According to one Jewish legend, the first Jew to enter Persia was Sarah bat Asher, grand daughter of the Patriarch Jacob. Jews had been residing in Persia since around 727 BCE, having arrived in the region as slaves after being captured by the Assyrian and Babylonian kings. In Iran, Persian Jews and Jewish people in general are both described with four common terms: Kalīmī ( Persian: کلیمی), which is considered the most proper term Yahūdī ( یهودی), which is less formal but correct Yīsrael ( ישראל‎) the term by which Jewish people refer to themselves and Johūd ( جهود), a term having negative connotations and considered by many Jews as offensive. Iranian immigrants in Israel (nearly all of whom are Jewish) are referred to as Parsim. In various scholarly and historical texts, the term is used in reference to Jews who speak various Iranian languages. Today, the term Iranian Jews is mostly used in reference to Jews who are from the country of Iran. According to the 2016 Iranian census, the remaining Jewish population of Iran stood at 9,826 people, though independent third-party estimates have placed the figure at around 8,500. Smaller Persian Jewish communities also exist in Baltimore and in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.

In the United States, there are sizable Persian Jewish communities in Los Angeles ( Tehrangeles), Beverly Hills, and on the North Shore of Long Island. The Israeli community of Persian Jews is mostly concentrated in the cities of Kfar Saba, Netanya, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. Today, the vast majority of Persian Jews reside in Israel and the United States. Jews have had a continuous presence in Iran since at least the time of Cyrus the Great, who led the Persian army's conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and subsequently freed the Judahites from the Babylonian captivity.Īfter 1979, Jewish emigration from Iran increased dramatically in light of the Iranian Revolution. Books of the Hebrew Bible - Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah - contain references to the life experiences of Jews living in ancient Persia.

With their presence in Iran dating back to the biblical era, they constitute one of the oldest communities of the Jewish diaspora. Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( Persian: یهودیان ایرانی Yahudiyān-e Irāni Hebrew: יהודים פרסים‎ Yəhūdīm Parsīm) are a minority community descended from the Jewish people who were historically associated with the Achaemenid Persian Empire (4th-6th century BC).

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