Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at hewlett.org. About 2,500 years ago, in ancient Persia, what's now Iran, a king tossed and turned in his sleep. A nightmare consumed his mind.
He saw visions of a baby growing into a warrior, a warrior that would one day forcefully take his throne. The usurper in his dreams was no stranger. It was his own infant grandson. The king awoke terrified of the prophecy, and he ordered his servant to kill the baby at once. But the servant couldn't bring himself to do it.
Instead, he secretly smuggled the baby into the care of a shepherd who raised him. The boy grew up in the countryside, healthy and strong. He became a decorated warrior, leader, and general. He set his sights on his grandfather's throne and launched a rebellion. Soon, the prophecy became reality. The king was overtaken by the grandson he'd feared for so long. Persian lands had a new leader.
His name was Qurosh, or as he's known in the Bible, Cyrus. One by one, cities all over the Near East fell to Cyrus' armies, and soon he set his sights on the greatest city of the ancient world, Babylon. Babylon was a bustling metropolis in what's now modern-day Iraq. A center of economic and military power, its streets were lined with precisely constructed buildings.
Many of its homes were filled with statues and artwork. It had hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But this grandeur came at a human cost. After laying siege to Jerusalem, the king of Babylon captured thousands of Jewish people and held them captive in the city for half a century. In October of 539 BCE, Cyrus's forces surrounded Babylon and its massive walls.
Walls so thick that chariots could be driven over them. Eventually, the Persian army found a way in under the city's gates. But what happened next was very unusual for the time.
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Chapter 2: What historical context shaped the relationship between Iran and the Jewish people?
Instead of sacking the city, Cyrus did something different. He made a proclamation that many historians believe was the first declaration of human rights. Among other things, it allowed people to practice their own faith. This new system liberated the Jewish people who'd been held captive in Babylon.
Cyrus told the Jewish community that they could return if they wanted to, to contribute to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple and, you know, restoring life in their ancient homeland. This is Roya Hakakian. She's an Iranian-American Jewish writer and lecturer.
Some people believe that Cyrus really created the Jewish diaspora model, that either you go and live in Israel, or if you're not living in Israel, then you make sure to contribute to the ongoing life and the health of that community and society. And that's what happened. Many Jewish people returned to Jerusalem.
Others stayed in Persia and made it their home hundreds of years before the emergence of Christianity or Islam. Cyrus the Great went on to rule over the largest empire the world had ever seen. And he ruled it with a tolerance that was unique for his time.
His story and proclamations of human rights are inscribed on a piece of clay known as the Cyrus Cylinder, which is usually housed in the British Museum. A ceramic replica is in the United Nations building in New York City. The story of Cyrus the Great is told in the Hebrew Bible. He's called the Messiah and is anointed by God.
And he's also celebrated by many non-Jewish Iranians today as a proud part of their history. This is a very important story, not particularly only exclusively for the Iranian Jewish community, but for Jews around the world globally, historically. It's considered the origin story of Iranian Jews and of the long relationship between Iran and the Jewish people.
A relationship that, today, has been fractured by decades of violence, most recently by a war that erupted after the U.S. and Israel launched wide-ranging attacks across Iran, killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. For nearly 50 years, Israel and Iran have been in almost constant conflict. Israel has bombed Iran, assassinated many of its leaders and scientists and civilians.
Iran has fired missiles at Israel and funded and armed groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, who've killed citizens inside Israel. Given the past four decades of violence, it's easy to view this conflict as primordial and inevitable. But it's not.
After the creation of Israel in 1948 and before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, the relationship between the countries was characterized by public distance and private cooperation. They shared technological and military knowledge. They were trade partners. At one point in the 1970s, there were thousands of Israelis living in Tehran, Iran's capital.
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