Human Rights in Iran Education Packet 2009

Human Rights in Iran

Educational Packet

Dear Reader:

We have compiled this educational packet in anticipation of the upcoming Stand for Freedom in Iran Rally to take place in New York City on September 24, 2009.

We learned from our forefather Abraham that we have a requirement to stand up for what we believe. When God was contemplating destroying the city of Sodom for its evil behavior, Abraham protested and argued with God. If Abraham was willing to do that for an immoral society, how can we not stand up for innocent people who are suffering around the world?

Queen Esther of the Purim story was placed in a unique position of power to save her people (in Persia no less!) When she hesitated to act, Mordechai admonished her: “If you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews another way... but who knows if this was the reason you attained your royal position.” We benefit from freedoms and comfortable lives in America, but perhaps we were placed in this position in order to speak out on behalf of others.

“Lo ta’amod al dam rei’ekha -Don’t stand idly by the blood of your fellow.” Silence has allowed atrocities to occur throughout the generations, and it is our obligation to stand up and say “Never Again.”

This packet would not have been possible without the contributions and help of Dr. Adrienne Asch, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Rabbi Daniel Feldman, Rabbi Josh Flug, Hindy Poupko, Uri L’Tzedek and YUTorah.org.

Explore the sources below, appreciate the rich history of Social Action in Jewish texts, and take part in our obligation to act on the world stage.

Aaron Steinberg Director of the Eimatai Leadership Development Project Center for the Jewish Future, Yeshiva University [email protected]

Stand for Freedom in Iran

www.StandForFreedomInIran.org 1


This Packet is a Joint Product of the Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC).

Yeshiva University500 W. 185th StNew York, NY 10033(212) 960-0041www.yu.edu

JCRC-NY70 W. 36th St. Suite 700New York, NY 10018(212) 983-4800www.jcrcny.org

http://www.StandForFreedomInIran.org


http://www.yu.edu/cjf

http://www.yu.edu/cjf

http://www.jcrcny.org

http://www.jcrcny.org

A. Iran: A Brief OverviewA Contested Election

On June 12, 2009, after an unusually bitter campaign, voters went to the polls to choose a new president. Shortly after the last of some 40 million paper ballots was cast, the authorities announced that Mr. Ahmadinejad had been re-elected in a landslide. The announcement of his victory -- in which it was said that he had received more than 60 percent of the vote -- prompted mass protests by demonstrators who claimed that he had stolen the election. Mr. Admadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former prime minister, called on supporters and fellow clerics to fight the election results.

Protesters poured into the streets for the largest demonstration since the fall of the Shah. But after a few gestures toward compromise, the country's supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, harshly denounced the demonstrations and turned loose the police, the Revolutionary Guards and the religious militia, the Basij. Days of street battles followed, in which at least 17 people were killed, including a young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, whose death was captured on video and became a worldwide rallying point. Hundreds of opponents were jailed, and the protests dwindled. The election was certified by the country's Guardian Council and praised by Mr. Ahmadinejad as the "freest'' in the world.

On Friday, June 19, after a week of large protests and skirmishes between demonstrators and security forces, Ayatollah Khamanei gave an angry sermon in which he warned of violence if dissent continued. Over the weekend the police and the Basiji militia moved more aggressively to break up rallies, using guns, clubs, tear gas and water cannons.

Details of the street clashes, the number of deaths and the number of political opponents were sketchy, as the regime cracked down on journalists and moved to block as much cell-phone, text-messaging and Internet traffic as possible, though word filtered out, often through posts on Twitter.

A top judiciary official later acknowledged that some detainees arrested after post-election protests had been tortured, the first such acknowledgment by a senior Iranian official. A reformist cleric and presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, reported in a letter that several women and men arrested amid violent demonstrations had been repeatedly raped and abused by their jailers at one detention center.

The Nuclear Issue

The country's nuclear power program the major source of international tension, leading the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions after Iran ignored its order to halt the enrichment of uranium. In May 2007 international inspectors reported that the country's scientists had mastered the process of enrichment, in which uranium is concentrated to the levels needed for power generation or, eventually, for an atomic bomb.

Late that year, American intelligence agencies issued a new National Intelligence Estimate that concluded that the weapons portion of the Iranian nuclear program remained on hold. Contradicting reports have been issued over the years stating that the Iranian government was at varying levels of preparedness to produce a nuclear bomb, although it is clear that Iran's intentions are to have full nuclear capability in the very near future.

Even so, American officials and international inspectors are concerned that Iran has made significant progress in the three technologies necessary to field an effective nuclear weapon: enriching uranium to weapons grade; developing a missile capable of reaching Israel and parts of Western Europe; and designing a warhead that will fit on the missile.

Source: Compiled from New York Times




Iranian HumanRights Abuses:

• Women face discrimination, and women’s rights groups are repressed.

• Authorities restrict access to the internet, ban newspapers and student journals, and prosecute journalists whose reporting they deem critical.

• Government critics are arrested, often by plain-clothes officials. Some are detained without trial for long periods and are reported to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated and denied access to medical care, lawyers and their families.

• Minorities are denied economic, social and cultural equal rights.

• Sentences of flogging and judicial amputation are imposed and carried out.

-Amnesty Int’l



B. Jews and Non-Jews United

Yalkut Shimoni - Genesis 1:13

התחיל לקבץ עפרו מד' פנות העולם אדום שחור לבן ירקרק. אדום זה הדם שחור אלו הקרבים ירקרק זה הגוף. ולמה מד' פנות העולם שאם יבא מן המזרח למערב ויגיע קצו להפטר מן העולם שלא תאמר הארץ אין עפר גופך משלי חזור למקום שנבראת אלא כל

מקום שאדם הולך משם הוא גופו ולשם הוא חוזר.

God gathered the dust [of the first human] from the four corners of the world - red, black, white and green. Red is the blood, black is the innards and green for the body. Why from the four corners of the world? So that if one comes from the East to the West and is about to die, it will not be said “this land is not the dust of your body, it’s of mine. Go back to where you were created.” Rather, every place that people walk, from there they were created and from there they will return.

Maimonides Laws of Kings 10:12

אפילו העכו"ם צוו חכמים לבקר חוליהם, ולקבור מתיהם עם מתי ישראל, ולפרנס ענייהם בכלל עניי ישראל, מפני דרכי שלום, הרי נאמר טוב ה' לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו, ונאמר

דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום.

Our sages commanded us to visit the non-Jewish sick along with the Jewish sick, to bury the non-Jewish dead as fervently as they bury the Jewish dead, and support the non-Jewish poor along with the Jewish poor for the ways of peace. Behold, Psalms 145:9 states: “God is good to all and God’s mercies extend over all God’s works” and Proverbs 3:17 states: “[The Torah’s] ways are pleasant ways and all its paths are peace.”

Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference, p.30

David Hume noted that our sense of empathy diminishes as we move outward from the members of our family to our neighbors, our society and the world. Traditionally, our sense of involvement with the fate of others has been in inverse proportion to the distance separating us and them. What has changed is that television and the Internet have effectively abolished distance. They have brought images of suffering in far-off lands into our immediate experience. Our sense of compassion for the victims of poverty, war and famine, runs ahead of our capacity to act. Our moral sense is simultaneously activated and frustrated. We feel that something should be done, but what, how, and by whom?

Rabbi Sir Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, and a renowned author/educator.




“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

R. Joseph Soloveitchik (The Rav) explained that

the Talmudic and Maimonidian statement mishum darkhei shalom “for the ways of peace” should be literally translated as “for the sake of Shalom” meaning as Shalom is one of the names of God (Talmud Shabbat 10b), our helping humanity is a form of imitatio dei imitating God.

How does this approach of Rabbi Solovietchik change our understanding of this responsibility to aid Gentiles?

Rabbi Sacks writes that technology connects us to people suffering around the world. What practical impact does such connectedness have on our lives?

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C. Silence is Compliance

Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 54B

כל מי שאפשר למחות לאנשי ביתו ולא מיחה - נתפס על אנשי ביתו, באנשי עירו - נתפס על אנשי עירו, בכל העולם כולו - נתפס על כל העולם כולו.

Anyone who can protest the sins of their household and does not, is responsible for the people of their household. For the people of their city, they are responsible for the people of their city. For the whole world, they are responsible for the whole world.

Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sotah 11A

א"ר חייא בר אבא א"ר סימאי, שלשה היו באותה עצה: בלעם, ואיוב, ויתרו, בלעם שיעץ - נהרג, איוב ששתק - נידון ביסורין, יתרו שברח - זכו מבני בניו שישבו בלשכת הגזית.

Rabbi Chiya the son of Abba said in the name of Rabbi Simai: Three men advised [Pharaoh]: Bilam, Job and Yitro. Bilam, who counseled Pharaoh to kill Jewish babies, was punished. Job, who was silent on the matter, was punished with suffering. Yitro, who ran in protest, earned for his descendants the right to sit at honored seats in the Temple.

Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern

Silence is not merely tolerance. Staying silent is actively partnering with the destroyers... passive behavior, to let something die without a eulogy, or to not raise a voice in opposition, is on the level of spilling blood. Cited from She’erit Yitzchak page 126d.

Rabbi Morgenstern was the 4th in a line of chassidic masters called the Kotzker Rebbe.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference. In a free

society, some are guilty, but all are responsible."

Rabbi Heschel was one of the leading activist Rabbis of the 20th century, pioneered the American-Jewish concern for Social Action, was very involved in speaking out for civil rights, and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, AL.




“The world is too dangerous a place to live not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit by and let it happen.”

-Albert Einstein

Is it fair to punish someone for being passive?

Should the US enact federal “Duty to Rescue” laws requiring people to act on behalf of others in need?

Can you think of an instance in your life when silence gave people the false impression that you agreed with them? What could you have done differently? Why does Judaism condemn silence, and consider inaction a sin and a form of injustice?

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“The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

-Dante



D. Requirement to Act

Man of Faith in the Modern World: Reflections of the Rav p.75

The Modern Jew is entangled in the activities of the Gentile society in numerous ways - economically, politically culturally, and on some levels, socially. We share in the universal experience. The problems of humanity, war and peace, political stability or anarchy, morality or permissiveness, famine, epidemics, and pollution transcend the boundaries of ethnic groups... It is our duty as human beings to contribute our energies and creativity to alleviate the pressing needs and anguish of mankind, and to contribute to its welfare.

Rabbi Soloveitchik, known as “The Rav,” was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva University Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and a seminal religious figure of the 20th century in Judaism.

Maimonides Laws of Courts 12:3

לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי בעולם ללמד שכל המאבד נפש אחת מן העולם מעלין עליו כאילו איבד עולם מלא וכל המקיים נפש אחת בעולם מעלין עליו כאילו קיים עולם מלא.

For this reason, one human being was created alone in the world. In order to teach us that a person who eliminates one human life from the world is considered to have eliminated an entire world. A person who saves one human life is considered to have saved an entire world.

Responsa Sh’eilat Yaavetz 2:51, Rabbi Yaakov Emden

An important person (adam chashuv) has the obligation to rescue the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor by all means available to them, whether by direct action or through political effort, regardless of whether the oppressed is Jewish. So Job praised himself saying “I have broken the teeth of evil,” and the Torah says of Moshe that “he arose and championed them,” referring to the daughters of Yitro, a non-Jewish priest.

Rabbi Yaakov Emden was a noted Talmudist who lived in the 18th century, and is best known for his opposition to the Sabbatian Messianic movement.

R. Ahron Soloveichik - Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind P.67

Moshe comes to a well where he witnesses another act of injustice. The local shepherds drive away the shepherd daughters of Yisro so that the shepherds can water their flock first. Here Moshe encounters a dispute between Jews and non-Jews, a matter seemingly so unimportant to him that we might have understood had he stood idly by... [but] Moshe was bent upon emulating the ways of God, one of which is to defend a victim from an attacker... A Jew should always identify with the cause of defending the aggrieved, whosoever the aggrieved may be, just as the concept of tzedek is to be applied uniformly to all humans regardless of race or creed.

Rabbi Soloveichik, the grandson of Reb Chaim Brisker, was a renowned Talmudic scholar of the 20th century who taught at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Hebrew Theological College and the Yeshiva University Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).




The Mishnah that Maimonides quoted for this

law actually talks about saving “a Jewish life.”

What do you think compelled Maimonides to change the text to be more universal?

What was Moshe’s standing when he left

Egypt and arrived in Midyan? Was he royalty or a fugitive?

What does Moshe’s act of saving Yitro’s daughters teach us about who is an “adam chashuv” and therefore obligated to act?

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Further Study: How extreme is our

obligation to act? Do we have an obligation to save another person’s life if it puts our own in danger? Log onto YUTorah.org for an article exploring the topic of Live Kidney Donation by R. Josh Flug: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/724592/Rabbi_Josh_Flug/Halachic_Perspectives_on_Live_Kidney_Donations



http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/724592/Rabbi_Josh_Flug/Halachic_Perspectives_on_Live_Kidney_Donations










E. An Existential Threat?

Babylonian Talmud Tractate Eruvin 45A

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: נכרים שצרו על עיירות ישראל - אין יוצאין עליהם בכלי זיינן, ואין מחללין עליהן את השבת. תניא נמי הכי: נכרים שצרו וכו'. במה דברים אמורים - כשבאו על עסקי ממון. אבל באו על עסקי נפשות - יוצאין עליהן בכלי זיינן, ומחללין עליהן את השבת.

ובעיר הסמוכה לספר, אפילו לא באו על עסקי נפשות אלא על עסקי תבן וקש - יוצאין עליהן בכלי זיינן, ומחללין עליהן את השבת.

Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rav: If gentiles besieged an Israelite city - you may not go against them with weapons or violate Shabbat because of them... In what case was this said? When they came for financial reasons.

But if their intention was to kill people, you may go against them with weapons and violate Shabbat. But if they attacked a neighboring city, even if they are just seeking straw, you may go against them with weapons and violate Shabbat.

PM Binyamin Netanyahu, March 31, 2009

“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.

“How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it. I think the Iranian economy is very weak, which makes Iran susceptible to sanctions that can be ratcheted up by a variety of means.”




President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Israel:

“"This terrorist and criminal state (Israel) is backed by foreign powers, but this regime would soon be swept away by the Palestinians."

"I warn you to abandon the filthy Zionist entity, which has reached the end of the line. It has lost its reason to be and will sooner or later fall. The ones who still support the criminal Zionists should know that the occupiers' days are numbered. … Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end."

"Our nation has no problem with other nations, but as far the Zionist regime is concerned, we do not believe in an Israeli government or an Israeli nation.”

Why would the Jewish people need to take such detailed considerations before defending themselves from attack?

What is so dangerous about the instability of a neighboring city that compelled the Rabbis to compare it to a warring nation set out to kill?

Do you think a nuclear Iran would pose an Existential Threat to Israel?What, if anything, should Israel do about Iran?What are Israel’s options?

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F. Taking Action for Human Rights

Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights as Politics P.288,291

We know from historical experience that when human beings have defensible rights - when their agency as individuals is protected and enhanced - they are less likely to be abused and oppressed...

We have good reason to be doubtful about the preventative impact of human right codes. Yet if human rights has not stopped the villains, it certainly has empowered bystanders and victims. Human rights instruments have given bystanders and witnesses a stake in abuse and oppression both within and beyond their borders, and this has called forth an advocacy revolution, the emergence of a network of nongovernmental human rights organizations - Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch being only the most famous - to pressure states to practice what they preach. Because of this advocacy revolution, victims have gained historically unprecedented power to make their case known to the world.

Out of Three or Four in a Room

By Yehuda Amichai (translated by Assia Gutmann)

Out of three or four in a roomOne is always standing at the window.Forced to see the injustice among the thorns,The fires on the hill.And people who left wholeAre brought home in the evening, like small change.

Out of three or four in a roomOne is always standing at the window.Hair dark above his thoughts.Behind him, the words.And in front of him, voices, wandering, without language.Hearts without provision, prophecies without waterand big stones put thereAnd staying closed, like lettersWith no addresses, and no one to receive them.




Progress is “an increase in our ability to see more and more differences among people as morally irrelevant.”

-Richard Rorty

At the age of 18 Yehuda Amichai joined the Jewish Brigade of the British army and fought against the Germans in North Africa. After 1945 he took part in the four Arab-Israeli wars. In 1982 he received the Israel Prize for Poetry, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature several times.

Who are the “four in a room?” Who is the one at the window?What is happening outside the window?What is the impact of what’s outside the window on those inside?

What the response of those inside to what is happening outside?

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G. Time to Get Started!

Here are some simple steps for you to get involved in advocating about Iran:

1. Attend the Stand for Freedom in Iran Rally.

Thursday, September 24, 2009 - 12:00 Noon Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th and 2nd Avenue) New York, NY

www.StandForFreedomInIran.org

2. Contact your Elected officials to tell them what you think about Iran.

Find contact information for the President, Vice President, your Congressman, Senators, and State Governors: www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

3. Write a Letter to the Editor to your local Newspaper.

• Write clearly; stay short and to the point. • Make reference to a previous related article published in the paper. • Remember that no newspaper is too small. Try the local weekly paper.

New York Times - [email protected] Los Angeles Times - [email protected] Washington Post - [email protected] Wall Street Journal - [email protected]

4. Share your thoughts about Iran on Social Networking sites.

• Post messages on your Facebook page. • Tweet about Human Rights on Twitter. Iranian Protesters used Twitter to get the word

out when the Iranian government blocked the newspapers. • Search for blogs about these issues, and comment on them

5. Share this educational packet with a friend

Sometimes the most important thing you can do is spread awareness. Sit down with

friends and family to talk about some of the issues related to Iran. If it helps, use this educational packet as a basis for helping people become more informed.






http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

mailto:[email protected]










Human Rights in Iran Education Packet 2009

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