Foreign Policy News Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, March 3, 2020
From Miniskirt to Hijab: International Women’s Day in Iran
On this International Women’s Day, women around the world celebrate their social and political achievements and gains. In Iran, though, women are decades behind the place they once stood. Their struggle in the year 2020 is to claw back the societal advancements they already achieved and then lost following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Read more
From Miniskirt to Hijab: International Women’s Day in Iran
On this International Women’s Day, women around the world celebrate their social and political achievements and gains. In Iran, though, women are decades behind the place they once stood. Their struggle in the year 2020 is to claw back the societal advancements they already achieved and then lost following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Read more
The Chicago Sun-Times
'They Cannot Relate' — 40 Years since Iran Hostage Crisis.
Book Review: From Miniskirt to Hijab by Jacqueline Saper (Potomac Books)
By Neil Steinberg, November 3, 2019
On Nov. 4, 1979, the United States Embassy in Iran was located on Tehran’s Takht-e-Jamshid Street in a neighborhood of upscale stores. Which is why Jacqueline Saper, now of Wilmette, happened to be a block away at the start of one of the epochal events of the past half century: the Iran hostage crisis. Read more
'They Cannot Relate' — 40 Years since Iran Hostage Crisis.
Book Review: From Miniskirt to Hijab by Jacqueline Saper (Potomac Books)
By Neil Steinberg, November 3, 2019
On Nov. 4, 1979, the United States Embassy in Iran was located on Tehran’s Takht-e-Jamshid Street in a neighborhood of upscale stores. Which is why Jacqueline Saper, now of Wilmette, happened to be a block away at the start of one of the epochal events of the past half century: the Iran hostage crisis. Read more
The Seattle Times Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, June 28, 2019
Hijab: An empowering choice in U.S., a symbol of oppression in Iran.
Women in the United States are wearing hijab proudly to identify with their Muslim faith. However, while women in America wear hijab by choice, for the past 40 years, women in Iran are fighting for the choice not to wear one. Read more
Hijab: An empowering choice in U.S., a symbol of oppression in Iran.
Women in the United States are wearing hijab proudly to identify with their Muslim faith. However, while women in America wear hijab by choice, for the past 40 years, women in Iran are fighting for the choice not to wear one. Read more
WTTW PBS CHICAGO TONIGHT - POLITICS:
Iran Mourns Soleimani and Vows Retaliation Against U.S.
Paul Caine | January 6, 2020 7:25 pm
Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets of Tehran on Monday as Iran mourned the loss of its top military leader killed in an American drone strike in Iraq on Friday. Gen. Qassem Soleimani is said to have been the mastermind behind the killing of hundreds of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Read more.
Iran Mourns Soleimani and Vows Retaliation Against U.S.
Paul Caine | January 6, 2020 7:25 pm
Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets of Tehran on Monday as Iran mourned the loss of its top military leader killed in an American drone strike in Iraq on Friday. Gen. Qassem Soleimani is said to have been the mastermind behind the killing of hundreds of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Read more.
JUF News (March 2020)
Book Review: From Miniskirt to Hijab by Jacqueline Saper
By Robert Nagler Miller, February 24, 2020
'Local Jewish author details childhood shattered by the ayatollah and his followers.'
Jacqueline Saper, born in 1961 in Iran, grew up during a golden age for Jews in that country. The Jewish community, about 100,000 strong at that time, prospered under the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who steered the nation on a Western course. Jews like Jacqueline's father, Rahmat Lavi, a meteorologist, metallurgist, and academic, were able to gain an education, wealth, and a foothold into society. Read more→
Book Review: From Miniskirt to Hijab by Jacqueline Saper
By Robert Nagler Miller, February 24, 2020
'Local Jewish author details childhood shattered by the ayatollah and his followers.'
Jacqueline Saper, born in 1961 in Iran, grew up during a golden age for Jews in that country. The Jewish community, about 100,000 strong at that time, prospered under the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who steered the nation on a Western course. Jews like Jacqueline's father, Rahmat Lavi, a meteorologist, metallurgist, and academic, were able to gain an education, wealth, and a foothold into society. Read more→
The Jerusalem Post Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, April 3, 2019
Don't Pass Over a Persian Passover
Persian Jews have lived in the Middle East for two-and-a-half millennia. As a result, they have adopted many of their countrymen’s customs and merged them with their own, rich, Jewish traditions. One of the best examples of this Persian-Jewish fusion is when Nowruz (the Iranian new year) and Passover intersect. Read more
Don't Pass Over a Persian Passover
Persian Jews have lived in the Middle East for two-and-a-half millennia. As a result, they have adopted many of their countrymen’s customs and merged them with their own, rich, Jewish traditions. One of the best examples of this Persian-Jewish fusion is when Nowruz (the Iranian new year) and Passover intersect. Read more
The Forward Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, May 7, 2018
Will El Al Ever Fly to Tehran Again?
In 2018, Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary of its independence. In 2019, Iran will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic. In 1897, at the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Theodor Hertzl predicted that a Jewish state would exist in fifty years. In 2018, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei continuously repeats that the Jewish state will cease to exist in twenty-five years. Read more
Will El Al Ever Fly to Tehran Again?
In 2018, Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary of its independence. In 2019, Iran will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic. In 1897, at the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Theodor Hertzl predicted that a Jewish state would exist in fifty years. In 2018, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei continuously repeats that the Jewish state will cease to exist in twenty-five years. Read more
Persian Heritage Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, Vol. 23, Summer 2018
This is Not Iran: This is Argentina
I recently escaped Chicago’s cold winter by traveling to sunny Buenos Aires. It was summer there, and the city was in full bloom. There was no shortage of places to see, things to do, and foods to try. Our tour agenda included visits to several notable landmarks and cultural attractions, such as the mausoleum of the beloved First Lady Eva Peron, a tango dance showcase, and wonderful places to enjoy the great local cuisine. Link to article in magazine. Link to the article in print.
This is Not Iran: This is Argentina
I recently escaped Chicago’s cold winter by traveling to sunny Buenos Aires. It was summer there, and the city was in full bloom. There was no shortage of places to see, things to do, and foods to try. Our tour agenda included visits to several notable landmarks and cultural attractions, such as the mausoleum of the beloved First Lady Eva Peron, a tango dance showcase, and wonderful places to enjoy the great local cuisine. Link to article in magazine. Link to the article in print.
Aish Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, March 17, 2019
Celebrating Purim in Iran
For me, the Purim story has a deep historical connection to my heritage and homeland where the story took place. During the Iranian monarchy in the 1960s and 1970s, the joyous holiday of Purim of my childhood was celebrated at the grand Yousefabad synagogue in Tehran with Persian sweets, such as halvah, the flour-based, rose water infused dessert. Some Persian Jews took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the city of Hamedan, located 200 miles west of Tehran and believed to be among the oldest Iranian cities, where the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai is located. Read more
Celebrating Purim in Iran
For me, the Purim story has a deep historical connection to my heritage and homeland where the story took place. During the Iranian monarchy in the 1960s and 1970s, the joyous holiday of Purim of my childhood was celebrated at the grand Yousefabad synagogue in Tehran with Persian sweets, such as halvah, the flour-based, rose water infused dessert. Some Persian Jews took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the city of Hamedan, located 200 miles west of Tehran and believed to be among the oldest Iranian cities, where the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai is located. Read more
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, May 8, 2019
The Resilience of the Jewish People
On Yom HaShoah, I lit a candle in remembrance of the innocent lives lost during the Holocaust. As the flame flickered in front of me, I also reflected on the resilience of the Jewish people despite genocide, exile and involuntary immigration. Read more
The Resilience of the Jewish People
On Yom HaShoah, I lit a candle in remembrance of the innocent lives lost during the Holocaust. As the flame flickered in front of me, I also reflected on the resilience of the Jewish people despite genocide, exile and involuntary immigration. Read more
Breitbart Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, April 11, 2018
Two Irans and One Holocaust
Seventy-three years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp by the Soviet Army, some still deny this darkest human tragedy. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “Supreme Leader” of Iran, has said that “the Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it happened, it’s ambiguous how it happened.” Read more
Two Irans and One Holocaust
Seventy-three years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp by the Soviet Army, some still deny this darkest human tragedy. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “Supreme Leader” of Iran, has said that “the Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it happened, it’s ambiguous how it happened.” Read more
South Florida Sun Sentinel Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, April 22, 2019
Sunscreen and Synagogue: Spring break in the Caribbean
It was Shabbat on Spring break, and I was in the Dutch-Antilles Island of Curacao. So, like many traveling Jews, I put on my sunscreen, adjusted my sandals, and started my search for the local Jewish community. My quest led me quite quickly to congregation Mikve Israel, the oldest temple in the Western hemisphere. Read more
Sunscreen and Synagogue: Spring break in the Caribbean
It was Shabbat on Spring break, and I was in the Dutch-Antilles Island of Curacao. So, like many traveling Jews, I put on my sunscreen, adjusted my sandals, and started my search for the local Jewish community. My quest led me quite quickly to congregation Mikve Israel, the oldest temple in the Western hemisphere. Read more
American Thinker Op-ed by Jacqueline Saper, April 12, 2018
The Most Offensive Holocaust-denier
On Wednesday, April 11, 2018, millions of people solemnly observed Yom Ha Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Day of the Inferno in Hebrew). Yet many people still deny the existence of this most terrible of tragedies. It is important to acknowledge that Holocaust denial is a cause embraced not just by fringe ideologues. Read more
The Most Offensive Holocaust-denier
On Wednesday, April 11, 2018, millions of people solemnly observed Yom Ha Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Day of the Inferno in Hebrew). Yet many people still deny the existence of this most terrible of tragedies. It is important to acknowledge that Holocaust denial is a cause embraced not just by fringe ideologues. Read more