Shofar Magazine

The founders of The Iranian-American Jewish Federation Of California believed it essential to start a publication for the Iranian Jewish community in order to open the lines of communication between people and keep them in touch with each other, as well as providing information about the activities of this and other Jewish organizations within the community. This was the idea behind the creation of Shofar magazine

Shofar was first published in 1982, under the creative direction and editing of Homa Sarshar, a well known and loved journalist inside and outside of Iran. The publication reached one of its peek periods under the expert editing and management of Sion Ebrahimi, well known within the community for his pointed editorials and thought provoking short stories. As nothing ever stays the same and change is part of survival, other changes in the management and editing of Shofar followed. Upon Ebrahimi’s retirement from Shofar, for a short period of time Dr. Ruben Melamed published the magazine and later Dr. Shokrollah Baravarian, one of the past presidents of IAJF’s Board of Directors, took over the task.

As of spring of 2007, Shofar has embraced a new season. Its new editor Mojgan Moghadam-Rahbar, a graduate of California State University of Northridge’s school of Journalism with great experience in the print media as well as radio and television, has captured the interest of the younger Iranian-Americans by creating a well written, informative and entertaining English section to the publication. Today Shofar is a quarterly publication with two separate English and Persian sections designed specifically for the readership of each section. Many energetic, young, writers have joined the publication with the goal of achieving what Shofar and its creators set out to do, keeping the community informed and encouraging healthy and constructive communication within the Iranian-American Jewish society. 

We hope that Shofar will be successful in re-inventing itself in the future, as it has done in the past, in order to keep up with the needs of the community and the people it hopes to serve.