Morteza Moallem was born in the Oudlajan district of Tehran, Iran, in 1891 in a devoted Jewish family. He went to Alliance School for his elementary and high school studies. While teaching French in Alliance school for four years, he was also employed as a clerk by the French embassy for two years due to his knowledge of the French language. He also taught in San Luis School and the Tehran American School. He began teaching French at an all-Girls school from 1928.
Morteza Moallem was interested in medicine. He studied in the School of Medicine (known then as Dar al-Funoon). He was soon recognized for his gift in medicine and his unique ability to diagnose illnesses. Morteza Moallem obtained his medical degree when he was 28 and was awarded the Royal Decree of “Royal Physician” from Ahmad Shah Qajar. This would be the first time a member of the Semite community, who were a minority, received such an accolade. It became a source of community pride. Dr. Morteza Moallem established his medical office in Reza-Qoli Khan Tekyeh in Sirous Street, where he examined his patients. He was employed by the Ministry of Health after a few years and became the head of the military clinic of the Eastern border, known as Astane Quds, and the Western border, which included Qasr-e Shirin and Kermanshah. When he was relocated to Tehran while working for the Ministry of Health, he opened his private office in Sirous Street.
For more than four decades, Dr. Morteza Moallem stayed in his private office late into the night to examine the surge of patients who had come to consult him. He was a committed and significant member of the Kheyrkhah Foundation and the administrator of Dr. Sapir hospital. Dr. Moallem served in Bu Ali Hospital for the Disabled and other clinics around the country as well. His research resulted in a novel method for preventing Leishmaniasis. He inoculated healthy people with the mucus obtained from patients with Leishmaniasis. This was especially practiced in developing or poorly developed regions, where Leishmaniasis was prevalent.
Morteza Moallem began his social activities at Bet Safer (i.e. Committee of Jewish school), also known as Hebra (mo). He became an active member of the Tehran Jewish Committee, where he served as a consultant. He was keen on promoting hygiene and eliminating poverty in the [Jewish] community. He was, therefore, promoted to the community Arbitration Committee and appointed as administrator of Sapir Hospital (also known as Kurosh Kabir i.e. Cyrus the Great) and the Kheyrkhah Foundation.
Dr. Morteza Moallem married Hakimeh Moallem in 1925. His wife had a diploma in midwifery and was also an active member of the community. They had two children, Dr. Shaker Moallem and Dr. Hamid Moallem, both of whom are specialized physicians and, like their father, active and significant members of the community.
Dr. Moallem was admitted into the founding committee of Kurosh School when it was to be established in 1932. He participated in the first meeting of the committee, next to Haj Samuel Hai, Habib Levi, Eshagh Hakim, and Dr. Enayat Montakhab. He was a tireless member there and contributed greatly to the development of the Kurosh Cultural Complex.
Dr. Morteza Moallem was an honorable, self-possessed, respectful, and organized person. He was an astute physician and fluent in French. He began translating French sources from his youth, which was both a source of income and a tool for expanding his knowledge and understanding of the French literature. He translated the lessons of the School of Medicine and would continuously consult French linguists for Persian equivalents to French words.
Although Dr. Moallem was extremely occupied with his medical practice, yet he maintained an active role in various social areas and managed to publish a Persian-French dictionary. His incentive was the lack of any reliable and comprehensive source. He used notes to collect vocabularies, because it enabled him to update, upgrade, correct, and add or remove his entries. When he retired from his job at the Ministry of Health in 1955, he found new time to invest in his social activities and completing his dictionary. He was occupied for more than sixteen hours a day. He even did the typography of his book himself, which was a heavy responsibility to accept.
The Persian-French dictionary was eventually published in two large volumes in 1970 by Amir Kabir publications with a recommendation from Mohammad Moien, who was a prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranian Studies. However, according to Dr. Moallem, the fee that he was paid was a [meagre] 12 volumes of his own book, which had taken years and much effort to complete. The book was soon praised by the Jewish Society and by government authorities.
During his elderly age, he decided to prepare a comprehensive Persian-French dictionary, for which he worked day and night. He had filled an entire room with notes categorized in boxes. This was a relatively valuable collection. He was in a rush to publish his new book, but death did not lend him the time. Although the book was ready, the publication failed.
Other works of Dr. Moallem include, “Persian idioms translated to French” and “Persian proverbs translated to French”. Dr. Moallem’s dictionary was printed for the second time in 1983. To this day, Dr. Moretza Moallem’s Persian-French dictionary remains one of the most comprehensive dictionaries accessible to Farsi speakers. Most orientalists and Persian language specialists around the world have accredited the book and it is used extensively by Iranian students and translators.
Dr. Morteza Moallem passed away in 1980, aged 89, having fulfilled his life as a savant, a writer, and a person who honorably served the people.
Founding committee of Kurosh School, January 1936. Sitting from the right side: Haj Shemoel Hai, Dr. Morteza Moallem, Dr. Montakhab (chairman of the Kurosh Committee), Eshagh Hakim, and Haj Meeir Halimi.
Standing from the right side: Eshagh Matloob (school headmaster), Davoud Moradpour, Eshagh Berokhim, Afar and Naser Akhtarzad (secretaries of the committee)
A picture of Dr. Morteza Moallem with physicians of Sapir Hospital (which belonged to the Kheyrkhah Foundation) on the opening ceremony of the maternity ward, 18th December 1953, Tehran, Iran.
Arbitration Committee of the Tehran Jewish Committee, Tehran, 1971. From the left side: Ebrahim Shofet, Abdollah Zargarian, Jamshid Bekhrad, Eliãs Ghodsian, Ebrahim Eshaghpour, Dr. Morteza Moallem, Abdollah Nassi, Masoud Harunian, Ataollah Yomtoob, Haghnazar Farahnik.