Opinion

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Editorial

Tehran's Charade

y

es, Jews have lived in Iran since
biblical times, surviving what the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency calls
"2,700 years of rotating dynasties, from
Persian kings and Mongol rulers to today's
ayatollahs!" But don't let that seeming
acceptance fool you: Tehran tolerates "its
Jews" to create the impression that there is
a difference between Judaism and Zionism.
In fact, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
an avowed anti-Zionist, has followed the
lead of his predecessors in allowing Jews
to openly practice their faith in the Islamic
Republic as long as they separate them-
selves from Israel.
This distinguishing factor came to
light, yet again, when an airplane with 40
Iranian Jews aboard recently landed at
Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, bringing
to 200 the number making aliyah last year
— a record. Was the arrival a sign that
Iran's Jews are more strongly feeling the
pull of their ancestral homeland? Or was
the small number, despite a $10,000 gift
partly funded by evangelical groups here in
the U.S., plus immigrant benefits for each
arriving Iranian in Israel, an indication that
most Iranian Jews still cling to their home
country despite the politics there?
We think it's a little of both.
Certainly it's always hard to break from
your homeland if you've built a productive,
tightly knit community. At the same time,
the promise of a better life in the Jewish

uation becomes dire says Eldad Paro, an Iran
expert at Hebrew University's Truman Center.
Therein echoes the Tehran charade. By
treating Iranian Jews fairly well — permit-
ting synagogues, kosher restaurants and
Jewish social clubs — Tehran can focus on
its anti-Zionist agenda: destroying Israel
and denying the Holocaust. Somehow it
thinks neither equates with anti-Semitism.
Another example why Iranian Jews
hesitate to criticize the government: One
of Iran's most-popular TV programs was
a mini-series about the Holocaust that
portrays Jews sympathetically. Syamak
Morehtzedek, head of the Tehran Jewish
Committee, told the Associated Press that
"anti-Semitism is a Western phenomenon

state now that Palestinian terror has
slowed can't be minimized.
Iranian Jews shouldn't dismiss the impact
of Ahmadinejad's threats toward Israel.
Iran remains home to 20,000 to 25,000
Jews. They are the diaspora's oldest Jewish
community and the largest Jewish popula-
tion in a Muslim country.
Before the Islamic revolution of 1979,
which toppled the Western-minded shah,
100,000 Jews lived in Iran. Installation of
a fundamentalist Islamic regime caused
many to flee. Some made aliyah; but more
came to America, especially southern
California and the New York City area.
Financial incentives aren't likely to lure
most of Iran's remaining Jews unless their sit-

but Jews have never been in danger in Iran."
Sharona Cohen is an Iranian Jew now
living in Israel. Relatives were among the
40 Iranians who made aliyah in December.
Cohen believes Jews on the street in Iran
don't quake over Tehran's hate-mongering.
"People feel good, they don't feel fear. They
feel they are living normal lives. There is
anti-Semitism here and there, but nothing
they feel on a daily basis',' she said.
But maybe some quaking is in order.
Economic hardship has begun to ruffle
once-comfortable Iranian Jews.
They are relatively safe, for now. But
make no mistake: They are unwitting hos-
tages should Israel unilaterally try to shut
Iran's nuclear development facilities. 1 1

Forever Chelm by Michael Gilbert

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Reality Check

To Have And Have Not

S

ometimes you can actually
learn things from television. For
instance, I have gained many
insights into the mortgage crisis and credit
card crunch by watching Deal or No Deal.
For those who have never seen it, the
show demands no skill whatsoever. It is sim-
ply a guessing game. But it is almost a per-
fect psychological study of how the promise
of easy money can strangle the brain.
Twenty-six boxes are held up by an equal
number of nubile young women. Each box
contains a monetary figure, ranging from a
few pennies to $1 million. As the contestant
picks a box to be opened, the amount of
money it contains is removed from a dis-
play board.
Every so often, an unseen "banker" will
phone in and offer the contestant a certain
amount of money. He can either take it and
go home or continue playing Deal or No
Deal. Of course, when there are still lots of
boxes to choose from, the offered amount is

large figures still on the board
quite low. But as the game goes
and goes for it — although
on and a few big rewards remain
there is a 50-50 chance he will
on the board, it gets progres-
walk away with much less than
sively higher.
the proffered 200Gs.
The contestant can have four
It is the clearest exhibition
boxes remaining, for example,
I
ever
have seen on how nice,
containing $5, $500, $250,000
reasonable people have their
and the big kahuna — one mil-
judgment knocked akimbo by
lion. At this point, the "banker"
George Cantor
visions of easy gain.
will call and offer something
Co!u! nnist
When it comes to a real
like $200,000.
reversal of fortune, however, I
It is obvious that the players
need to tell you about a recent
are not people of great means.
conversation I had with a man who used to
To them — and I would guess to every
man jack of us — $200,000 is a pretty good be a local bank branch manager. He gave
me the most lucid explanation I have heard
pay day. Especially when you consider that
of the subprime mortgage market and how
contestants cannot rely on any skills they
government policies opened the way to the
have acquired in playing the game until
current crisis. It was really a crash course in
now There are none. It is all luck.
the economics of lending.
Wonderful screaming matches ensue
We had this talk while I was assisting
between the contestant and his family, who
in a Temple Israel program to shelter and
usually urge him to take the money and
feed the homeless. This man was one of
walk. Almost always he is blinded by the

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the homeless.
I cannot imagine how a man of such
intelligence and accomplishment could
have fallen so far. Nor did I ask. Drugs, alco-
hol — it really was none of my business. To
make it worse, he said that he had reported
for work on a job opportunity at his former
bank, only to be told the bank had a hard
policy of not rehiring former employees. He
was let go — or, at least, that was his story.
I was truly shaken. Like most people, I
have my own image of what sort of people
end up homeless. Those who cannot shake
addiction problems. Those with some kind
of mental illness or no marketable skills.
Battered women. Not someone like this.
For another night or two he would be
warm and safe. But what memories must
torment him when he dreams. More, I
know, than I could bear. ❑

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com .

January 24 • 2008

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