Rebuilding in Tehrangeles: Sustaining Iranian Jewish Life in Los Angeles

After the 1978-1979 Revolution in Iran, most Jews left the country. While there are between 10,000 to 15,000 Jews in Iran today, the majority of their community now exists outside its borders, despite their 2,700-year-old connection to Iran

"Rebuilding in Tehrangeles" features Jasmine Lawi, memoirist and author of Persian Tea. Through the lens of Jasmine's family, the film introduces an intimate portrait of the communal efforts of Persian Jews in Los Angeles to navigate the dilemmas and opportunities of life in the United States, focusing on the ways people adapt, preserve, and hybridize culture and identity across the generations.

In the aftermath of the Revolution, Los Angeles became home to the largest Iranian diaspora community, inclusive of Jews and non-Jews alike. Over time, Iranians would establish community institutions and become a visible part of the tapestry of life in Los Angeles, lovingly referring to the city as Tehrangeles. Tehrangeles is a place and a mentality. It is an expression of determination to rebuild, survive, and thrive, marked by cultural hybridization and an attempt to take root after a chapter of uprootedness. For Jews, Tehrangeles is a place where the community has flourished yet has had to undergo negotiations regarding its values, its relationship with American culture, and its connections to other established Jewish communities in California.

This lesson from Project Mosaics provides students with a case study of one migrant community’s efforts to rebuild and establish itself in a state of diaspora. Throughout the lesson, students will discuss the concepts of cultural hybridity, arrival experiences, uprootedness, in-between-ness, and intra-Jewish diversity and tensions. Students will reflect upon their own cultural identities before considering the uniqueness and similarities across migrant communities and their respective experiences. They will then watch the film, “Rebuilding in Tehrangeles,” using the previously discussed concepts as a lens to understand the experiences of Iranian Jews in Los Angeles. This is followed by a close reading of a secondary source and a discussion focused on an excerpt from a memoir by a Los Angeles-based Jewish writer. The lesson culminates with students mapping out and creating an infographic that calls attention to a neighborhood or district that is of cultural importance to one of the communities to which they belong.