ABSTRACT
In his article on the construction of the "Self" by Qajar thinkers, Juan Cole places the onset of the construction of "Iranian nation" in the mid-nineteenth century. This chapter seeks to explore the path that Jewish intellectuals in Iran paved in forming their Iranian national identity in twentieth-century Iran. Proving Jewish affinity toward Iran via Jewish tradition was also an objective of the Jewish newspaper Hahayyim (Life), which was published between 1922 and 1926. Heshmatollah Kermanshahchi, a Jewish community leader, described an identity crisis that young educated Jews endured during 1940s. Kermanshahchi claimed that at a time when Jewish youth were celebrating their freedom, leaving the Jewish mahalleh and, with high hopes, trying to engage with the Iranian majority, they were faced with a bitter reality that turned their dreams into a cold, empty mirage. Thus, the Jews became among the most loyal advocates of the Iranian national narrative as it was shaped by the Pahlavi regime.
