Marjan Yashayaie, a member of Tehran’s Jewish community, says Iranian rescuers honored her request to avoid using heavy machinery in order to protect sacred religious texts. Instead, they removed the rubble by hand—an effort that allowed the holy scrolls to be recovered intact and returned to the Jewish community.
Emergency Workers Accepted an Unusual Request
Yashayaie said she asked rescue teams not to use machinery during the debris removal because of the presence of sacred texts beneath the rubble. She explained that she did not expect the request to be accepted.9
“When I made this request, I didn’t think they would agree,” she said. “But they told me, ‘All right, we will remove the debris by hand,’ and that is exactly what they did.”
Rubble Removed Brick by Brick
According to Yashayaie, the responders carefully cleared the site manually, removing each brick by hand. Their patience and care made it possible for the sacred scrolls to be brought out undamaged.
The recovered scrolls were then handed over to Tehran’s Jewish community.
A Gesture of Religious Respect
Yashayaie described the operation as a meaningful act of respect for Jewish religious tradition and for the preservation of sacred texts.
She added that, in her view, the level of respect religious Jews experience in Iran is not something they enjoy in the occupied territories.