Pictured Above: The Sabz family in Iran before the revolution.

Sean Sabz was born in Tehran, Iran in 1969. He lead what, to him, felt like a normal life in Iran as a child going to Hebrew school, playing outside, and goofing around with his three older brothers whenever he pleased. This lifestyle, however, only lasted up until he was 9 years old when things in his country took a turn for the worst.

The Muslim extremist group Hezbollah (God’s Party) began overtaking his once peaceful country. Their goal was clear and known by all: they were to remove Shah Pahlavi’s rule and put their choice of dictator in his place, Ayatollah Khomeini. The land became chaos. Guns were being handed out by the military to anyone fighting for this violent religious regime.

The Sabz children in school in Iran before the revolution.

Sean recalls hearing gunshots and extremists screaming, “Allahu Akbar” (meaning “Allah is greatest” often associated with radical terrorists), many nights outside his house. The protesters were consistent and dangerous. The Jewish people within Iran at the time knew they couldn’t stick around for this madness.

Ultimately the Shah announced he was ill with cancer and went to Egypt for treatment, basically leaving the state to fall into the hands of the religious terrorists and escaping with his life. That’s when Khomeini became the supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. These events are now known referred to by historians as the revolution.

The Sabz family in Iran before the revolution.

After the revolution, everything started to change drastically. Schools within the country including Jewish ones were closed for a little while to reconfigure. The new government fired the previous educators and replaced them with people from the Hezbollah movement. The once co-ed schools were separated by gender and of course no Jewish or Hebrew topics were to be taught ever again. Women and girls were to wear Hijabs in public as well, no matter their religion. All of these new laws were enforced with death threats leaving Iranians stripped of their freedoms.

Sean and his brother Alfred in Israel in 1985.

Sean’s parents had a lot to sort before trying to escape, but their son Afsheen, now known as Alfred, turned 17. This meant he had to flee immediately or he would be drafted into the radical army that turned on their former leader. With this flame beneath them, Sean’s parents devised a plan.

The Sabz's paid drug smugglers $1000 each for Sean and Alfred to escape the country. Their parents paid off the people that promised them safety for their two youngest sons and the boys were dropped off in Northern Iran. They were joined by two other Jewish teens fleeing the same fate, a boy and a girl. 

This trip was not an easy one to embark on, in fact it was very dangerous. Sean personally knew of someone who died on this very rout, with the same escape mission. The group was to walk to Turkey through the mountains, sleeping by day in caves and moving by night. The nights were so brutal and exhausting that by the time they were able to halt, sleeping in caves came easy and one could even mistake a rock for a pillow.

The Iranian Turkish border pictured today. Credit: AFP 2017/ BULENT KILIC

Kurdish people who were hidden in the mountains from the Hezbollah radicals they protested happily fed and helped Sean and his fellow travelers for a small fee. Sean quickly learned about the Kurdish people’s strange traditions on his travels. As long as your cup was upright, that meant you wanted more tea and when you flipped your cup upside down that meant you’ve had your fill. Sean recalls the mountain people feeding him Shakshuka with a thick layer of fat on top.

“Hiking up and around mountains took a lot of energy and for that we needed to load up on calories,” recalled Sean of his exhausting experience.

The smugglers were surprised by Sean and his brother’s demeanor. They had grown accustomed to smuggling scared and crying children but the Sabz’s were just the opposite, making jokes and playing around at times along the way. The ten day journey wasn’t by any means a smooth one. The group was being chased by the radical army of their own country throughout their journey.

“We would have to run at night,” said Sean as he recalled his chaotic experience, “at some points we were even riding on horses with people chasing after us and bullets flying, like an action movie!”

When they finally made it to the Iranian Turkish border, Sean and his group were interrogated separately by the Iranian border patrol. The smugglers prepared them for this and all their stories matched up perfectly. The story was that they were going on vacation to Turkey and had full intentions of returning to Iran. The group was granted passage and accepted into Turkey as refugees easily. This was because the UN was paying the Turkish government $1000 for each Iranian they helped.

Sean and Alfred stayed in Turkey for about two months with minimal contact with their parents. They were to wait for the paperwork to go through so that they could be transferred to Israel. Eventually they made it to Israel with tourist visas. The Sabz’s went to a dormitory Yeshiva called Hadasim for four years. After this they were to travel to the United States, New York specifically.

Sean after his escape out of Iran, living safely and freely in the United States of America.

Their older brother Danny, formally known as Amin, went to Brooklyn to study before the revolution, unbeknownst to him, he would never return to his beloved home town in Tehran. Sean’s oldest brother Affy, known now as Benny, went to France to study in a Yeshiva and also happened to be away during the revolution. He eventually joined his family in Brooklyn as well.

When Sean and Alfred landed in Brooklyn, NY they met their first new nephew Joey, Danny’s son who was born just 18 days before their arrival.

By this time their mother had also made Brooklyn her home, however her husband Yoseph was still stuck in Iran for fabricated charges his Muslim business partner made against him and reported to the government. He eventually escaped and joined his family in their new country.

Seans parents later moved to Great Neck, Long Island where many other Iranian (also known as Persian) families immigrated to. Sean split the remainder of his years up till now living in Los Angeles and Brooklyn. He recently went to Cuba to explore new business opportunities. He’s currently residing in Brooklyn, NY.

Sean enjoys his family and great nieces and nephew every day that goes by. He and his family make it a point to always exercise their freedoms and rights that were nearly taken from them long ago to this day.

Frieda Schweky

Frieda@sephardic.org

Frieda Schweky is Sephardic.Org's official community events reporter. For inquiries and to get involved with our site, please contact Frieda via email.