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
email us
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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