Also see LINJAN and PIR BAKRAN
February 22, 2009. What Iran's Jews Say by ROGER COHEN. NY Times: "At Palestine Square, opposite a mosque called Al-Aqsa, is a synagogue where Jews of this ancient city gather at dawn." [August 2009]
"In Esfahan, an Iranian city fabled for its intricate Persian tile work, the first Persian Jews were settled under the reign of Cyrus. The ancient city was once known as Dar-Al-Yahud (''House of the Jews'' in Farsi), and as late as the 19th century it was the home of 100,000 Jews, according to Elias Haronian, head of Esfahan's Jewish community./ Today, the city is a repository of Jewish lore. Source [January 2010]
CEMETERY:
"Graves date back 2,000 years. Many people believe that the Abbasid mosque stands over a crypt containing the remains of the Prophet Isaiah. 18 miles from Isfahan, the little village of Linjan has an ancient Jewish cemetery with tombs inscribed from the second century CE, including the tomb of Sarah, the daughter of the patriarch Asher (son of Jacob)." Source: Freedman, Warren. World Guide for the Jewish Traveler . NY: E.P. Dutton Inc, 1984. Extracted by Bernard Kouchel: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [March 1994]
"It has a cemetery with Jewish graves 2,000 years old, stunning synagogues and Jewish mausoleums with tiles to rival those of the mosques - but a population of only 1,500 Jews." Demick, Barbara. "IRAN: Life of Jews Living in Iran." Knight-Ridder. September 30, 1997. [October 2000]