When the Iranian revolution started in 1979, many Iranian Jews fled Iran and migrated to Los Angeles, California. Life in Los Angeles was different to life in Iran. However, Iranian Jews were interested in preserving their culture, and keeping their traditions alive even though America was now their home. At first, keeping their customs and traditions was very difficult, but organizations like Nessah Synagogue and Educational Center stepped in and made it possible.

Nessah was founded by Rabbi David Shofet in 1980. The first service was held in Beth Jacob. During the first service only nine men were present, so they had to borrow one person from Beth Jacob’s congregation. In the beginning, very few people knew about Nessah, so very few people attended. However, this quickly changed and word got around about Nessah. As a result, more people started attending Nessah’s events. People found Nessah to be a place where they could keep their customs and traditions, and pass them down to their kids. In effect, the Iranian Jewish culture would not die out because eventually their kids could pass down the traditions to their own kids one day.

Nessah went through several location changes and landed in Santa Monica. After some time, Nessah’s Santa Monica location became too small for the number of people who were interested in attending events. Nessah wanted to expand, but it could not do so at a small location. As a result, Nessah decided to move from its Santa Monica location to Beverly Hills, its current location. Many of the congregation already resided in Beverly Hills, so its relocation was not difficult. In Beverly Hills, its location was much larger, and this allowed Nessah to expand and reach out to more people.

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