Nowruz and Iranian Jews

Nowruz follows the sun, while the Jewish calendar follows the moon, so the holidays shift against each other from year to year. Nowruz usually lands between Purim and Passover, and sometimes Passover falls during the Nowruz days. Iranian Jewish writers describe preparing for both at once.

The holidays share a great deal. Both Nowruz and Passover begin with a thorough cleaning. Both feature a symbolic table with greens, eggs, and vinegar or salt water. Some families have held their Nowruz visiting days during the week of Passover, and one Israeli family recalls setting a goldfish, a mirror, and candles on the seder table. Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, who grew up in Los Angeles, compares Nowruz gifts of snacks to Purim's mishloah manot.

Scholars have also noted possible echoes of Nowruz in Persian Jewish Passover customs, such as the playful tapping of family members with green onions during the song “Dayenu.” These links are intriguing, but researchers present them as possibilities rather than proven history.

Cultural or religious?

Iranian Jews have discussed how to relate to a holiday with Zoroastrian roots. Some feel it is not appropriate for Jews to observe it. Most see Nowruz as a national and cultural celebration of the Persian new year, much as many Americans celebrate New Year's Day.

Some families draw a clear line: Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, and Nowruz is a beloved Persian tradition. As one Los Angeles writer puts it, she wants her children to identify as Jewish “first and foremost,” while still sharing the joy of Nowruz.

Iran

Nowruz brought about two weeks of celebration, with new clothes, family visits, and tables full of sweets. Iranian Jewish writers remember combining the holiday with Shabbat, saying kiddush before the Nowruz dinner, and placing a siddur and a book of Psalms on the haft sin.

Los Angeles

Nearly a third of the country's roughly 750,000 Iranian Americans live in the Los Angeles area, including a large Iranian Jewish community. Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh remembers Sizdah Bedar picnics with the Persian community as a highlight of her childhood.

New York

In 2026, the Museum of Jewish Heritage held its third annual Spring Equinox Festival, celebrating Nowruz and Purim together with a haft sin talk, Persian music and dance, and family activities. Partners included the American Sephardi Federation.

Israel

Iranian Israelis set haft sin tables and cook Persian dishes such as gondi, a chicken and chickpea dumpling soup. Families with Iranian roots keep the custom alive across generations.

Bukharian Jews (Central Asia)

In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan the holiday is called Navruz. In New York and in Ramla, Israel, Bukharian Jewish community leaders have joined Navruz celebrations with music and traditional foods, alongside Uzbek and Tajik neighbors.

Mountain Jews (Caucasus)

Jews of the Caucasus, where the holiday is called Novruz, had their own customs of jumping over bonfires to ward off the evil eye. In Ramla, Israel, Navruz has been celebrated with a concert in a community that includes Mountain and Bukharian Jews.

Herbs and fish

Sabzi polo, rice cooked with fresh herbs, is often served with fish. Kuku sabzi is a thick herb frittata packed with greens.

Cookies and confections

Families bake cookies such as nokhodchi, small chickpea cookies, along with rosewater treats. Some make toot, marzipan sweets shaped like mulberries.

Tea and visiting

During the visiting days, families keep an open house, welcoming relatives and friends who drop by. One Persian Jewish food writer serves tea from her aunt's samovar.

In the public school classroom

• Nowruz is celebrated by Iranian, Afghan, Kurdish, Azerbaijani, and Central Asian families, so it is a natural fit for a multicultural classroom.
• Build a classroom display about the haft sin, with students researching what each item symbolizes.
• Compare spring festivals across cultures and discuss why so many peoples celebrate renewal at this time of year.
• Keep the focus on culture and history, and avoid current politics. Present the table and customs as subjects of study, and do not have students perform religious rituals or prayers.

In Jewish schools and communities

• Set up a haft sin with a siddur or Tanakh, and talk about how Iranian Jews joined Persian and Jewish traditions.
• Plan a Sizdah Bedar picnic or a spring cleaning project before Passover.
• Compare the haft sin and the seder plate: what symbols do they share?
• Invite Iranian, Bukharian, or Mountain Jewish families to share their memories.

At home and with family

• Ask relatives: Did your family set a haft sin? What book did you place on it?
• Grow sabzeh together from wheat or lentils, and watch it sprout over two weeks.
• Try a Nowruz dish such as sabzi polo (herbed rice) or kuku sabzi (herb frittata).
• Record an elder's Nowruz memories for JIMENA's oral history project.

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