Museum exhibit: The Story of Iran and the Jews

MUSEUM EXHIBITION:

The story of Iran and the Jews, now on display in Israel

An exhibition devoted to the history, culture and contemporary life of Iranian Jewry opens at Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv.

By Haaretz Service

An exhibition devoted to the history, culture and contemporary life of Iranian Jewry opened last week at Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, presenting the first in-depth and comprehensive view of Iranian Jewry through ancient artifacts found in the Persian country.

The story of Iran's ancient Jewish community unfolds over more than 2,700 years, back to when the Jews were exiled from Jerusalem through to today, after most members of Iran's Jewish community have relocated throughout the world. According to Professor David Yeroushalmi, a member of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University and the exhibition's historical advisor, over 20,000 Jews still live in Iran today, most of them in Tehran.

Among the items exhibited are archeological artifacts, many on public display for the first time, a wide range of cultural artifacts, including ancient manuscripts, talismans, carpets and both secular and religious music.

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Arutz Sheva also has an article on the exhibition, with more pictures. I'm not sure how Haaretz calculates the Jewish exile to be more than 2700 years ago. (Arutz Sheva goes one better, with "more than three thousand years.") The Babylonian Exile happened in 587/586 BCE, which adds up to just a few years short of 2600 years ago. I'm not sure when a Jewish community was founded in Iran, but it was presumably after that.