166 - ketab farsi

IAJF’s President’s Message:
The Treasured History Of
The Iranian American
Jewish Federation
The dust had not settled on the
Islamic Revolution of 1979,
when the ocean of bewildered, tired,
and emotionally injured Iranian
Jewish immigrants in US, founded
several charitable Persian Jewish
organizations in their new land. Our
mission: to assist our own.
The pride in our culture and
heritage, plus the love for humanity
and feeling of responsibility for
the well being of our community
as a whole empowered us to look
beyond our own personal needs. In
order to better serve the population
and unite all the different and much
needed organizations within the
community, The Iranian American
Jewish Federation was founded in
1981; with the task of uniting all
Iranian Jewish organizations as one
of its main goals. This was the birth of
a unique and enduring organization
that has shown the world that we are
ONE and committed to protecting
the rights of all Iranian Jews where
ever they maybe.
Bewildered by the fact that
no one ever shed a tear for their
plight, no resolutions were ever
passed in protecting them and no
actions were taken by UN about
their rights, our people united in
their beloved new country, the gate
to the freedom for the world, and
decided to speak with one strong
voice throughout the world. Their
strong message “we will never be
ignored again.”
In today’s social and political
world, we as members of the Iranian
American Jewish community are
facing many different crisis. We
feel connected to three different
countries and communities and take
pride in each of their culture and the
way that they have come to identify
us, yet the current tension between
Israel, Iran, and the United States
rests heavily on our shoulders. Our
community has faced a financial
meltdown that has affected us all.
The threat of substance abuse,
domestic violence, and unrealistic
social expectations continues to
put a lot of stress on the younger
generation. Therefore, IAJF has
expanded its services to face the
new challenges of our society.
As part of its many goals,
IAJF continues to provide services
such as assistance with immigration
process, Dispute Resolution and
mediation, Emergency Funds and
being the address and the voice of
our community
In the past two years IAJF
has started a major project with the
help of different experts in the fields
of psychology and sociology in order
to pinpoint and find reliable ways of
overcoming our communities many
different issues. We have sent out
over 5000 questionnaires asking
everyone to identify what they see
as prevalent problems within our
community. You can fill out this
questionnaire on line by going to
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/
T867DF7.
Taking into consideration
all that we have learned so far
about the needs of our community
has prompted us to come up with
different programs such as free
seminars and classes that would
help us understand, analyze and
try to resolve the issues facing our
population specially the younger
generation. Some examples of
these seminars are: The College
Advisement Night, where academic
experts gathered to advice our high
school students about different
ways of applying to colleges
and universities; Understanding
Addiction, a night with a panel of
experts talking about all the facts
surrounding this issue; as well as our
seminar discussing the facts about
the modern history of Israel and
teaching tolerance and knowledge
rather than spreading hatred.
IAJF is also collecting a
complete guide of all the available
3
166