Leaving Iran

Leaving Iran, by Isaac Yomtovian, is a collection of nonfiction short stories. These humorous and heartfelt stories take the reader on a journey with Isaac, a Jewish boy born in Tehran, who spent his childhood in a multi-cultural neighborhood among Shiah Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Baha’is. While attending a Muslim elementary school, Isaac developed very close friendships with Muslim boys. He studied the tenets of Islam—in fact, he mastered Islamic education with more proficiency than most of his Muslim peers!

Mr. Yomtovian describes at length the enduring and confusing relationships that Iranian Jews experienced with their Muslim fellow countrymen: Relationships that were often friendly, but were sometimes laden with intolerance, discrimination—and danger.

Leaving Iran reveals the rich history, culture and customs of Jewish and non-Jewish Persians: There are portrayals of religious and secular observances and holidays, verses of Persian poetry and renditions of ancient folktales, accompanied by descriptions of food, music, home life and living conditions, and events of daily life. Mr. Yomtovian exposes the reader to a rich variety of characters, including radical Shiah clerics, shopkeepers, farmers, professionals, teachers, and prostitutes. He also takes us into the secret world of shadows where Jewish men and Muslim women engage in illicit affairs.

Torn between his love of Iran—the land where his family’s roots have existed for over 2,500 years—and the beloved Jewish homeland of Israel, Isaac finally decides to emigrate in 1966. He lives on a kibbutz, volunteers in the 1967 War, and completes an Engineering degree at the Technion Institute of Technology. Soon he becomes disenchanted with the intolerance of Israeli Jews towards non-European immigrants, and leaves Israel for America.

Even though he becomes an American citizen and deeply loves and appreciates his new home, Isaac constantly keeps himself informed about Iran, a nation living under the political and social repression of the ultra-conservative ayatollahs and other clerics. The last part of this book contains an overview of recent Iranian history and politics, including the role oil played as the catalyst for foreign political domination and control; also discussed are the ramifications of Russian, British and American encroachment into Iranian political, social and economic institutions.

Above all, Leaving Iran is the personal story of a man’s private struggle to find tolerance and peace of mind. Throughout his journey, Isaac never loses hope for a democratic Iran. And he never loses his love for the country of his birth.