Books
Books recommended by JIMENA staff for readers, students, and educators exploring the history, literature, languages, and traditions of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. Browse children’s books, novels, history, Jewish languages, and Sephardic thought.
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A Persian Passover
by Etan BasseriA picture book set in 1950s Iran, in which young Ezra rushes home with the family's matzo, ruins it in a puddle, and learns about community when a neighbor invites the family to her seder.
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A Persian Princess
by Barbara Diamond Goldin (Author), Steliyana Doneva (Illustrator)A Purim picture book for ages 5 to 10 in which Raya, too young for the school Purim play, learns from her grandmother about celebrating the holiday in Iran and stages a play of their own.
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Between Foreigners and Shi‘is: Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority
by Daniel TsadikA history of Iran's Jewish minority in the nineteenth century, examining how Shi'i clerics, the Qajar state, and foreign powers and organizations shaped their legal status and daily life.
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Esther’s Children: A portrait of Iranian Jews
by Houman SarsharA large illustrated volume of essays on Iranian Jewish history, religion, literature, art, and music from antiquity to the present, accompanied by photographs and archival images.
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From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women Between Religion and Culture
by Saba SoomekhA sociological study of three generations of Iranian Jewish women, from Iran under the Pahlavi shahs to Los Angeles, examining how they balance religious practice, Persian culture, and changing gender roles.
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Irano-Judaica: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts with Persian culture Throughout the Ages
by Amnon Netzer; Shaul ShakedA multivolume series of scholarly studies on contacts between Jews and Persian culture from antiquity through the modern era, including language, religion, literature, and Judeo Persian texts.
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Jewish Communities of Iran
by Houman SarsharA reference volume gathering Encyclopaedia Iranica entries on Iranian Jewish communities, covering their history, cities, languages, religious life, arts, and the modern diaspora.
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Jewish Identities in Iran: Resistance and Conversion to Islam and the Baha’i Faith
by Mehrdad AmanatA scholarly history of Iranian Jews in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, examining why many converted to Islam or the Baha'i faith and how others resisted conversion under social and missionary pressures.
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Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews
by David YeroushalmiAn illustrated history of the Jews of Iran from ancient times to the present, covering their religious life, languages, art, and relations with surrounding society, produced alongside a museum exhibition.
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Pādyāvand
by Amnon NetzerA series of scholarly volumes in English and Persian, edited by Amnon Netzer, publishing research on Judeo Persian language, literature, and the history and culture of the Jews of Iran.
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The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century: Aspects of History, Community, and Culture
by David YeroushalmiA scholarly study of Iranian Jews in the nineteenth century, drawing on Judeo Persian and Western sources to examine community life, persecution and forced conversion, foreign intervention, and cultural and religious developments.
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The Jews of Iran: Chapters in their History and Cultural Heritage
by David YeroushalmiA volume of eight essays on the history of Jews in Iran from antiquity to the twentieth century and on their cultural heritage, including Judeo Persian literature, the poet Emrani, and traditional Jewish education.