The Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center, a Jewish charity

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, founded by Yaghoub Massaband (Dye Yaghoub), is the largest charity among the

religious minorities in Iran Religion in Iran has been shaped by multiple religions and sects over the course of the country's history. Zoroastrianism was the main followed religion during the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), and the Sa ...

. Over 50 years old, the hospital is under the leadership of

Siamak Moreh Sedgh Siyamak More Sedgh ( fa, سیامک مره‌صدق, Siyāmak More-Sedq; born 1965) are a Iranian Jews, Jewish Iranian politician and doctor who was the holder of the Iranian Parliament's Iranian Parliament religious minority reserved seats, res ...

. The

Tehran Jewish Committee The Tehran Jewish Committee, formally registered in 1934, is an umbrella group of Jewish organizations that work on behalf of the Persian Jews in Iran. History Tehran Jewish Committee started in 1270 A.H. from a group of Jewish leaders in Tehran ...

assist in the financial maintenance of the complex, which is owned by the

. In 2007, ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' reported that one cause for the recent co-existence between

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s in Tehran, "has been gratitude for the Dr. Sapir Hospital."

History

The hospital was first known as Kheirkhah clinic and was opened in 1942. First donors were mostly Jews from the Mulla Hanina Synagogue. Jewish physician Ruhollah Sapir was one of the first physicians of this clinic. Most patients at the time were Jews from

Oudlajan Oudlajan ( fa, عودلاجان) is a historic neighborhood in Tehran, Iran. The neighborhood is surrounded by Pamenar Street, Cyrus Street (Mostafa Khomeini), Cheragh Bargh (Amir Kabir) and BozarJomehr Street (15 Khordad). Oudlajan, in addition t ...

neighborhood who were bringing in their children for problems from the poor quality of water. Sapir himself died from

Typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

in 1943. Later the clinic turned into a hospital and was named Cyrus the great hospital. Additionally, many gentile Muslims started to be treated in the hospital as well. After the revolution the hospital was named in honor of Ruhollah Sapir to Sapir Hospital. Sapir hospital was instrumental in helping the wounded revolutionaries during the Iranian revolution of 1979. At the time most of the public hospitals would report the wounded revolutionaries to

SAVAK SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...

but Dr. Sapir's hospital was the only hospital that was treating them without informing the SAVAK agents. Dr. Sapir hospital's actions were so instrumental that

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

himself wrote a personal note thanking the hospital for its help after the revolution succeeded.

References

Hospitals in Iran Tehran Jewish Committee Jewish charities Jewish medical organizations Hospitals established in 1942 1942 establishments in Iran Buildings and structures in Tehran {{Iran-hospital-stub

History

See also

References