July 20, 2012 | 8:28 am

Iranian Jewish caterer masters delicious Kosher Fusion food

Posted by Karmel Melamed

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For nearly 20 years local Iranian Jewish caterer David Javaheri who is the founder of the Sason and Nana Catering businesses has been delighting his L.A. area Jewish clients with a continuously unique assortment of “kosher fusion” food. I had a special opportunity to taste some of his culinary creations and found that they were not only delectable in taste but remarkably artistic in presentation. Fusion food is basically the mixing and matching of different cultural foods with different spices or seasons to bring about new and exciting dishes. Whether you like Persian, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Asian or good ol’ fashioned American classics, Javaheri’s professionally trained executive chefs will not disappoint your pallet! Through Sason and Nana Catering, Javaheri has mastered the art of fusion food and has been successful in offering it to local Jewish clients who are increasingly demanding new varieties in the kosher foods for their guests at weddings or other parties. (The menus for his catered food are sinfully delicious).

Many of Javaheri’s clients hail from the Iranian Jewish community in Southern California and I recently interviewed him for my latest piece about the latest trends in the foods they are selecting for their weddings. The following is a portion of our conversation…

Can you share with us a little of your background and how you go into the catering business?

In October 1993, the partners of Sason where my father, my current partner and myself. Three months after we opened the business my father passed away. At the time I was 19 years old and going to college at Cal State University Northridge studying psychology. So it took four to five years after I graduated from college to become fully involved in the catering business. One of my biggest advantages of going into this industry has been the fact that I was educated in here in the U.S. and every aspect of catering has been done with education. Every year my staff and I have been going to seminars, catering conference to continuously learn about the latest in design, décor, food handling, and other food preparation from some of the top catering executives chefs in the country. We do this because we want to maintain a high level of service to our customers and be on the cutting edge of the culinary industry. Today we have reached a level that has surpassed our wildest imagination. My goal was to reach a certain level when it comes to our revenue, growth, décor,  design, type of foods served— and we have well surpassed that today. What I really love about catering is not just how the food tastes— but the key aspect that the food has to look good and we have to constantly have new designs that come out that appeal to our guests. The most important aspect of catering is not just the food but creating an incredible experience for your client.

What do you recommend to couples when they are looking for a caterer for their wedding?

The first thing I advise my clients is to look at the reputation of the caterer. You should ask around about that caterer’s level of work, level of service and performance in the past from others that have used them for events. Next I recommend my clients check the caterer’s credentials, certifications and records with the health department. If they have a letter ‘B’ or ‘C’ level grade with the health department, then you need to know why. Typically those letters mean that they have an unsupervised kitchen that means you as the host of the event are taking more risks with an executive chef who does not know how to handle food properly. There is a lesser risk of contamination when you have food that comes to the caterer at the right temperature, is kept at a right temperature and is handled properly by the kitchen staff. For example, your caterer can buy the best quality chicken in town and prepare the best chicken kebab, but if get a few drops of the chicken juices get into the lettuce for your salad, then you will likely have salmonella contamination. These days the hotels and cities are getting tougher and requiring caterers to have food handling certification for their staff to prove that the staff knows how to properly handle food. All of these ratings for a caterer are available to the public on the health department’s websites and list what exact violations each caterer may or may not have had. I always ask every single couple who approaches us to attend one or two of our events. I recommend they see us in action and how we do what we do. Every wedding is unique for us and their wedding is different because of the design. We want a long term relationship with their customers and not just to do the catering for your wedding.

Can you share a little more about kosher fusion food?

Sason Catering is probably one of the very few kosher fusion caterers in the Los Angeles area. Since we are kosher, we are therefore limited to type of food we can use. So there are no dairy products that we can use in any of our food, that makes our job tough because you have to improvise and instead of using products like milk and butter, substitute them for other products that are ‘parve’ or dairy-free. Nevertheless we became really really good at it. Fusion food came out about eight or nine years ago and has been very popular especially in L.A. with all the different cultural groups you have living here. For example, you can take make a sauce that has Asian influence and mix it with other types of spices or flavors. So we have a chicken gyro station that is very popular because our chefs infuse Moroccan and Greek spices to the chicken and then we attached it into an Indian tandoori oven. Guests who try this chicken are simply blow away by the different flavors and styles of cooking incorporated together. We also have a barbecue glaze that goes over an Asian Sea Bass that is simply divine because it takes away from the oily nature of Sea Bass.

What is the most challenging aspect of working with the Iranian Jewish community?

About 40 percent of my customers are Persian Jewish and what I really love about the Persian Jewish community is that they really appreciate good food and good design. A Persian event is usually six hours—with six or seven hours with people eating. So food is important. Appetizers are very very important in the Persian event because for us appetizers are like the dinner and the dinner is like appetizers! This because people come hungry and they can visit different stations and have choices. At dinner they take their time and are not as hungry. Despite the fact that Persians negotiate on the pricing, they still want the best and that has been positive for our companies because it pushed us to constantly improve our services on a regular basis.

Does pricing substantially impact the quality of food or level of service you typically receive from your caterer?

If you are negotiating on pricing with a caterer, each caterer is different— couples have to realize that while they may get a lower price for their event, but at the same time that caterer may be cutting down on the quality and design of the food they offering for their wedding. Choosing a caterer properly is key, especially in the summer months for a wedding because that caterer may be doing four of five events in one night and the clients could be taking a risk by hiring a caterer that is too busy and may not be able to provide 100 percent to your event. The bride and groom has to put themselves in their guest shoes to provide less of a risk, because in the end if the caterer screws up and people leave hungry, then the event ends unsuccessful because the guests have not enjoyed themselves.

Can you share with us an instance where things went wrong at an event and you came out on top at the end of the night?

Catering work is always a challenge. There was a plated dinner at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown L.A. and all the ovens suddenly went dead. We had a 700 person event with people that need to be fed. Luckly we were able to cook the food quickly an properly with back up systems we had in place. Your guests don’t know what is going on in the background and only a true caterer knows what to do to prevent a disaster from happening at an event. For example, as a caterer you must always have a back up car or truck to the event. I send our transportation three hours ahead of schedule. A good caterer looks ahead and plans accordingly.

What advice do you give couples who might be stressing about their wedding party?

One of the things I always tell my clients is that you are getting married hopefully only once and you need to enjoy yourselves as much as possible for that night. Once you hire the right coordinator, or caterer, or entertainer, then just walk away and let them do their job. If you’ve made the right choices in picking the right vendors, then your event should flow smoothly and successfully. Remember most vendors have done more weddings than you have and know what works and what doesn’t work— so trust in them.

Individuals seeking to taste Javaheri’s delicious dairy dishes can also visit his glatt kosher restaurant Nana Cafe in the Pico-Robertson area.

July 17, 2012 | 10:00 am

Anti-Semitism in Iran: Worse than you think [UPDATE: FARSI TRANSLATION]

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Read a translation of this article in Farsi here

In Tehran last month, during a ceremony marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Iran’s current vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, launched an anti-Semitic tirade.

I am fluent in Farsi and understood 100 percent of what he said from watching his speech online. Rahimi blamed the spread of drugs on the teachings of the Talmud, claiming that “the Talmud teaches Jews how to destroy non-Jews and that 80 percent of America’s wealth is in the hands of 6 percent of the world’s Jewish population.” Likewise, he blamed an unnamed Jewish gynecologist in America for once sterilizing 8,000 Native Americans, which he claimed was in accordance with the teachings of Talmud. At the same time, Rahimi went on to blame the Jews for a series of other world calamities, including the long laundry list that can, by and large, be found in the classic 1880s Russian anti-Semitic book “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” (By the way, the Farsi copies of “Protocols” have long been best-sellers in Iran, with more than 400 pages added to the original 1880s Russian version.)

While the international media surprisingly gave substantial coverage to this vile speech made by an Iranian government official, making headlines worldwide, I was frankly not surprised to hear these comments from Rahimi. The truth of the matter is that 99.9 percent of the Iranian regime’s officials make such anti-Semitic comments regularly and believe every single word that comes out of their mouths in public. Yet, what should worry the Western world is the vile anti-Semitic accusations made by supposed “reformists” and “green party” leaders in Iran’s regime against one another or their opponents who also work in the Iranian government. The most classic and detrimental way Iranian government officials can attack one another is to claim that the “such and such official was born a Jew, or was once a Jew who converted to Islam, or his family was Jewish a generation ago and then converted.” The “Jewish identity label” is thrown around as a type of public insult or verbal assault. Officials in Iran and in most Islamic nations use it against one another in smear campaigns. For one Iranian government official to call or accuse another government official of being Jewish is the equivalent of individuals or groups in the United States accusing an elected official in America of being a child molester or pedophile.

The result is that being referred to as “Jewish” has a very derogatory meaning in Iran. Perhaps the best examples of Iranian regime members being publicly “smeared” with the “Jewish identity label” have been Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his senior adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. On a regular basis in Iran, opponents of Ahmadinejad tell the public there’s no doubt Ahmadinejad or his cronies are “bad or foolish” people — because only a “supposed Jew or one of Jewish blood could be so evil in the world.” Another example of this “Jewish identity label” occurred during the 1990s and early 2000s, when Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami or other “reformists” in the regime regularly accused hated rival officials of having Jewish blood. (My blog piece in 2009 uncovered the bogus story circulating worldwide that Ahmadinejad supposedly had Jewish ancestry.)

This form of anti-Semitism in Iran may seem to most observers in the United States or Europe merely dirty mudslinging that occurs in Iranian politics. Yet just this type of anti-Semitism should raise a red flag to everyone in the free world, because one day, should the current regime in Iran collapse, the supposed “reformists” who spew this type of hate speech today against Jews could potentially use this type of anti-Semitism as an excuse to blame hardliners for Iran’s destruction. At the same time, their comments could directly or indirectly fan some in the Iranian-Muslim population to lash out against the 10,000 to 25,000 Jews still living in Iran. No doubt both “reformists” and “hardliners” in Iran’s regime would not want to accept credit for the failures and heinous crimes against humanity committed by the regime’s current leaders, should the regime collapse one day. So, blaming the Jews for their own failures would be an ideal and classic scapegoat policy for them to pursue.

Finally, the only thing that should surprise anyone about Rahimi’s speech was that he did not attack Israel or Zionism, as most Iranian officials typically do per the regime’s policy. He went out of bounds and clearly attacked Jews and their religion, which reveals the Iranian regime’s true hatred of Jews. The Iranian regime’s propaganda English-language media outlets online quickly retranslated Rahimi’s speech on their sites by replacing his references to Jews with references to Zionists. The regime’s state-run news sites tried to do “media damage control” for Rahimi, but they failed miserably because his comments made in the Persian language can be translated by native Persian-language speakers who know that the words he said were insanely anti-Semitic. The Iranian regime still expects the world to remain stupid enough to believe their bogus propaganda and that they “love the Jews” and have “given freedom to the Jews” living in Iran today.

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Karmel Melamed, an attorney, writes the “Iranian American Jews” blog at jewishjournal.com.

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July 2, 2012 | 12:08 pm

Elghanian’s granddaughter speaks out about Iran’s regime disaster

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to read an opinion article published in the Los Angeles Times that was authored by Shahrzad Elghanayan, the granddaughter of the late Habib Elghanian who was the Jewish community’s leader that had been executed by the Iranian regime in 1979. Shahrzad Elghanayan’s piece was particularly powerful not just because she reminded readers of the significantly heinous crime Iran’s current regime committed by executing her grandfather on trump up charges of espionage for Israel, but she shed light on the brain drain from Iran during the last 33 years that has caused that nation to continue into a downward spiral. Habib Elghanian was not just your average wealthy industrialist in Iran, he was one of perhaps a dozen proud and very affluent Iranian citizens who helped create entire industries in Iran that employed millions of people and were gradually helping Iran to become self sufficient. More importantly he was a philanthropist who gave back to all Iranians regardless of their religions. In 2009 I had the pleasure of interviewing Elghanian’s brother, family members and friends who recalled this great man’s generosity and love for his country. My piece regarding Elghanian can be read here.

His granddaughter in her beautifully crafted piece expresses the sentiments many young and old Iranian Americans feel in their hearts today about the tragedy that occurred in Iran in 1979. The mass executions, arrests and torturing of business people, intellectuals and Iran’s educated “cream of the crop within the population” in the early years of the revolution have resulted in a mass exodus of millions of Iranians— Jews, Muslims, Bahais, Christians and Zoroastrians from their homeland. Shahrzad Elghanayan proudly names just a handful of the thousands of Iranian Americans who have transformed the business world but from the U.S. and the west. Moreover she correctly makes the point that the nation of Iran could have today benefited from these great minds if the insanely idiotic fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Iran had not destroyed the substantial freedom and relative tolerance people in Iran had enjoyed during the Pahlavi dynasty. The Iranian clerics that run the regime have essentially “flushed down the toilet” Iran’s chances of a better and prosperous future when they carried out their ruthless campaign of terror, persecutions and murders in Iran. And as Iran continues to spiral out of control today with the regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons that can potentially drag the world into a horrendous international war, Iranians living outside that country can only sit on the sidelines and pray others worldwide do not experience the horrific tragedies they experienced at the hands of the Iranian regime’s leaders.

Iranian Jews living in the U.S. will never forget the crime that was committed against our community when the Iranian regime executed the innocent Habib Elghanian. The horror of his sudden murder that caused thousands of Jews to quickly flee Iran, has been tattooed forever in the minds of many Iranian American Jews. Today we will not remain quiet about what the Iranian regime did to Elghanian and we will continue to remind the world of the dangers of this regime that has been ruling Iran with an iron fist for more than three decades! My only hope is that President Obama and the U.S. administration will finally wake up to the reality that they cannot trust nor hammer out a deal to “contain” a nuclear armed Iran. Regime change in Iran carried out only by the people of Iran who must rise up against their totalitarian regime is the only hope for a normal, nuclear weapons free and peaceful Iran. Kudos to Shahrzad Elghanayan for sharing the reality that not only Iranian Jews in the U.S.  feel but that most Iranians of various faiths living in the west believe about the failed clerical regime running their former homeland.

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July 2, 2012 | 7:12 am

UCLA’s Museum to host new Iranian Jewish art exhibition

Posted by Karmel Melamed

To my delight I recently discovered that UCLA’s Fowler Museum will be exhibiting the “Light and Shadows” exhibit at their facility this fall which will feature the remarkably rich art and history of Iranian Jewry dating back nearly six centuries. This powerful exhibit was originally placed in Israel at Tel Aviv’s Museum of the Jewish People several years ago and received tremendous interest as well as acclaim from scholars and visitors alike. The exhibition was funded by local Iranian American Jewish philanthropists Youness and Soraya Nazarian through their “Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation” and they will likewise be funding the exhibition at the Fowler Museum as well. Their foundation has been heavily involved in founding and funding the university’s Israel Center as well as other Iranian Jewish programs at UCLA in recent years.

In my humble opinion the “Light and Shadows” exhibit coming to the Los Angeles area is indeed an incredible gift both UCLA and the “Y&S Family Foundation” are giving to city residents as well as to Southern California’s Iranian Jewish community which are estimated to be 40,000 strong. This exhibit will most likely give the younger generation of Iranian American Jews who have little knowledge of their history and background a better idea of the persecution their ancestors endured for centuries in Iran while retaining their Jewish identity. Likewise the younger generation can also take pride in the creative and intellectual achievements of their ancestors in Iran.

For more information about this Iranian Jewish art exhibition click here

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May 31, 2012 | 7:26 am

A unique look into Shaul Mofaz’s Iranian Jewish roots

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Southern California’s vibrant Iranian Jewish community has been abuzz during the last few months with recent news of the election victory of Iranian-born Shaul Mofaz as the new leader of the Kadima party in the Israeli Knesset in late March and when earlier this month with his decision to join in a unity government with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. News media outlets worldwide have been busy trying to gather as much information as possible on Mofaz’s background to learn more about this man but have failed to go his true roots which lie within the Iranian American Jewish community based in Los Angeles and New York. Fortunately, having covered this community as a journalist for more than a decade, I have gathered a substantial treasure trove of information regarding Mofaz’s family background from his friends and distant family members.

One source that was closely familiar with Mofaz and his family was the late Iranian Jewish community leader Ebrahim Yahid. Sadly Yaid who passed away earlier this year in Los Angeles, spent many hours chatting with me about his life and even shed light on Mofaz’s family from Iran in an exclusive 2008 interview. Yahid who originally hailed from the Iranian city of “Esfahan” recalled his close childhood friend with Mofaz’s father Eliyahu that blossomed over the years. “Their family name was originally ‘Mofassaskar’ in Iran and his (Mofaz’s) father Eliyahu helped establish the ORT Jewish trade school in Esfahan,” Yahid said. “Shaul, whose Persian name was ‘Shahram”, was Eliyahu’s first child and we played with him day and night— he even peed on me once! And when he became Minister of Transportation some years ago, I saw him in Israel and told him ‘I hope you know that you peed on me Shaul!’”.

Yahid, along with Mofaz’s father and former Israeli ambassador to Iran, Meir Ezri— all attended the “Alliance Universalle Israelite” a French Jewish school based in Esfahan that was established to educate local improvished Iranian Jews and help them improve their future lives. On an interesting side note Meir Ezri is also a Mofaz relative. Yahid also shared some special insights into Mofaz’s Iranian heritage and his attitudes towards the people of Iran. “I know that Shaul Mofaz comes from a very Zionist family but he still has pride in his Iranian Jewish roots,” said Yahid. “I once asked him if there would ever be war between Iran and Israel— and he told he had serious doubts because Iran and Israel had always had close bonds with one another and the people of Iran were generally very good people”. What has particularly sadden for me during the last several months is that Yahid, who praised Mofaz as a great Iranian leader of Israel, passed away and never had the special opportunity to witness Mofaz’s recent political successes.

Interestingly, Mofaz has remained close with friends and family in the Iranian Jewish community living in Los Angeles and New York over the years. He had spent a substantial amount of time forging ties with community members in Los Angeles during his 2002 visit and over the years welcomed community leaders such as former Beverly Hills Iranian Jewish Mayor Jimmy Delshad during their visits to Israel. Sources close to me in the community indicated that even certain affluent Iranian Jewish businessmen held dinner fundraisers to support Mofaz’s Kadima party leadership race earlier this year. There is no doubt that Iranian American Jews are proud of Mofaz’s achievements in Israel’s military and political realm since he is one of their own. But Mofaz’s recent successes have been especially meaningful for the community following the tragic downfall of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who also hailed from an Iranian Jewish background. While I covered the community’s initial support for Katsav, sadly his scandal was something community members quickly shied away from because it caused them great shame. Fortunately with Mofaz, they have a new and better example of success from a man of Iranian Jewish background that they can point to with great pride today. One can only guess what policies and attitudes towards Iran Mofaz will have considering his Iranian roots.

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May 26, 2012 | 7:18 pm

Exclusive Video Webcast: Israeli Consul General Siegel outreaching to L.A.‘s Iranian Jewry

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Yesterday nearly 50 of Southern California’s prominent Iranian Jewish community leaders and activists gathered in the L.A. area for an informal breakfast meeting with Israel’s Consul General for the Southwest region, David Siegel. The gathering allowed Siegel, who just last year assumed his post based in Los Angeles, to connect on a closer level with the area’s Iranian Jewish leaders who have for the past 33 years been strong supporters of Israel. “I’ve been here for a quarter of a year already and there isn’t a day where I haven’t come across your community’s leadership, friendship and hospitality,” said Siegel to both young and older leaders at the meeting. “What an incredible story of success your community has had after moving to the U.S. and all along you have not forgotten Israel”. Some of the community’s prominent leaders included Nessah Synagogue’s Rabbi David Shofet, former Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad, former L.A. DWP C.E.O. David Nahai, Beverly Hills Public Works Comissioner Joe Shooshani and “30 Years After” president Sam Yebri.

Siegel also gave extensive insights about Israel’s tremendous technological growth in recent years, even mentioning that the computer chip manufacturer, “Intel” that has just announced the creation of its sixth plant in Israel’s city of “Kiryat Gan”. Likewise Siegel discussed the unrest in the Middle East as well as the threats Iran’s nuclear program possess to Israel’s existence. More importantly Siegel announced the Consulate’s upcoming program to outreach to younger Iranian American Jews through a series of new exciting events and activities. “Having the younger generation connect to Israel after the Birthright trip and in college is a priority for us,” he said. “We will be focusing on the Persian Jewish community and calling on their young leadership to help us connect”.

After the meeting with community leaders, I had an opportunity to interview Siegel about his impressions of L.A.‘s Iranian Jews and their connection to Israel. I found his desire to embrace this tight-knit Jewish community which has tremendous sense of Zionism to be quite refreshing. Siegel, like many of Israel’s past Consuls in L.A., realizes the substantial economic, philanthropic, cultural and even political impact Southern California’s Iranian Jewry have in the region. The Consulate of Israel’s efforts to outreach to the younger generation of Iranian Jews growing up in L.A. must be applauded because (with the exception of Sinai Temple in west L.A.) many in the larger Ashkenazi Jewish community in the city have made little if no effort to build bridges with local Iranian Jews. No doubt the substantial impact local Iranian Jews have had for Israel’s betterment cannot be ignored. After all it was L.A.‘s Iranian Jews that first established the “Magbit” organization that for the last 20 years has been offering millions of dollars in interest-free loans to college students in Israel. Or Newport Beach Iranian Jewish philanthropist, David Merage, who’s Merage Foundation, established the “Ayalim” program in Israel that has helped fund the building of new settlements in Israel’s Negev region. Or the Iranian Jewish “Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation” that has poured millions of dollars into establishing UCLA’s newest Israel Studies Center. The list of L.A.‘s Iranian Jewish contributions to Israel goes on and on, not to mention the tremendous Israel philanthropy done by New York’s Iranian Jewry.

Yes many in the Iranian Jewish community often close themselves off to non-Iranian Jews, but I have found they are increasingly opening up and assuming a leadership role when it comes to issues of Israel. Perhaps the best example of this opening up process comes from the L.A. based “30 Years After” organization that has motivated many young Iranian Jewish professionals to get involved with civic and political activity. In fact this year’s AIPAC Conference had a large contingent of Iranian Jews from L.A. and New York in attendance, reflecting the community’s growing political involvement with all things Israel. What I hope to see is a larger number of Iranian American Jews in the coming year opening up to Americans of all backgrounds about the painful experiences they endured while living under and escaping from the current regime in Iran. I think no other group in the U.S. would have a greater impact on public opinion when it comes to issues of Iran’s nuclear weapons program than Iranian Jews living in the U.S. who know firsthand the very serious dangers the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran posses to the world.

The following is a portion of my recent chat with Siegel about his thoughts on L.A.‘s Iranian Jews…

 

Here is another discussion I had with Siegel about the attitude of average Israelis regarding the people of Iran…

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May 18, 2012 | 5:13 pm

30YA honors Lalezary for heroism

Posted by Karmel Melamed

On May 17th, the Iranian Jewish Los Angeles reserve Sheriff’s deputy, Shervin Lalezary was honored “30 Years After”, (30YA) an L.A.-based Iranian Jewish community non-profit for his heroism in January of this after arresting an alleged arsonist threatening the city. Overnight, Lalezary, a 30-year-old Iranian Jewish real estate attorney by day, was thrust into the media spotlight and also became a source of tremendous pride for his community. Aside from a brief January appearance on the nationally syndicated “Ellen” show, a very humble Lalezary for the most part has declined repeated requests for news media interviews and publicity regarding his role in the case. I had a rare chance to chat with him that evening for my upcoming article in the Jewish Journal regarding his community’s reaction to his volunteerism on behalf of the Sheriff’s department. Lalezary receives only $1 a year salary for his law enforcement work and shared some insights about his true love of giving back to the larger community. He accepted the honor from 30YA in an effort to promote the Sheriff’s deputy reserve program among local Iranian Americans.

Lalezary represents what is best and accurate about Southern California’s Iranian American Jews contrary to what has been portrayed about the community in recent bogus reality television shows or in news stories about businessmen involved in ponzi schemes. The Iranian Jewish community living in the U.S. is perhaps one of the most educated, hardest working, entrepreneurial and family oriented immigrant groups in the country. After re-establishing themselves in this country they have now turned to giving back in any and all ways possible— and indeed Lalezary is the best example of this spirit among Iranian American Jews. (My blog posting on Lalezary can be found here).

That evening 30YA also honored out going California Assemblyman Mike Feuer for his civic work and support for young Iranian Jews who are getting involved with politics. From the inception of 30YA, Feuer has been a strong supporter of the local Iranian Jews and will be looking to them for support for his upcoming race for L.A. City Attorney. Also on hand were a number of candidates running for California Assembly seats; including Andrew Lachman, Richard Bloom and Betsey Butler who were courting Iranian American voters at the gathering for their support. “As the one candidate from the Jewish community in the 46th, I will make sure that we actually enforce these laws to ensure that no company doing business with Iran sees a penny from the state of California and that we invest in growing jobs here in California,” said Lachman who is running for the Assembly’s newly established 46th district seat.

For their part, 30YA remains the only active Iranian American Jewish organization in L.A. and New York who are motivating their community members to get involved with politics and civic activity. This is indeed refreshing nowadays considering the lack of community leadership from the older generation of Iranian Jews. Here are some photos I captured of the 30YA evening honoring Lalezary and Feuer….

 

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May 9, 2012 | 8:58 pm

Remembering Vidal Sassoon; A 2006 Exclusive Interview

Posted by Karmel Melamed

In September 2006 I had the unique opportunity to interview Jewish philanthropist and hairstyling legend Vidal Sassoon for the now defunct “Iranian Jewish Chronicle” magazine based here in Southern California. With the news of his sad passing this morning, I felt it was appropriate to share that exclusive interview with readers as an special insight into Sassoon’s strong sense of Jewish identity and profound sense of Zionism.

While the name Vidal Sassoon has become synonymous with the glamorous world of hairstyling and haircare products for nearly five decades, the man behind the brand name had been equally well known for us unwavering support for Israel during this period. Before becoming known as the “father of modern day hairstyling”, Sassoon was born in the east end of London’s improvised Jewish ghetto in 1928. Despite his family’s financial problems, by age 14, the young Sassoon began working as an apprentice in a Jewish barber shop and learning his famous craft. During this same time he joined the “43 Group” a popular anti-fascist organization that combated post-World War II anti-Semitic groups parading in London’s streets. When the state of Israel was established, then 20-year-old Sassoon bravely volunteered and served in the Israeli army in the War of Independence.

After the war, Sassoon returned to London and over the years created his famous hairstyling empire that included forming hair salons, hairstyling schools, and haircare products bearing his name. Today he is credited for establishing the foundations of modern hairstyling after having created geometric hairstyle cuts, the popular wash-and-wear perm, as well as other hairstyling techniques that are widely used. In addition to his career, Sassoon had also dedicated his time to aiding worthy philanthropic and educational causes in Israel. In 1982 he founded the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was also involved with the North American Conference for Ethiopian Jews, a group that provides educational and sports programs for young Ethiopian Jews visiting the U.S. from Israel.

The following is a portion of my 2006 interview with Sassoon…

Your family name ‘Sassoon’ is very popular among Iranian Jews and Sephardic Jews, can you please give us a brief background of your family’s origins?

My father was actually from Salonika in northern Greece where the family had lived for some years. I think there was a population of about 90,000 Jews there and after the Holocaust there was 3,000 left which is quite dreadful. But I am Sephardic from my father’s side and my mother was born in London and her people are from the Ukraine, Kiev. So I guess on my mother’s side it was Ashkenazi, she spoke both Ladino and spoke Yiddish. She was quite a remarkable woman.

What prompted you to start working at a barber shop at a young age?

Well I had no choice. First of all it was World War II, we were in London and we used to sleep in the shelters because the German air force was rearranging the streets of London every night with the bombings practically every night in those days. This was in 42’ and I was 14. My mother didn’t have the luck that she might have had and my father had left us at an early age, so we lived in the east end of London with an aunt until I was five. Then my brother and I were put in a Jewish orphanage until I was 11, when the war started. At 14, that was the school leaving age unless you had money which we didn’t, or you had an extraordinary brain and won scholarships. Of course I didn’t have that either. My mother had a premonition and she felt that hairdressing would be very very good for me. She took me along to a man named Adolf Cohen at 101 White Chapel Road which was in the Jewish ghetto where I had my apprenticeship. He was a great disciplinarian which served me for the rest of my life, he was very good for me. It took me a long time of studying and working in different places around London.

As a teenager you joined the British Jewish organization known as the “43 Group” in London, what activities was this group involved in and how were you involved?

It was a rather strange situation because the war was over. Before the war there was quite a strong fascist party led by Oswald Mosley and he and his cohorts were put in detention (jail) during the war by Churchill. After the war they came out and immediately started up again with their anti-Semitism and running through the streets and having meetings, it was quite ridiculous. Many truly brave Jewish ex-servicemen started the “43 Group” because there were 43 people at the first meeting they had. These were tough men who had been through the war. Of course volunteers were needed, I was 16 or 17 at the time, most of my friends joined the 43 Group and there were quite a few hundred of us. Truly the fascists were smashed in the streets and yes if you were scared at times because it was scary. But after we saw the pictures that came out and the whole story of the Holocaust, there was actually no way we could allow fascists to run through the streets. I was arrested one night and put in jail, the following day the judge told me ‘to be a good boy’ and let me go. That was our life in those days, we decided that we were absolutely not going to allow what happened pre-war when Jews were just beat up indiscriminately in the streets. It worked beautifully because of mainly the tough Jewish characters that were in the British armed forces during the war, they were the people that did it. But also there were quite a few gentiles who had seen the camps, the horror of Europe and fought with us.

After Israel was established in 1948, what motivated you to suddenly leave your family and join the Palmach (Israeli army) at such a young age?

Through my mother who was an ardent Zionist and who used to hold Zionist meetings were we lived in the East End, so I grew up with Zionism. My sense was that without a strong Israel, Judaism would die out with only a few religious Jews in the world but basically as a philosophy of life it would be very much on its way out. Israel was so important. An Israeli officer, a “Sabra” came to London and had a meeting way before 48’ in late 47’ and say ‘that if a war breaks out which they were expecting, we would like volunteers’. He came to see the 43 group and I hadn’t a clue who he was. You’ve got to remember that I was just a private, a very insignificant member of the group, just one of the ordinary…I guess you call them G.I.’s. A few us put our names on a list, we couldn’t leave until the British left (Palestine) for obvious reasons because we were British.

Did you see any action while you were a soldier then?

I was very lucky, I was very fit and I joined the Palmach. I was living in a young fishing kibbutz with young beautiful Sabras, tough from their work and strong in their minds. We were three English guys— I was one of them, there was one American we were accepted into the group and became a part of the Palmach. We trained for two months, it was the hardest physical exercise I’ve ever had in my life. We marched through the night through the northern Negev through Arab lines because in those days you couldn’t truly get through by transport, we were building up the kibbutzim inside those lines. When Egypt attacked with tanks, many comrades were killed, many were wounded but I was very lucky. Out of the three Englishmen and one American, two of the English guys were wounded and the American and myself were unscratched. It was an extraordinary experience and I think that experience in Israel gave me the sense that anything could be done. I thought I saw a miracle happen, you think that 600,000 people beat back five Arab armies…it was an extraordinary feat. Frankly no one realizes how it was done.

After the war what motivated you to get back into hairdressing in England?

My mother. The war was over, we were in Tel Aviv waiting and deciding what to do with the rest of our lives. I got a telegraph from my mother who said that my step-father had had a heart attack, come home and earn a living. So I went back to England and the only thing I knew to earn any cash was through hairdressing. I got a job and many many jobs, it took quite a few years. In 1954 I opened my own salon after working for a wonderful man called “Raymond”, I learned so much from him about cutting.

Over the years you’ve been given the title of “father of modern hairdressing” for your contributions to the profession, where did you get the motivation for developing these haircutting techniques and what is it like to be considered a legend?

Well I opened my own salon in 1954 and by that time I was totally fascinated by what you could do with hair, the possibilities of changing things. For nine years I worked to change what was hairdressing then into a geometric art form with color, perm without setting which had never been done before. There were many innovations that we—I say we because I trained a team that was much involved with me. Many innovations we created that changed the craft, so I guess that’s why they call me the ‘father of hairdressing’…or maybe it’s because of my age, I’m 78 and possibility the grandfather.

In recent years, you have sold your chain of salons and the haircare products that bear your name to other companies. Have you decided to move away from the industry or are you still involved?

I haven’t moved away from it, in fact I did a live show at the ‘Albert Hall’ three months ago. There were over 5,000 people and we actually sold out the Albert Hall. I’m doing a show in Israel in May of this year. There’s a big hair show in Israel and they’re inviting the Jordanian hairdressers so I hear, which I think should be very interesting. I speak now, I don’t actually physically work on heads on hair, but I speak. In June my hairdressing team will be doing a show in Barcelona as well. We’re invited to so many places just to show up and talk to young hairdressers and tell them about our experiences. It’s very very nice, it a great compliment. So I haven’t really deserted the craft at all, I’m still involved.

Nowadays you do not see many prominent people in the public eye taking a strong stance on behalf of Israel, why have you remained active in fundraising efforts and a vocal supporter of Israel?

I honestly believe that without a strong Israel, Judaism is doomed. If you look at our center in Jerusalem that has done a survey about anti-Semitism in Europe, in France it is horrendous—it’s practically a quarter of the population there that doesn’t like Jews. In Britain it’s about 15 to 18 percent of the population that don’t like Jews. My sense is that as the world is today, there is an extraordinary rise of Islamic anti-Semitism utilizing much of the Nazi propaganda. When you have a situation were there is indigenous anti-Semitism it can become endemic and all you have to do is a start a spark. Frankly I don’t trust the world, there are very nice Christians in this world as there are Muslims, as there are Hindus etc, but there are only 13 million Jews left in this world. Where did they all go? They were all murder or they had to convert or be murdered. So a very strong Israel is absolutely necessary to our survival as a people.

You seem to be visiting Israel often and are active with social programs there, what is your sense of the Arabs that are citizens of Israel?

I do believe that Israeli Arabs should be equal citizens in Israel. They now vote for their own people the Israeli parliament, that’s good for democracy. But I do believe that the Israeli national anthem should be inclusive of all, it should not just be ‘nefesh yehudi’ it should be ‘nefesh Israeli’—everybody should be included. They’re either loyal Israelis or not, and if they’re not we’re creating a fifth column in Israel because there are 1.2 million people of the Islamic faith living there. I just believe we have to change our relationships with Israeli Arabs. I think it’s very important that they feel that they are very much a part of the society and they are Israeli. The ‘Druze’ for example who are loyal Arab citizens and serve in the Israeli army, we need to welcome them and have them included more in Israeli society.

What was your objective in founding the International Center on Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University that bears your name?

I was always involved with Hebrew University before then, but there was this wonderful professor, Yehuda Bower at the university and we had very similar views and feelings about Judaism and where Judaism was going and if there was a future for Judaism. It was terrifying to think that the people who created Einstein would be eliminated from the earth. It’s terrifying to think of all those extraordinary elements in society that made up Judaism that have been wiped away and could have been so creative for the rest of this universe. Yehuda Bower was speaking in his most brilliant way and his knowledge of past history was so valid and vivid, that we followed him. He talked to me and he said “how would you like to be involved in creating a center for the study of anti-Semitism.” So I said, could we also include other related bigotries (to study) because you’re trying to fathom the mind and hate of humanity and not just Jews. So this was a man that had great appeal, dynamic energy, and I was fortunate to meet him. I was also fortunate considering my background where I came from to have the necessary finances to help create the center. The center has grown extraordinarily. Yehuda Bower is close to 80, he still lectures but he is not in charge of the center anymore. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way the center is going and I’ll be visiting it in May.

Can you tell us a little bit about the North American Conference for Ethiopian Jews which you’ve become involved with?

It’s quite wonderful. We are developing programs where the money goes partly for education and partly for sports because the health body and healthy mind is were it’s at. Many people are involved; it’s really an honor to be a part of this. You know there’s something (the author) Camu said that has stuck with me all my life and it’s “too many people have forsaken generosity to practice charity”. I hate the word “charity”. The generosity of soul, if you give, you’re giving because you’re pleasing your own soul. The word charity means something totally different, “oh those poor people over there let’s do something for them”. Generosity is the spirit that is within you and I love the way Camu put it.

What advice do you have for young young Jews living in the U.S.?

It’s hard to give advice. There are so many people, how do you give major advice to a group of people, it’s very presumptuous. If you look into yourself as an individual, find your strength, and work on your weaknesses, have courage of your convictions…what more can you do. Feel a sense of pride, not false pride but a sense of pride in the extraordinary production in every area that the Jews have given to civilization.

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