The U.S. strikes on Iran began during Shabbat Zachor and continued through Purim—a holiday, as Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh points out, that most American Jews forget takes place in Persia. We wanted to talk with Rabizadeh because she sits at a rare intersection of experiences: born in Tehrangeles to Iranian Jewish parents, Reform-ordained, working at the Conservative movement’s American Jewish University, running one of the country’s largest conversion programs, and fielding calls from communities that don’t fit neatly into any of the boxes American Jews usually find themselves in.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh: I was born in Los Angeles. Affectionately known as Tehrangeles by Iranians, because it is home to the largest population of Iranians, Jewish and non-Jewish, outside of the country of Iran. Some of the large hubs are LA, New York, and Toronto. LA is by far the largest. At one of the protests, I think we almost had 350,000. It’s a huge population.
I was the first one on both sides of my family to be born here. My first language was Persian, or Farsi. I think on some level my parents thought that maybe they were going to go back. Obviously they didn’t. I grew up feeling like I know the country, and I’ve never been there. I know how to cook the food. I know how to speak the language. I know how to sing Sound of Music songs in Farsi, dubbed the way my grandmother watched it.
I always grew up with a very serious Persian Iranian community. Even when I moved to New York or San Francisco, it was crazy to me that people had never met a Persian Jew before. I was even asked a few times when I converted to Judaism.
What are you working on these days?
I work here at the American Jewish University, and I oversee the Maas Center for Jewish Journeys. People who want to convert to Judaism take our classes, the Miller Introduction to Judaism program. The mikvah is under my purview. We’re starting a bunch of new classes—Marriage for Life, the Partnership Project. Marriage counseling before you want to get married, or while you’re married and you just love your mother-in-law so much you don’t know what to do with yourself. You come to us and we help you navigate that.
Can you tell us a little bit about the mood in the Iranian Jewish community over the past ten days or so?
I would say—I’d be conservative in saying eighty percent of Iranians living in Iran want this regime gone. I’m getting texts and posts. It’s really hard to reach some of my friends. I haven’t talked to one of them in eleven days. I know they’re probably okay, but it’s just super scary. Can you imagine not having internet for eleven days?
My algorithms are all over the place. You have people in the community who are really upset about the innocent lives being lost. Watching our Israeli friends celebrate Purim in a parking lot underground—it’s devastating. And then watching oil depots all over get blasted, contaminated rain, and thousands of people dying. They’re saying 30,000 people died over the course of 72 hours. I bet you it’s more. It’s horrible.
But watching the Iranian people post—although it’s leaking out—for me it’s hard. I try to translate as much as I can and post it, and you really hear them say: Don’t speak on our behalf. We don’t want Trump to stop. We love Bibi. And we don’t care where help comes from.
I am supposed to teach people how to think ten years ahead, fifty years ahead for our kids and our grandkids, and everyone’s just sucked into these labels. Do I like Trump when it comes to ICE? No. But do I like what Trump is doing to destroy this dictator Regime in Iran? Yeah.
I feel like that’s really hard for people to hear because we’re always boxing ourselves in. Everyone’s like, “You’re a Reform rabbi.” I’m not a Reform rabbi. I’m a Reform-ordained rabbi who works at the Conservative university and who is part of the Rabbinical Assembly. My dad calls me a closeted Orthodox Jew. I am not in a box.
It really upsets me because—and you can quote me on this—I am supposed to teach people how to think ten years ahead, fifty years ahead for our kids and our grandkids, and everyone’s just sucked into these labels. Do I like Trump when it comes to ICE? No. But do I like what Trump is doing to destroy this dictator Regime in Iran? Yeah.
How are you navigating all these things? Are you drawing on your rabbinical training as you’re trying to have all these conversations?
I really think a lot about Hillel and Shammai, because they fought so much. I’m always struck by that story where the reason Hillel wins is because he always puts forth Shammai’s argument first.
Hillel and Shammai are two rabbis who represent two schools of thought. Later it becomes two schools. It’s almost like Harvard versus MIT, the biggest enemies. Red Sox versus Yankees, whatever. They fight about everything—how to light the Hanukkah candles, “Is chicken meat? Why can’t I eat that with cheese?” Everything.
Then one day, the voice of God—it’s the female voice of God, which I love. It’s a quiet voice – and it comes down from the skies and says, “You know what? Hillel’s right.” The reason Hillel is right is because every time he argues, he first explains Shammai’s position. Shammai says, “This is why I think I’m right.” Then Hillel says, “So this is what Shammai is saying,” showing he understands. “This is where he’s missing the mark.” That made a stronger argument and just highlights the fact that we don’t really listen. How do we actually listen to the other before we put our arguments forward?
What are some books, articles, or documents that you think would help the broader American Jewish community understand this moment better? What do you turn to?
I turn to the Bible. I know that sounds so obvious to say as a rabbi, but I like this book for a reason, and I think it’s a top seller for a reason. First of all, why does Bibi keep striking on Shabbat? We have to talk about that. But it happened on Shabbat Zachor. It happened on Purim. This is a Jewish holiday that takes place in Persia. The bad guy Haman wants to kill us, but we end up killing him.
It’s funny because all of these years, people would always call me around Purim and say, “Rabbi, we heard you’re Persian and you’re liberal. We don’t know any other Persian rabbis, and we want to know what celebrations or traditions you have for Purim.” And I have to say: nothing. You know why? It is not exactly a holiday you want to highlight in Iran. People hated the Persian Jews, so we killed them. Passover? Sure, call me in a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you some of the cool things we do.
I would love people to finally learn about Iran. I don’t understand why we haven’t, especially in today’s world, when we learn about all the things as Jews living under the cross. Why aren’t people learning more about Jews under the crescent? In rabbinical school, we learned all about Jesus and the apostles. We need to catch up with the Middle East studies and Islam, and not look at our tanned and brown Jewish friends as less than. You could learn about yourself when you are more informed about diversity.
I could give you some specific book recommendations. Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews, edited by Houman Sarshar comes up as one because it was written about different cities in Iran and dialects in the Jewish tradition. That would be really cool.
Any others that come to mind?
Anything by Saba Soomekh is fantastic. Houman Sarshar is really great. Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages by Mark R. Cohen is a classic.
Is there anything else you would want the American Jewish community to know that you think they’re not understanding right now?
Jews ask questions. We have Passover coming up. The only way not to fall to Pharaoh and slavery is by asking questions. I don’t care if you’re wise—you’re supposed to ask a question. If you’re wicked—I don’t care—you ask a question. If you’re shy—your parent is supposed to teach you how to ask.
I think that Americans are really stuck on boxes and labeling and just have to stay away from it. We always talk about what differentiated us from Christianity, because it was born out of us. One of the things—and we study this around Yom Kippur, although not everybody understands the liturgy—is that you’re not a sinner, you’re someone who sinned. You’re not a thief, you’re someone who stole.Maybe you stole an idea at a staff meeting, or maybe you took a stapler home by accident. But you’re not a thief! That differentiation of labeling is huge. And there’s agency in the way that we approach it. I’m not a sinner, I am someone who happened to sin; I am not a thief, I am someone who stole, or steals, and therefore I can change, and do teshuvah, and repent.
And I think we’re labeling our leaders and our politicians in the same way. We box them–and then when they actually do something good for humanity, whether it’s self-interested or not, we cannot see it for what it is.
I really want everyone to remember that asking questions is one of our core Jewish values. The original Passover curriculum we received focused on helping parents teach children how to ask questions. That tradition reminds us of something deeper: as human beings, we have agency and the ability to grow and change.
If we hold onto that spirit of questioning, we can continue to learn and evolve. We do not have to label ourselves or box ourselves into rigid movements or political divides. We can listen widely, take wisdom from different perspectives, and let the ideas that speak to us shape something new.
After all, who wants to stay in a box or remain stuck in the old? Judaism has always grown through curiosity and courage. New ideas come when we think beyond labels and outside the box.
