Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Little-Known Myth of Iranian Jews

I do not accept that rampant stereotypes that emerge against any community in the Los Angeles area. I am especially troubled by the pernicious lies outlined against the Iranian Jewish community in West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

The tired tropes of invaders, crass, materialism, dog every community that has fled rigid political persecution and has been transplanted into a country where they make the most of limited circumstances. The sophomoric anti-Semitism which still eats away at the local native and residential populations is a virulent manifestation of the same envy directed by born citizens to their naturalized neighbors, who are not afraid to work to make it in the world.

The nasty allegations of "infiltrating the four pillars of the Beverly Hills community" which Ms. Nahai draws attention to remind me of the widespread demagoguery that has afflicted the Jews in every community where they chose to reside. Yet unlike the jealousies which imperilled ghettos in Europe, the Iranian-Jewish community, according to the writer, have acquired attributes more in concert with the empty stereotypes perpetuated against Americans traveling abroad. What a strange irony.

Ms. Nahai claims that the prime originators of these myths are American Jews. I do not understand why one group, of the same ethnicity, of the same religious upbringing, would target their blood relatives with such hollow calumny. Whatever the reason, the Jews and Gentiles in West Los Angeles do not need any more reasons to reprove and shame one another. Like Jews around the world for many years, the Hebrew communities in Los Angeles have also faced their unfair share of discrimination. I would only hope that targeting accents, careers, and cultural backgrounds would subside into respecting differences and enhancing identities.

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