Purim – the festival that highlights the experience of ancient Persian Jewry – arrives this weekend. In advance of the holiday, (and given the current state of affairs in that part of the world) I thought it might be interesting to take a closer look at the little-known present day Jewish community of Iran.
Some of the following facts may surprise you:
- Iran is home to 25,000 Jews – the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel.
- Judaism is a recognized minority religion in Iran. The religious rights of Jews are protected by the Islamic constitution, which allows them observe Jewish traditions freely.
- According to Iranian law, the Jewish community can elect its own member of parliament (currently Maurice Motamed, above).
- There are approximately 30 synagogues, six kosher butchers and a Jewish hospital in Tehran. Children may attend Jewish schools (though all principals are Muslim, the schools do not close on Shabbat and the curriculum is supervised by the government).
- There is the Jewish hospital in Tehran, which has a Jewish director and is funded by donations from the Diaspora.
- Because of the Islamic nature of the regime, Jews, like other minorities, face discrimination which prevents them from securing government jobs or becoming army officers.
- Though Iranian Jews are not allowed to publicly support the Jewish state in any way, they are allowed to travel to and from Israel – a fact both countries have recently acknowledged.
- Despite Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial and anti-Israel rhetoric – as well as efforts by the world Jewish community to encourage their emigration – Iranian Jews are generally opting to stay in their native homeland.
Though the Jewish population of Iran is but a vestige of what it once was, Iranian Jews are proud of their history and fiercely devoted to their community. For more in depth information about Jewish Iran, I highly recommend this BBC piece and this recent article from the Jewish Forward.
What’s the Jewish brouhaha du jour? A 
Who would have thought a seventy five year old German movie would have something to teach us about living in the post 9/11 age?
“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9) 
For you Jewish paranoiacs who always insisted you saw Hitler peeking out from behind the crowd on the “Sgt. Pepper” cover…
The other day I found myself reading a lovely internet article by Michael Medved entitled “Why the World Hates the Jews.” (No, I won’t provide the link for you here, but I’m sure you can find it if you’d like to read it yourself.) When I finished I ended up asking myself, is this really what it all comes to? Is this really what it means to be Jewish? At the end of the day, is it all really just about “Us vs. Them?”
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Just learned from the 
Constructing Sacred Community
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Terumah, is one of those portions that can be the bane of every Bar or Bat Mizvah kid: a seemingly endless litany of picayune details regarding the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). What on earth can we possibly learn from this parade of dolphin skins, acacia wood, crimson yarns, loops and clasps?
If we understand the constructions of the Mishkan as a metaphor for creating sacred community, the lesson is should be obvious: details matter.
I’ve been acutely aware of this lesson as JRC constructs its new synagogue building. In addition to the many details that come with a construction project of this magnitude (e.g., fund raising, location, budget, design, zoning, etc.) our board made one important decision early in the building process: that we would build our building in the most environmentally sustainable manner possible. Guided by the sacred Jewish value of Bal Tashchit , we have now begun construction on what we intend to be the first certified “Green Synagogue” in the world.
Specifically, this means our congregation is participating in a process known as LEED certification – a system designed by the US Green Building Council. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” and it is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.
Much like the “checklist” for the ancient Mishkan, the list of LEED items in our new synagogue building is substantial and exhaustive:
- A white, reflective roof, which will help our air conditioning system to work more efficiently, especially during peak usage hours.
- A tight, energy conserving shell, with thicker walls and more insulation that retains more cool air in the summer and more heat in the winter.
- Windows made of special glass that lets in more natural light and less heat from the outside.
- An HVAC system will be computerized and divided into zones, designed to only cool or heat those areas that are actually in use.
- A sanctuary calibrated to heat or cool from the floor to about seven feet up, so as not to waste energy in the upper levels of the room.
- A ventilation system that will use motion and CO2 sensors to let in the requisite amount of oxygen for ventilation at any given time.
- Recycled concrete from 100% of our old building’s façade and front steps, which was ground up and reused in our new building’s foundation.
- 100% reclaimed cypress wood to be used on the building’s exterior, insuring that no new trees will be cut down.
- 20% of the overall building materials to be manufactured locally, and 50% of the interior wood in our facility to come from certified sustainable forests (i.e., forests that do not engage in the practice of clear cutting.)
As JRC now knows all too well, details do matter. During the planning for our new building, we have fought hard for every item on the list above – and many, many more besides. In so doing, we have come to understand that sacred space is not defined by the physical building per se, but the process by which it is built. As Terumah teaches, a sacred community is ultimately defined not just by what it does, but how it does it.
After all, even though the ancient tabernacle does not exist any more, the process of building the Mishkan remains very much alive in our collective Jewish imagination. The rabbis teach that the description of building the Mishkan, in fact, is symbolic of the Ma’aseh Bereshit – the sacred work of Creation. In constructing the Tabernacle, the Israelites were invited to reenact the creative process by which God created the Universe itself.
In the end, the imperative of Terumah echoes the classical Zionist slogan “Livnot U’lehibanot” – “To Build and be Built.” Through the process of creating our new building, we are discovering the true meaning of sacred community.
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Posted in Energy Efficiency, Environmentalism, Green Buildings, Judaism, Religion, Torah Commentary