Born | Tehran, Iran; raised in Los Angeles from age two |
Today | Director of Training and Education, American Jewish Committee (AJC) |
Expertise | World religions, women and religion, Iranian Jewish history, antisemitism education |
Speaks to | Universities, schools, workplaces, community groups, and professional associations |
Book | From the Shahs to Los Angeles (SUNY Press), 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards gold medal |
Education | B.A., UC Berkeley; M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School; Ph.D., UC Santa Barbara |
Website | |
Dr. Saba Soomekh is Director of Training and Education at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), where she leads education on antisemitism for workplaces, schools, and community partners. Born in Tehran to a Persian Jewish family, she came to Los Angeles with her family in 1978, at the age of two, and grew up there. She earned a B.A. in Religious Studies at UC Berkeley, a Master of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara.
Before joining AJC, Dr. Soomekh spent about twenty years as a professor and university administrator. She taught world religions, women and religion, and Middle Eastern history at Loyola Marymount University, where she served as interim director of Jewish Studies, and at California State University, Northridge, and she was associate director of research at UCLA's Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies. She was project coordinator for the Fowler Museum at UCLA exhibition Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews and a consultant to the PBS program The Iranian Americans.
Her book From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture, based on interviews with 120 women, won the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards gold medal for religion. She also edited Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in America (Purdue University Press, 2015). She was a 2019 scholar in residence at Oxford University's Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy and a 2021 fellow of the KAICIID international dialogue centre.
Dr. Soomekh has been a valued partner of JIMENA for many years. She spoke on the modern Iranian Jewish experience at a JIMENA program in 2018, and from 2022 to 2026 she taught antisemitism sessions for eight cohorts of JIMENA's Sephardic Leaders Fellowship. Her clear, research based teaching helps audiences understand Iranian Jewish history, Jewish diversity, and antisemitism today, and is well suited to educators and students alike.
Speaking Topics
What Dr. Soomekh talks about
1. Defining Antisemitism Today
How antisemitism is understood and how communities and workplaces can respond.
2. Iranian Jewish History
Jewish life in Iran from ancient times through the 1979 revolution and migration to the United States.
3. Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women
Religion, culture, and change among Iranian Jewish women in Los Angeles.
4. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in America
The diversity of Jewish communities and why their stories belong in the curriculum.
5. Women and World Religions
Comparative perspectives on women's roles and religious practice.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2022 to 2026 | JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship: antisemitism sessions for eight cohorts, including Defining Antisemitism Today (October 2022) |
2025 | Directors Guild of America Jewish Committee: Unpacking Antisemitism (August 25) |
2022 | Crossroads School, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Equity and Justice Distinguished Lecture Series: virtual talk on antisemitism (November 17) |
2021 | Michigan State University, Jonathan Netanyahu Symposium on Antisemitism: From the Classroom to the Quad, The Rise of Antisemitism and a Hostile Campus Climate (October 8); Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles panel: Antisemitism, Insidious and In Our Midst (January 28); KAICIID International Fellows Programme |
2019 | Scholar in residence, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Oxford University; California State University, Northridge: The History of Jews in Iran (May 1) |
2018 | Jewish Community Library, San Francisco: From the Shahs to Los Angeles, cosponsored by JIMENA (May 23) |
2014 | California State University, Northridge, Jewish Studies: the history of Iranian Jews from Iran to Los Angeles (December 2) |
2012 | Fowler Museum at UCLA: project coordinator, Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews; consultant, PBS The Iranian Americans |
These are a selection of Dr. Soomekh’s talks. Dr. Soomekh has given many more, at universities, schools, synagogues, professional associations, and international fellowships in the United States and abroad.
Publications and Media
Read, watch, and listen
Book
Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in America
Edited volume in The Jewish Role in American Life series, Purdue University Press, 2015. View at Purdue e-Pubs
Profile
AJC staff biography
Her official AJC profile, including her research, fellowships, and recent writing. Read at AJC
Podcast
The Forgotten Exodus: Leaving Iran
AJC's podcast episode tracing the history of Jews in Iran, featuring Dr. Soomekh with Roya Hakakian. Listen at AJC
Profile
Iranian Jewish scholar breaks stereotypes while studying them
A 2014 Times of Israel profile about her research on Iranian Jewish women. Read in The Times of Israel
Affiliations
Organizations
- American Jewish Committee (AJC)
- UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies (former)
- Loyola Marymount University (former)
- California State University, Northridge (former)
- JIMENA Sephardic Leadership Advisory Committee
Book Dr. Soomekh
Bring this speaker to your audience
To invite Dr. Saba Soomekh to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.