Escaping Iran: A Jewish Family's Story of Survival
3/7/20261 hr 1 min
Born in Iran in the 1970s, Sammy grew up in a thriving Jewish community in Shiraz during the final years of the Shah's rule. But when the Islamic Revolution erupted, everything changed overnight. In this powerful conversation, he recounts what it was like as a child sensing the fear around him, hearing crowds chanting from rooftops, and eventually fleeing the country with his family. He shares the emotional memories of leaving Iran, the danger many Jews faced trying to escape, and why thousands of Jews still remain there today despite the risks.
Sammy's story doesn't end with survival, it becomes a story of rebuilding. After arriving in America without speaking English, he eventually rose to an extraordinary career in finance while rediscovering his Jewish identity along the way. He opens up about assimilation, marrying his wife during her conversion process, the questions about faith that changed his life, and how Judaism ultimately gave him purpose, community, and meaning. From escaping a revolution to navigating faith, success, and responsibility, this episode is a remarkable journey of resilience, identity, and gratitude.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSami· Guest0:00
I remember a few months before the revolution, you had people getting on top of our roof yelling, "Allahu Akbar." And as a five-year-old at the time, having people on your roof yelling Islamic chants that you don't know what's gonna happen next was very, very scary. And then we got back on the next plane and flew out. For those of you who have seen the movie Argo, in that last scene where they're trying to head out of the airport, that's how I felt as a kid. Ever since the Twelve Day War, the Internet, it, it was very dangerous because if you contacted anyone, they could be, uh, suspected of being a spy or contacting people outside the country or being in touch with foreign agents. I actually called my parents the other day and I said, "You know, thank you so much for leaving Iran in nineteen seventy-nine." I was thinking what my life would've been like if I would've stayed there versus being able to leave.
Nachi Gordon· Host0:39
Mm-hmm.
Sami· Guest0:39
I mean, it's just night and day. And where are all the people that are complaining about innocent Muslims being killed? And so to me, that's the, the hypocrisy of it all.
Nachi Gordon· Host0:46
Okay, so you need to meet this guy, Sami. Right? Sami grew up in Iran in nineteen seventy-three. Things were pretty okay until they weren't. Things got pretty bad pretty quickly, and his family decided, "We cannot stay here anymore," and they escaped. And the way Sami describes the escape was not the average you going on a Delta flight, kicking your feet back and enjoying. They had to really, really run out of that country, but thank God they did. They got here, and things obviously turned very, very bad in Iran. And we can't even say Sami's last name this episode 'cause he still has relatives there, and w- we don't want any trouble with that. You still may be able to figure out who he is based on the story he's saying because we interviewed someone very, very close to him, and we discuss a lot about what's going