Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 8, 2012

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYbksYD_gSA

07-03-2012 19:46 This video tour is the inaugural installment of Insights: a Diarna series spotlighting Jewish sites (synagogues, cemeteries, schools, shrines, and other structures) across the Middle East. Insights is being made possible by a generous grant from the Elizabeth and Oliver Stanton Foundation. This month, against the backdrop of rising geo-political tensions, Diarna presents a Judeo-Persian shrine in northwest Iran. Just off Imam Khomieni square in Hamadan is a pilgrimage site venerated by many Iranians as the burial shrine of biblical luminaries Esther and Mordechai, the heroes of the Jewish holiday of Purim for saving Jews throughout the Persian Empire from genocide. Little known outside of Iran, secrecy, indeed a double secret, shrouds the shrine. According to the biblical book named after her, Esther was a peerlessly inspiring young Jewish woman who caught the eye of the Persian King Ahasuerus, became queen, and, with the assistance of her relative Mordecai, saved Jews throughout the Persian Empire from annihilation at the hands of the evil royal advisor Haman. Jews around the world celebrate this miraculous salvation during the holiday of Purim by reading the Megillat Esther, dressing in costumes, and eating delicacies. Iranian Jews similarly mark the holiday, but for centuries have also made a pilgrimage to this shrine, which features intricate wooden sarcophagi and special sections for lighting candles in veneration of its namesakes. The original shrine's date of ...

See more here:
Diarna Insights No. 1: The Hamadan Shrine to Esther and Mordechai - Video

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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