Modern Era
Tehran's Jewish community emerged as the central Persian Jewish community only after 1786, when the Qajar dynasty made Tehran the Persian capital. The community grew rapidly under the Qajar and then Pahlavi regimes (1925-1979); R. Yedidya Shofet served as Chief Rabbi of Iran from 1944 to 1979. Under the Pahlavis the community of about 80,000 had multiple synagogues, the Otzar HaTorah school network, and unprecedented economic and educational opportunity. The 1979 Islamic Revolution and the execution of Jewish community leaders precipitated mass emigration; today perhaps 8,000-10,000 Jews remain in Tehran, served by some 25 active synagogues — still the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel.