Organised by
Iran Heritage Foundation and Iranian Jewish Centre
Date
Wednesday 4th February 2015, 6.30pm
Location
Anstract
Iran is the only country in the Middle East where there has been a continuous Jewish community since 500 BCE. According to both biblical and historical sources, the Jews first came to Iran after they were freed from their Babylonian captivity by Cyrus the Great. Today there are still over 25000 Jews living in Iran as an officially recognized religious minority.
In this talk Mehri Niknam will explore the history of the Iranian Jews with reference to their culture and religion to examine to what extent the Jewish community was affected by the history, culture and religion of their host country.
In this talk Mehri Niknam will explore the history of the Iranian Jews with reference to their culture and religion to examine to what extent the Jewish community was affected by the history, culture and religion of their host country.
Biography
Mehri Niknam is the Founder and Executive director of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation, the only national joint Muslim-Jewish interfaith organisation in the UK. She has been a consultant in Muslim-Jewish relations since 1995.
In 2008 she was awarded the Fulbright scholarship in Interfaith and Community Action to teach and research Jewish-Muslim relations in the US. Her contributions to Muslim-Jewish relations were recognised nationally in 2005 when she was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty the Queen. In the same year she was made Honorary Fellow at Leo Baeck College, the only Reform Rabbinic Seminary in Europe. Her academic field is ‘Comparative Judaism and Islam in the Middle Ages’. She also studied Classical Persian Literature and has given seminars at various universities in the UK and the US.
In 2008 she was awarded the Fulbright scholarship in Interfaith and Community Action to teach and research Jewish-Muslim relations in the US. Her contributions to Muslim-Jewish relations were recognised nationally in 2005 when she was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty the Queen. In the same year she was made Honorary Fellow at Leo Baeck College, the only Reform Rabbinic Seminary in Europe. Her academic field is ‘Comparative Judaism and Islam in the Middle Ages’. She also studied Classical Persian Literature and has given seminars at various universities in the UK and the US.
