From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women Between Religion and Culture

Soomekh, Saba

ISBN 10: 1438443846 / ISBN 13: 9781438443843

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany, 2012

About this Item

From Chapter One, on the author's goals: "The first objective of this book is to present an ethnographic portrait of life for three generations of Iranian Jewish women who lived in Iran and now live in America, exploring the political and social changes that have affected these women in regards to their rituals and religious observances, and their self-concept as Iranian Jewish in Iran and now in America. The three focal incidents in terms of their effect on Iran and, consequently, the Jewish community, are the Constitutionalist Revolution in 1906and the granting of the throne to Reza Shah Pahlavi 1925-1941); Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi taking the throne(1941-1979); and, finally, the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the immigration to Los Angeles." Her analysis includes her own experiences and the results of interviews with different generations of Iranian women, primarily from Hamadan and Tehran. Chapters include: One - Women of Change; Two - The Generation of the Constitutional Monarchy; Three - All of the Shah's Women; Four - Life in Los Angeles; Five - Jewish American and Persian; and Six - Conclusion. Gift inscription by author on page before half-title page: "Dear Joan, Thank you for your support! SS" 6 x 9 inches, 224 pages.

Seller Inventory # 001232

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women Between Religion and Culture
• Publisher: State University of New York Press, Albany
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1438443846
• ISBN 13: 9781438443843
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Middle East
  • Women
  • Judaica

About this title

Synopsis

A fascinating look at the lives, culture, and religious and ritual observance of three generations of Iranian Jewish women in the United States.

Gold Medalist, 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Religion category

Saba Soomekh offers a fascinating portrait of three generations of women in an ethnically distinctive and little-known American Jewish community, Jews of Iranian origin living in Los Angeles. Most of Iran's Jewish community immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the government-sponsored discrimination that followed. Based on interviews with women raised during the constitutional monarchy of the earlier part of the twentieth century, those raised during the modernizing Pahlavi regime of mid-century, and those who have grown up in Los Angeles, the book presents an ethnographic portrait of what life was and is like for Iranian Jewish women. Featuring the voices of all generations, the book concentrates on religiosity and ritual observance, the relationship between men and women, and women's self-concept as Iranian Jewish women. Mother-daughter relationships, double standards for sons and daughters, marriage customs, the appeal of American forms of Jewish practices, social customs and pressures, and the alternate attraction to and critique of materialism and attention to outward appearance are discussed by the author and through the voices of her informants.

About the Author

Saba Soomekh is Assistant Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.