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Letters
May 31-June 4, 1999 / Khordad 10-14, 1378

Today

* L.A. wedding:
- Brilliant writing
*
Jews:
- No mercy

Previous

* The Iranian:
- You know THE way
*
L.A. wedding:
- Not far from the truth
- We're not superficial
*
Jews:
- As an Iranian Buddhist
- Lot of making up to do
- We are one

- Iran belongs to all Iranians
- No wonder
- What about Jews who hate Iranians?

- God's chosen people not Iranian
* Scammers:
- Covering up for criminals


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Friday,
June 4, 1999

* Brilliant writing

I can not resist the urge to tell you how magnificent was the piece on the wedding ["L. A. wedding"]. It could have impressed as a piece of slick sarcasm, or just funny, but to me it was one of the best pieces of writing by a contemporary Iranian, dead or alive.

It was hilarious and it was sad and above all it was an incisive, dissecting, revealing work, a brilliant picture of a distorted living space reflected in a polished, spotless mirror, leaving the observant wonder where do we go from here, now.

It also tells you, a little indirectly why we are here now. It is also a pity that if the writer had written it in his mother tongue the force of habit and tradition would have prevented him to present such a flowing, almost athletic style.

Get copies of this and send it to the thousands of pretending-writers and self promoting "professors", all wriggling in their kind of Persian language and self-inflicted stupor.

I would like to congratulate the writer. It is a pity that your effort and pieces like this (very rare, next to non-existent) do not get known to the vast number of those who live in Iran, and are not understood by those who are scattered around in U.S.

Parviz Koohkan

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* No mercy

I am a young Iranian man trying to survive within one of the most Jewish populated areas within Western Europe: North London. In an environment where my accountant is Jewish, my lawyer & broker are Jewish and so on. My analyst is about the only one who isn't. I also compete in a line of business which is strongly controlled by the Jews. So you can say that I am completely at their mercy.

However, in connection to your little scenario ["I must be a Jew"] I must say that in my entire connection and dealings with them I have found that most of the generalizations about them appear to be true and that because you are an Iranian or a Muslim they will never trust you, will try to exploit you as much as possible and would put the knife in the minute you turn your back.

Of course this is just my view. And believe me, I would absolutely adore an idealistic world were everyone is happily getting along together, like any Iranian. Who is the victim?

Korosh N.

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Thursday
June 3, 1999

* As an Iranian Buddhist...

Salaam! I'd like to thank The Iranian Times for promoting a discussion (albeit sometimes bloody) about the controversial topic of the attitude of many Iranians toward Jews ["I must be a Jew"].

I sympathize wholeheartedly with the suffering that Jews collectively have experienced throughout the years. Part ignorance, part jealousy have led some people to react to Jews in such inhumane way. However, Jewish "hezbollah," like Mr. (Ms) Geytanch, as well as other intolerant individuals, regardless of their religious affiliation, are part of the problem, as well.

As an Iranian Buddhist, I love Iran despite its imperfections. I pray every day for the renewal of her strength. The richness of language and the depth of genuine friendship one experiences by being an Iranian are extraordinarily unique. Khosh behaal-e maa!

K. Khadivi

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* You know THE way

I have been aware of iranian.com for quite a while and visit frequently to read the articles on the site. Almost always, after reading an article I merely decide what I thought of the article. Mostly I don't feel the need to react to any of the letters by writing an email to the author or in this case to the Iranian itself.

However, after reading one particular letter I could not contain myself from responding. The letter in question is titled "Why so blatantly biased?" The commanding and demanding tone of the author through out his letter , labeling every one and calling them names reminded me very much of the attitude of hezbullahis in the early years of revolution. Still I did not feel that I had to respond. However the last sentence did it! "If this letter is not published I would like a reason."

At that moment I thought "What if the letter was not published and no reason was given? What are you going to do? Are you going to wait out at the car park until some employee gets out late into the night, and then haalish mikoni keh baa ki tarafeh? Why can't you be and let be? You can't, can you? It has to be you, your kind, your ideas, your poetry, your culture and your religion. You can't tolerate variety. Heck, you don't even see it as variety. You know THE way and all else is a waste (or may be sins). Now you tell me: Who's bloody biased?

Kamran Dianat

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Wednesday
June 2, 1999

* Lot of making up to do

I recently saw an Israeli documentary at the French Institute in New York. The film's title was "A Persian Story", and was being shown as part of the Sephardic Film Festival. In it the lives of several Iranian families who had immigrated to Israel were shown. After hearing their stories, I think Iranian Jews like Mr. Gheytanch are very much within their rights to have whatever negative or ambivalent feelings they may have towards Iran ["I must be a Jew"].

Among the stories I heard were the one about the little Jewish boy who one hot day in the summer drank from a glass shared by other neighborhood kids his age, and for that got beat up, because he was supposedly "najes" (rituallly unclean). His mother rushed out and begged people to stop hitting the boy. As an adult living in Israel, this is a childhood memory of his.

Then there was the story of the Jews from Mashhad, who according to the documentary were forced to convert and they practiced Judaism secretly for years. When a group of Jews came to Tehran in the 1950's in order to prepare for leaving for Israel, the only place they were allowed to stay while in Tehran was at the Jewish cemetery (interestingly named "Beheshtiyeh").

In spite of all these, it seemed that cultural and emotional ties to Iran were not totally severed, even decades after leaving Iran. In fact this seems to be true of Iranians Jews anywhere outside Iran. Let's face it folks: we got a lot of making up to do.

And to those who think Muslims are any more Iranian than others (whatever that means): remember that the ancestry of Jews in Iran goes back several thousand years. I wish I could say that about myself.

N. Behzad Fazel
Manhattan

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* Not far from the truth

I just read "L. A. wedding". I live in Montreal, Canada, but when I visited my family in Los Angeles ...well, your article almost doesn't exaggerate the atmosphere.

Pooneh Yousefi-Tehrani

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* We're not superficial

Is this article BEEMAZEH or what?It's obviously fiction ["L. A. wedding"]. And we're tired of everyone grouping the LA Persians together as snobbish, superficial people.

Farhad

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Tuesday
June 1, 1999

* We are one

I am a young Jewish Iranian woman who read the, "I must be a Jew" piece as well as all of the controversial follow ups. As a Los Angeles resident for fourteen years I am well aware of the tension between Iranian Jews and Iranian Muslims...

Whether Jewish or Muslim, Bahai or Christian, we are one. We should hold each other up instead of continuously trying to put the other down. We came from the same history, and we speak the same language both in words and in feelings. Only an Iranian understands what love went into a pot of steaming kalleh-paacheh. Only we can appreciate all the dimensions of, JOON... FULL TEXT

M.L.T

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* Iran belongs to all Iranians

I very quickly got over the fact that A. Gheytanch is a racist zionist, for the author is very amusing ["I must be a Jew"].

Gheytanch asserts: "For the rest of us living outside of Iran , we shoud forget about Iran and hang on to our glorious Jewish identity and culture, and above all the love and support for the state of Israel, our REAL homeland." Well, then what the hell are you doing reading The Iranian? Is The Jerusalem Post web site down? LOL!

Iran belongs to all Iranians. No matter what your enthic or religious background, this is your land. Even if you are a self-hating Iranian.

Siamak Namazi
Tehran

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* No wonder

No wonder Jewish people are not treated with the respect they claim to deserve. Mr. A. Gheytanch has said it all. You do not deserve to call yourself Iranian ["I must be a Jew"].

Asghar Tahdighi

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Monday
May 31, 1999

* What about Jews who hate Iranians?

Everyone always places Jews at the receiving end of hatred, oppression, and prejudice ["I must be a Jew"]. It's always about how the Jews are the hated minority; in fact anti-Semitism has become a crime that rivals murder in the U.S. (I don't condone anti-Semitism, just making a point here).

I'm still waiting to see when rational people start placing Jews at the disseminating end of that equation, i.e. when will people start seeing the hatred the Jews feel toward other minorities, like Iranians and Arabs? More than once I have been in a situation where I've gotten a less than favorable response when a Jew has found out I was Iranian... FULL TEXT

Nariman Neyshapouri

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* God's chosen people not Iranian

We are THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND GOD"S CHOSEN PEOPLE. WE ARE ISRAELITES NOT IRANIAN ["I must be a Jew"]. I frankly do not care about recognition from a bunch of gentiles. Iranan or not, we are Israelite first.

I think all remaining Jews in Iran should go to Israel and join their motherland. For the rest of us living outside of Iran , we shoud forget about Iran and hang on to our glorious Jewish identity and culture, and above all the love and support for the state of Israel, our REAL homeland.

A. Gheytanch

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