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Meaningful People

Escaping Iran: A Jewish Family's Story of Survival

Meaningful People

Meaningful Minute

Education, Judaism, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement

4.82K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I remember a few months before the revolution,

0:02.4

you had people getting on top of our roof yelling Allah Akbar.

0:05.5

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, it 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 12-day war, the internet, it was very

0:23.1

dangerous because if you contacted anyone, scene where they're trying to head out or the airport. That's how I felt as a kid. Ever since the

0:20.9

12-day war, the internet, it was very dangerous because if you contacted anyone, they could be 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 1979. I was thinking what my life would have been like if I would have stayed there versus being able to leave.

0:39.0

I mean, it's just night and day.

0:40.9

And where are all the people for leaving Iran in 1979. I was thinking what my life would have been like if I would have stayed there versus being able to leave.

0:39.0

I mean, it's just night and day.

0:40.8

And where are all the people that are complaining about innocent Muslims being killed?

0:44.2

And so to me, that's the hypocrisy of it all.

0:46.7

Okay, so you need to meet this guy, Sammy.

0:49.6

Right? Sammy grew up in Iran in 1973.

0:53.2

Things were pretty okay until they weren't. Things got

0:56.6

pretty bad pretty quickly. And his family decided, we cannot stay here anymore. And they escaped.

1:03.5

The way Sammy describes the escape was not the average you going on a Delta flight, kicking

1:08.0

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 Sammy's last name of this episode because he still has relatives there. And 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 on Iran, what it was like for him

1:31.8

growing up under the Shah's leadership and then how things change really, really quickly.

1:37.4

Did you know that there are still 25,000 Jews in Iran? Why are they still there? Well, Sammy and I

1:43.2

speak about that. We speak about the last

1:45.2

conversation he had with his relatives there, which he doesn't know what's going on at this point.

1:51.1

And another storyline comes to play. Sammy, besides for becoming religious and having an

1:55.8

amazing story, how he met his wife and how he became from. Sammy went from coming to this country as an

...

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