. \u003cbr/\u003e\"Here is one of the holy sites that receives one of the biggest numbers of pilgrims. Every year and on the anniversary of his death (Harav Oursharga, a sacred rabbi buried in Yazd), many Jews oblige themselves to come here, despite the difficulties of the trip, or lack of availability of enough buses or train tickets and lack of room for everyone. We perform our rituals here and offer our charities to help these sites too,\" Sanaz says.\u003cbr/\u003eThe group tour also provides an opportunity for Iran's nearly 20,000 Jews - the largest community in the Middle East outside Israel - to get to know each other and socialise.\u003cbr/\u003eFor decades in Iran, Jews have demanded their schools be closed on Saturdays, the Sabbath, to practice their religious duties but authorities had opposed the request. \u003cbr/\u003eHowever, just weeks after Rouhani took office, the government agreed to allow Jewish schools to close on Saturdays.\u003cbr/\u003eRama Yousefzadeh, is a 12-year-old Jewish boy from the city of Shiraz that has historically housed a large Jewish population.\u003cbr/\u003eHe goes to the same school as Muslim students but the school, under a mandate by the Iranian Ministry of Education, has permitted him to take Saturdays off and is obliged to hold extra classes for him and other Jewish students to compensate for their absence.\u003cbr/\u003e\"At the school that I go to there are both Muslim and Jewish students but the (Iranian) Ministry of Education have allowed us to be off on Saturdays because based on the Jewish religious instructions, we must not work on Saturdays and should only rest,\" he says.\u003cbr/\u003eHomayoun Samiah, is the leader of Tehran Jewish Association that caters to the needs of the community.\u003cbr/\u003eAfter his election in 2013, Rouhani appointed Ali Yunesi, a cleric and a former intelligence minister as his Special Aide for Ethnic Groups and Religious Minorities.\u003cbr/\u003eSamiah recalls a meeting he and representatives of other religious minorities had with Yunesi a short time after Rouhani took office to bring up their demands and seek action by the new administration.\u003cbr/\u003eOne of his main demands was allowing the Jewish students take Saturdays off.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I told him (Iranian President's special aide in the affairs of minorities) if you could meet only one of our big demands within these four years (of President Rouhani's term in office), it would be as if you have split the moon. Meet only one of them and we would be happy. They did that (letting Jewish students off on Saturdays) in a month's time and this problem was solved,\" Samieh says.\u003cbr/\u003eFor the first time in decades, an Iranian president congratulated Rosh Hashana, the new Jewish year. This was seen by Jews as recognition of their standing by the government.\u003cbr/\u003eIt is in contrast to the hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had called the holocaust a \"myth\".  He even sponsored an international conference in 2006 to debate whether the World War II genocide took place. Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi once accused Jews, as a whole, of being drug dealers. \u003cbr/\u003eBut moderate Rouhani has distanced from Ahmadinejad's bombastic style. \u003cbr/\u003eHis Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif also said in comments carried on his verified Twitter account that  \"Iran never denied it (the Holocaust). The man who did is now gone. happy new year,\" Apparently referring to Ahmadinejad.\u003cbr/\u003e\"Over at least the last 15 years, the Iranian government had not congratulated us on any Jewish occasions ever before. However, as Mr. Rouhani (Iranian President) started work, both him and the Foreign Minister (Mohammad Javad Zarif), said happy Rosh Hashana to the Jews and congratulated us on the new Jewish year. This was of extreme significance for us because it showed that the Iranian Jews are being recognised,\" Samiah says.\u003cbr/\u003eIn a gesture of support, Rouhani has allocated 10 billion rials (USD $400,000) to a Jewish charity hospital in Tehran.\u003cbr/\u003eIran's only Jewish lawmaker in the Iranian parliament accompanied the president during his historic trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year.\u003cbr/\u003eAround noontime, the Jews went to the Shrine of Harav Oursharga, one of the holiest Jewish sites in Iran.\u003cbr/\u003eOne of the descendants of prophet David, Oursharga is known to be one of three Iranian Jews with pure knowledge of the religion who is believed to have granted wishes for his community.\u003cbr/\u003eIn the packed shrine, Jewish men and women kiss Oursharga's tombstone, shed tears and pray for their wishes to come true while others light candles in his memory in a separate room. \u003cbr/\u003eThe gathering is also an opportunity for members of the faith to get to know each other better and allows potential for matchmaking. \u003cbr/\u003eIn the afternoon families gather in the shrine's garden with olive trees to socialise.\u003cbr/\u003eRaymon Nourad, is a young Jewish man from Shiraz, who is looking for a bride.\u003cbr/\u003e\"In addition to coming here for pilgrimage, if I find an appropriate Jewish girl from other towns, I would ask for her hand in marriage too. Why not?\" he says.\u003cbr/\u003eMany Jews left Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution. \u003cbr/\u003eIranian Jews with links to Israel were cracked down on, and many left for the United States or Europe while some of them immigrated to Israel. \u003cbr/\u003eThe Jewish population dropped from over 100,000 in the late 1970s to 20,000 in the present day. \u003cbr/\u003eImmigration slowed down under former moderate president Mohammad Khatami but still it continued under Ahmadinejad. Now, that trend has stopped.\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television\u003cbr/\u003eYazd, Iran - November 20, 2014\u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide exterior of Molla Aqa Baba synagogue in Yazd with a mosque dome in background\u003cbr/\u003e2. Close of sign reading: (Farsi \u0026amp;amp; Hebrew) \"Molla Aqa Baba Synagogue\"\u003cbr/\u003e3. Reverse shot of rabbi opening a cupboard where the Torah is kept\u003cbr/\u003e4. Close of man placing pieces of cloth on a Torah case\u003cbr/\u003e5. Mid of people chanting prayers gathered around the Torah\u003cbr/\u003e6. Close of pieces of cloth being put on top of Torah case with women ululating \u003cbr/\u003e7. Mid of people praying\u003cbr/\u003e8. Tilt up of man carrying Torah case\u003cbr/\u003e9. Various of people praying\u003cbr/\u003e10. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Sanaz Toubian, Jewish pilgrim from Tehran: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Here is one of the holy sites that receives one of the biggest numbers of pilgrims. Every year and on the anniversary of his death (Harav Oursharga, a sacred rabbi buried in Yazd), many Jews come here, despite the difficulties of the trip, or lack of availability of enough buses or train tickets and lack of room for everyone. We perform our rituals here and offer our charities to help these sites too.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Mid of Torah being carried around synagogue and women touching it\u003cbr/\u003e12. Close of old woman crying\u003cbr/\u003e13. Wide of people in synagogue\u003cbr/\u003e14. Tilt-up from Torah in woman's hand to her face reading it\u003cbr/\u003e15. Mid of people eating breakfast after praying\u003cbr/\u003e16. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Rama Yousefzadeh, 12-year-old Jewish boy from Shiraz: \u003cbr/\u003e\"At the school that I go to there are both Muslim and Jewish students but the (Iranian) Ministry of Education have allowed us to be off on Saturdays because based on the Jewish religious instructions, we must not work on Saturdays and should only rest.\"\u003cbr/\u003e17. Close of breakfast meal in man's hand\u003cbr/\u003e18. Close of man eating\u003cbr/\u003e19. Mid of Jewish family having breakfast in synagogue\u003cbr/\u003eTehran, Iran - July 16, 2014\u003cbr/\u003e20. Set-up of Homayoun Samieh, leader of Tehran Jewish Association during interview\u003cbr/\u003e21. Close of old photo on wall showing Iranian Jews\u003cbr/\u003e22. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Homayoun Samieh, leader of Tehran Jewish Association: \u003cbr/\u003e\"I told him (Iranian President's special aide in the affairs of minorities) if you could meet only one of our big demands within these four years (of President Rouhani's term in office), it would be as if you have split the moon. Meet only one of them and we would be happy. They did that (letting Jewish students off on Saturdays) in a month's time and this problem was solved.\"\u003cbr/\u003e23. Mid cutaway of interview\u003cbr/\u003e24. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Homayoun Samieh, leader of Tehran Jewish Association: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Over at least the last 15 years, the Iranian government had not congratulated us on any Jewish occasions ever before. However, as Mr. Rouhani (Iranian President) started work, both him and the Foreign Minister (Mohammad Javad Zarif), said happy Rosh Hashana to the Jews and congratulated us on the new Jewish year. This was of extreme significance for us because it showed that the Iranian Jews are being recognised.\"\u003cbr/\u003eYazd, Iran - November 20, 2014\u003cbr/\u003e25. Wide exterior of people gathered outside the tomb of Harav Oursharga, a sacred rabbi buried in Yazd\u003cbr/\u003e26. Mid of people waiting to go inside the tomb\u003cbr/\u003e27. Mid of Jewish women putting their faces on the tombstone\u003cbr/\u003e28. Tilt-down from pilgrims to women praying over the tombstone\u003cbr/\u003e29. Mid of lit candles and hand putting a candle down\u003cbr/\u003e30. Mid of woman lighting a candle \u003cbr/\u003e31. Close of hand lighting a candle\u003cbr/\u003e32. Reverse shot of women lighting candles\u003cbr/\u003e33. Wide exterior of the candle room\u003cbr/\u003e34. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Raymon Nourad, Jewish pilgrim from Shiraz \u003cbr/\u003e\"In addition to coming here for pilgrimage, if I find an appropriate Jewish girl from other towns, I would ask for her hand in marriage too. Why not?\"\u003cbr/\u003e35. Mid of young Jewish men and women\u003cbr/\u003e36. Close of woman's face with sunglasses laughing\u003cbr/\u003e37. Mid of three Jewish women\u003cbr/\u003e38. 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