Jewish ancestors of many of the prominent Persian Baha'is

Haji Lalezar Elazar Lalezari, Yahya Yohana Hafezi, Haji Soleyman Lalezari, Ezra Lalezari, Hakim Taher Yari Baher, Mehdi Mashiah Lalezari, Dr. Mousa Yehouda Tabibzadeh, Roben Lalezari, Hakim Musa Mosheh, Meir Kimiabakhsh, Davoud Ehtesham al-Hokama, Yousef Seraj, Nourollah Ehteshamzadeh, Haroun Tabibzadeh, Ataollah Hafezi, Nosratollah Baher

Mehdi Mashiah Lalezari

Mashiah Lalezari was a member of a large Jewish family in Hamadan, Iran. In his memoirs, Yohana Hafezi lists Lalezari as a group of Jews who barricaded themselves in Hamadan's telegraph office in an effort to send messages to the capital in protest of a boycott and other restrictions placed against Jewish businesses by Hamadan's influential Mollah Abdollah. When Mollah Abdollah's supporters breached the telegraph office, Lalezari and other members of the group were taken to the house of Mollah Abdollah, where they converted to Islam under duress.This incident has been recorded in Yohana Hafezi's memoirs, diplomatic cables of the Alliance organization in Iran, and Habib Levy's "History of Iranian Jews."

Many of those who converted to Islam after the telegraph incident returned to Judaism after the central government in Tehran intervened. Many others embraced the burgeoning Baha'i faith, including Lalezari. His hundreds of descendants include Jews, Baha'is, and Christians of Iranian heritage.

Jewish Baha'i produces a film on the life of "The Bab"

Shrine of 'The Bab', a silent teacher in the Holy Land

Steve Sarowitz is Founder and Chairman of Paylocity (Nasdaq: PCTY), a leading U.S. provider of payroll and HR solutions. In addition, Steve also serves as CEO of Blue Marble, an international payroll provider, and as Director of Payescape, a UK payroll provider. He is also an international philanthropist with an interest in promoting unity and promoting universal education and advocating for the elimination of racism, sexism, nationalism and religious prejudice. He also serves on the board of NCAT, an organization that builds state-of-the art training centers in urban areas. He and his wife have a family foundation which supports over 50 worthy causes worldwide, including programs helping orphans, foster children, refugees and many other people in need.

Steve graduated from the University of Illinois in 1987 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. While at the U of I, he often ran barefoot through campus. He is still an avid runner, a member of the Chicago Area Runners Association Hall of Fame and a 3-time winner of the MSE Division of the Chicago Chase Corporate Challenge. Steve was raised Jewish and first heard of the Baha’i Faith at the Jewish Student Center while a student at U of I. Many years later, he began studying the Baha’i Faith and declared as a Baha’i in February 2015. Three days after declaring as a Baha’i, a friend recommended that Steve make a film about the Baha’i Faith. Steve immediately began a new career in the film industry. He helped fund and promote the documentaries He Named Me Malala and Rosenwald. He served as Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise. Steve is currently producing ‘The Gate’, a groundbreaking documentary about the founding of the Baha’i Faith.

Steve lives in Highland Park, Illinois with his wife, 2 children, 2 dogs and a turtle named Duchess. When he is not working or doing philanthropy, you can often find him guiding at the Baha’i Temple in nearby Wilmette, Illinois.

Beloved Guardian has forecasted the “Rise of House of Worship in the Holy Land.”

This is the place where Israeli Baha'i Temple is going to be constructed sooner.

Baha'is very well know that whatever Shoghi Effendi has foretold will surely happen; it is just a question of time. The Beloved Guardian in the 25th para of Advent of Divine Justice wrote that there will be "Rise of House of Worship in the Holy Land." This seems to be a real possibility in near future as one can see the things moving in that direction.

At present our Beloved Universal House of Justice has three young Persian Members, i.e. Dr. Payman Mohajer, Dr. Ayman Rowhani and Mr. Shariyar Razavi. These members always advocated to start teaching activities in the Holy Land. Formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies in every city and also to introduce Ruhi Curriculum in every school of Israel.

Their efforts will be supplemented by new UHJ member Mr. Praveen Mallik from India, who has the same idea about commencing of Teaching activities in Israel. Mr. Praveen Mallik was groomed by Dr. Mohajer to take up that responsibility in future. They both once stayed in India, and with his election to the UHJ it seems the day has come.

The appointment of Mr. Navid Serrano, another faithful Persian believer on the International Teaching Centre is a good move, as he will become a member of UHJ in near future. Then with 4 Persian members on the UHJ and with active support of Mr. Praveen Mallik there will be a quorum of five members to support and start teaching activities in the Holy Land.

Recently the visit of Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, to the World Centre, along with his wife, has given impetus to this movement.

No doubt the Baha’is should prepare to take the precautionary and defensive steps to counteract the full force of attacks, which the organized group will progressively launch and relentlessly pursue of “not teaching the Faith in Israel”.

Statement, made by 'Abdu'l-Baha to a Baha'i of Jewish Background - Jinab-i-Azizi in Paris:

"Inscribe in the margin of your book: All the forces of the world are being defeated. Have patience for a few years. The light of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah will envelop the whole world."

From Memoirs of Jinab-i-Aziz'u'llah Azizi

The Three False Gods - Nationalism, Racialism and Communism

Shoghi Effendi said :

God Himself has indeed been dethroned from the hearts of men, and an idolatrous world passionately and clamorously hails and worships the false gods which its own idle fancies have fatuously created, and its misguided hands so impiously exalted. The chief idols in the desecrated temple of mankind are none other than the triple gods of Nationalism, Racialism and Communism, at whose altars governments and peoples, whether democratic or totalitarian, at peace or at war, of the East or of the West, Christian or Islamic, are, in various forms and in different degrees, now worshiping. Their high priests are the politicians and the worldly-wise, the so-called sages of the age; their sacrifice, the flesh and blood of the slaughtered multitudes; their incantations outworn shibboleths and insidious and irreverent formulas; their incense, the smoke of anguish that ascends from the lacerated hearts of the bereaved, the maimed, and the homeless. 

The theories and policies, so unsound, so pernicious, which deify the state and exalt the nation above mankind, which seek to subordinate the sister races of the world to one single race, which discriminate between the black and the white, and which tolerate the dominance of one privileged class over all others—these are the dark, the false, and crooked doctrines for which any man or people who believes in them, or acts upon them, must, sooner or later, incur the wrath and chastisement of God.

How Baha'u'llah presented Himself to the people of Israel?

Baha'u'llah presented Himself to the local people in the Haifa-Akka region - there is at least one tablet revealed to the local population - the Tablet to Hardegg, the leader of the German Christians in Haifa. A friend offered this partial translation and it shows that Baha'u'llah squarely stated Who He was.

Be-Naam-e-Daanay-e tavaana
In the Name of the Omniscient the Omnipotent...

Ey Mala'-e Yahood
O concourse of Israel

Shomaa az man boodeed
You were of Me

cheh shod haala maraa na-meeshenaaseed
Why is that ye recognize Me not? ...

dar in Kalima-ye Yuhanna tafakkor koneed
Ponder in this Word of John for John hath announced unto you the descent of

madeena muqaddasa-ye 'azeema
A Holy A Great City

wa qaala
and He said

wa lam ara feeha haykalan
And I did not see a Haykal a Temple therein

wal madeenatu laa tahtaaju ...
and the City does not need lil-shamsi the sun

leanna Baha'u'llah azaa'a feeha
for the Glory of God is the Light of it.

Baha'i Shrine a Symbol of Tolerance and Peace in Israel

Unveiling of a road sign in Arabic, English, and Hebrew for the UNESCO Square for Tolerance and Peace in Haifa, Israel, on 29 May 2011, in the presence of prominent guests including the Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church for the North of Israel, the Director-General of UNESCO, and the Mayor of Haifa.

In recent years, Haifa has more firmly established its reputation as one of the region’s most ethnically and religiously diverse cities, including among its residents Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Bahá’ís. In this spirit, on 29 May 2011, a special ceremony was held in the Bahá’í gardens to inaugurate the UNESCO Square for Tolerance and Peace, situated at the point where Haifa’s historic German Templer Colony meets the terraced gardens of the Shrine of the Báb. This followed the inscription, in July 2008, of the Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, together with the surrounding buildings and gardens, on the UNESCO World Heritage List as sites of “outstanding universal value”. At the ceremony, Ms. Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, said, “I am more than convinced that the only ways to build a more peaceful and equitable world are through education and dialogue—to deepen understanding, to strengthen mutual respect, and to prepare the ground for reconciliation.”

Over the next year, the Square was developed through the addition of upgraded stonework and decorative f loral plantings in the centre of its traffic circle. In 2012, at an event to mark the completion of this work, hosted by the Bahá’í World Centre in collaboration with the Haifa Municipality and the Beit Hagefen Arab-Jewish Cultural Center, some 250 students from various high schools around Haifa came together at Beit Hagefen to explore the concept of co-existence and the theme of Haifa as a shared city. The young people then participated in a march towards the UNESCO Square for Tolerance and Peace, led by the Mayor of Haifa, a representative from Beit Hagefen, and a representative from the Bahá’í World Centre. The march ended with the symbolic release of doves representing Haifa’s international stature as the City of Peace.

Israeli Prime Minister visits the shrine of 'Bab', the forerunner of Baha'i Faith.

Photos: Haim Tzah, Government Press Office

The Bahá'í Gardens in Haifa, which can be called the Hanging Gardens of Haifa, are gardens located around the Tomb of the Bab on Mount Carmel. These gardens are a symbol of Haifa and one of the most important tourist attractions.

Azerbaijan: The land of religious tolerance

By SPONSORED - Monday, October 2, 2017

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

What Muslim country allows Jews, Christians, Muslims and Baha`is to live side by side in peace and harmony?

Father Constantin, Press Secretary of Baku-Azerbaijan Eparchy of Russian Orthodox Church

In Azerbaijan’s long history, many nationalities and different ethnic groups have lived together, and the Azeri people have developed a mentality of love and kindness to other people. And history didn’t record any conflict between Christians, Jews and Muslims, the three main denominations in Azerbaijan. Even when idol worshippers lived here, such conflicts didn’t happen.

Today, our government’s support for the multiculturalism and tolerance built by our national leader Heydar Aliyev is being continued by President Ilham Aliyev. Different religious communities not only peacefully coexist, but also are joining action on charitable and social projects.

Although Azerbaijan’s main population is Muslim, the country`s constitution is of a secular state. It is our constitution, as citizens of Azerbaijan and also patriots of our country. We wish all goods and blessings to this country, to our country. We wish Azerbaijan to develop spiritually and materially.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18, United Nations - 1948.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Mr. Milikh Yevdayev, Head of the Mountain Jews Community in Azerbaijan

I always repeat these words to Jewish people everywhere that if they don’t have any place to live, let them come to Azerbaijan. We are here for 2,000 years and will be for another 2,000. We live here in peace and harmony with all other citizens of Azerbaijan of different ethnicities and religions.

In Azerbaijan, the government has created all conditions for preserving our religion and our language. We enjoy all the rights and privileges fixed in the Constitution of Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev says he is the president of each and every citizen. We are witness of this statement in deeds. We are living here in peace and safety.

Ramazan Asgarli, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha`is of Azerbaijan

Geographically located between east and west, Azerbaijan has developed its own culture that is not totally eastern or western. And the Azerbaijani people are characterized by their tolerance and kindness towards other cultures and nations.

Building on this, the government of Azerbaijan has created all conditions for developing this culture and even has adopted multiculturalism as a state policy.

In Baha`i writings, Azerbaijanis are mentioned as peaceful peace lovers with a rich and ancient culture. Today, Baha`is of Azerbaijan enjoy these favorable conditions in our country and contribute to the welfare and development of our society. We are grateful to the government of Azerbaijan for creating favorable conditions for practicing our beliefs. 

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/2/azerbaijan-land-religious-tolerance/