About the program
Dr. Habib Levy Program in Iranian Jewish History is dedicated to the advancement of academic study and the promotion of knowledge concerning the history and cultural heritage of Iranian Jewry.
As an important and integral part of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel-Aviv University, the Dr. Habib Levy Program in Iranian Jewish History is dedicated to the advancement of academic study and the promotion of instruction and knowledge relating to the history and cultural heritage of Iranian Jewry.
Inspired and guided by the vision and sustained commitment of the late Dr. Habib Levy, an accomplished scholar and historian of Iranian Jewry, the program is devoted to a broad range of academic, cultural and educational goals and activities related to the history and cultural heritage of Iranian Jews. More specifically, the program seeks to offer academic courses of instruction at the university level and to promote scholarly research and publication focusing on the diverse aspects of history, culture, community, religion, literature and language among the Persian and Aramaic speaking Jews of Iran.
Drawing upon the knowledge and expertise of the faculty at Tel-Aviv University, the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, the Department of Middle Eastern and African History and the Graduate School of History, one of the program's main objectives is to encourage and enable graduate students to devote their M.A. and Ph.D. research to the study of Iranian Jewish history and heritage. The program also encourages and supports qualified researchers and scholars in the field to conduct original studies and research projects on the diverse aspects of the past and recent history of Iranian Jews.
With a view of informing academics and the general public alike, the Center and the Program are committed to the publication of studies (in English, Persian and Hebrew) on the diverse aspects of history, culture and community among the Jews of Iran. In this light, the Program holds international and local academic conferences, seminars and lectures by specialists and guest lecturers from Israel and abroad. Due to the highly scattered nature of the documents and archival sources related to Iranian Jewry, the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies and the Habib Levy Program at Tel-Aviv University are committed to the collection and preservation of valuable records and documents related to the field.
The Center and the Program house a large body of historical documents, rare 19th and 20th century photographs as well as several personal, family and communal records and documents. A selection of oral interviews were conducted with members of the older generation of Iranian Jews by the Center for Iranian Jewish History in Los Angeles, California. These recordings together with the aforemetioned archives were graciously endowed by the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History, Los Angeles, to the ACIS and the Dr. Habib Levy Program at Tel aviv University.
In June 2012, TAU officially inaugurated the Dr. Habib Levy Collection for Jewish Iranian History and Heritage.
