For Iranian-American Sami Rahamim, immigrating to Israel on Wednesday represents the closing of a circle that spans several generations.

“I’m the third generation in a row in my family to choose to become an immigrant,” Rahamim, 31, said ahead of his flight with 30 new immigrants that landed at Ben Gurion Airport Wednesday morning.

“I see myself as a continuation of the biblical story in which the Persian king Cyrus told the Jews to come back to Israel 2,500 years ago, especially at this moment when the State of Israel is fighting to liberate the people of Iran from their conquerors.”

A year after Israel’s founding in 1948, Rahamim’s grandparents Ezra and Sara left their relatively comfortable lives in Shiraz, Iran. At that time, Iran had friendly relations with Israel, but his grandparents wanted to rebuild their life in the Jewish state, Sami said.

But after the Yom Kippur war in 1973, Sami’s father, Reuven, moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and opened a successful business, making signs for the interior spaces of buildings. He became an influential figure within the city’s Jewish community, and was well-loved until gunmen broke into the business, Accent........

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