Stand for Freedom in Iran

Stand for Freedom in Iran

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.
This Packet is a Joint
We learned from our forefather Abraham that we have a requirement to stand up
Product of the Yeshiva
for what we believe. When God was contemplating destroying the city of Sodom for
University Center for the
its evil behavior, Abraham protested and argued with God. If Abraham was willing Jewish Future (CJF), the
to do that for an immoral society, how can we not stand up for innocent people who Center for Ethics at
are suffering around the world? Yeshiva University, and
Queen Esther of the Purim story was placed in a unique position of power to save the Jewish Community
Relations Council of New
her people (in Persia no less!) When she hesitated to act, Mordechai admonished
York (JCRC).
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
Yeshiva University
position.” We benefit from freedoms and comfortable lives in America, but perhaps
500 W. 185th St
we were placed in this position in order to speak out on behalf of others.
New York, NY 10033
“Lo ta’amod al dam rei’ekha -Don’t stand idly by the blood of your fellow.” Silence (212) 960-0041
has allowed atrocities to occur throughout the generations, and it is our obligation www.yu.edu
to stand up and say “Never Again.”
JCRC-NY
This packet would not have been possible without the contributions and help of 70 W. 36th St. Suite 700
Dr. Adrienne Asch, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Rabbi Daniel Feldman, Rabbi Josh New York, NY 10018
Flug, Hindy Poupko, Uri L’Tzedek and YUTorah.org. (212) 983-4800
www.jcrcny.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
ajsteinb@yu.edu

www.StandForFreedomInIran.org 1
 Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
A. Iran: A Brief Overview
A 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 Iranian Human
a few gestures toward compromise, the country's supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, harshly
Rights Abuses:
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 • Women face
worldwide rallying point. Hundreds of opponents were jailed, and the protests dwindled. The discrimination, and
election was certified by the country's Guardian Council and praised by Mr. Ahmadinejad as the women’s rights groups
"freest'' in the world. are repressed.

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 • Authorities restrict
access to the internet,
continued. Over the weekend the police and the Basiji militia moved more aggressively to break up
ban newspapers and
rallies, using guns, clubs, tear gas and water cannons. student journals, and
Details of the street clashes, the number of deaths and the number of political opponents were prosecute journalists
sketchy, as the regime cracked down on journalists and moved to block as much cell-phone, text- whose reporting they
deem critical.
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 • Government critics are
had been tortured, the first such acknowledgment by a senior Iranian official. A reformist cleric and arrested, often by plain-
presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, reported in a letter that several women and men arrested clothes officials. Some
amid violent demonstrations had been repeatedly raped and abused by their jailers at one detention are detained without
center. trial for long periods
and are reported to have
been tortured or
The Nuclear Issue otherwise ill-treated
and denied access to
The country's nuclear power program the major source of international tension, leading the United medical care, lawyers
Nations Security Council to impose sanctions after Iran ignored its order to halt the enrichment of and their families.
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 • Minorities are denied
generation or, eventually, for an atomic bomb. economic, social and
cultural equal rights.
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. • Sentences of flogging
Contradicting reports have been issued over the years stating that the Iranian government was at and judicial amputation
varying levels of preparedness to produce a nuclear bomb, although it is clear that Iran's intentions are imposed and carried
are to have full nuclear capability in the very near future. out.

Even so, American officials and international inspectors are concerned that Iran has made -Amnesty Int’l
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

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 Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
B. Jews and Non-Jews United

Yalkut Shimoni - Genesis 1:13 “Injustice anywhere is

‫ אדום זה הדם שחור אלו‬.‫התחיל לקבץ עפרו מד' פנות העולם אדום שחור לבן ירקרק‬ a threat to justice
‫ ולמה מד' פנות העולם שאם יבא מן המזרח למערב ויגיע קצו‬.‫הקרבים ירקרק זה הגוף‬ everywhere. We are
‫להפטר מן העולם שלא תאמר הארץ אין עפר גופך משלי חזור למקום שנבראת אלא כל‬
caught in an
.‫מקום שאדם הולך משם הוא גופו ולשם הוא חוזר‬
inescapable network of
God gathered the dust [of the first human] from the four corners of the world - red,
mutuality, tied in a
black, white and green. Red is the blood, black is the innards and green for the
single garment of
body. Why from the four corners of the world? So that if one comes from the East to
destiny. Whatever
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 affects one directly,
people walk, from there they were created and from there they will return. affects all indirectly.
Never again can we
afford to live with the
Maimonides Laws of Kings 10:12 narrow, provincial
‫ ולפרנס ענייהם‬,‫ ולקבור מתיהם עם מתי ישראל‬,‫אפילו העכו"ם צוו חכמים לבקר חוליהם‬ ‘outside agitator’ idea.”
‫ ונאמר‬,‫ הרי נאמר טוב ה' לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו‬,‫ מפני דרכי שלום‬,‫בכלל עניי ישראל‬
.‫דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום‬
-Dr. Martin Luther
Our sages commanded us to visit the non-Jewish sick along with the Jewish sick, to
King, Jr.
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

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R. Joseph
works” and Proverbs 3:17 states: “[The Torah’s] ways are pleasant ways and all its
Soloveitchik
paths are peace.” (The Rav)
explained that
the Talmudic and
Maimonidian statement
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference, p.30
mishum darkhei shalom
David Hume noted that our sense of empathy diminishes as we move outward from “for the ways of peace”
should be literally
the members of our family to our neighbors, our society and the world. translated as “for the
Traditionally, our sense of involvement with the fate of others has been in inverse sake of Shalom” 
proportion to the distance separating us and them. What has changed is that meaning as
Shalom is one  of  the
television and the Internet have effectively abolished distance. They have brought
names of God (Talmud
images of suffering in far-off lands into our immediate experience. Our sense of Shabbat 10b), our
compassion for the victims of poverty, war and famine, runs ahead of our capacity to helping humanity is a
act. Our moral sense is simultaneously activated and frustrated. We feel that form of imitatio dei
imitating God.
something should be done, but what, how, and by whom?
How does this approach
Rabbi Sir Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, and a renowned author/educator. of Rabbi Solovietchik
change our
understanding of  this

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

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 Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
C. Silence is Compliance
“The world is too
dangerous a place to
Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 54B
live not because of the
‫ נתפס על‬- ‫ באנשי עירו‬,‫ נתפס על אנשי ביתו‬- ‫כל מי שאפשר למחות לאנשי ביתו ולא מיחה‬ people who do evil, but
.‫ נתפס על כל העולם כולו‬- ‫ בכל העולם כולו‬,‫אנשי עירו‬
because of the people
Anyone who can protest the sins of their household and does not, is responsible for who sit by and let it
the people of their household. For the people of their city, they are responsible for happen.”
the people of their city. For the whole world, they are responsible for the whole
world.
-Albert Einstein

Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sotah 11A

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

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Rabbi Chiya the son of Abba said in the name of Rabbi Simai: Three men advised Is it fair to punish
[Pharaoh]: Bilam, Job and Yitro. Bilam, who counseled Pharaoh to kill Jewish someone for
babies, was punished. Job, who was silent on the matter, was punished with being passive?
suffering. Yitro, who ran in protest, earned for his descendants the right to sit at
honored seats in the Temple. Should the US enact
federal “Duty to
Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern Rescue” laws requiring
people to act on behalf
Silence is not merely tolerance. Staying silent is actively partnering with the
of others in need?
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 “The hottest places in
society, some are guilty, but all are responsible." Hell are reserved for
those who, in times of
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 great moral crisis,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, AL. maintain their
neutrality.”

-Dante

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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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 Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
D. Requirement to Act

Man of Faith in the Modern World: Reflections of the Rav p.75 Further Study:
How extreme is our
The Modern Jew is entangled in the activities of the Gentile society in numerous
obligation to act? Do we
ways - economically, politically culturally, and on some levels, socially. We share in
have an obligation to save
the universal experience. The problems of humanity, war and peace, political
another person’s life if it
stability or anarchy, morality or permissiveness, famine, epidemics, and pollution puts our own in danger?
transcend the boundaries of ethnic groups... It is our duty as human beings to Log onto YUTorah.org for
contribute our energies and creativity to alleviate the pressing needs and anguish of an article exploring the
mankind, and to contribute to its welfare. topic of Live Kidney
Rabbi Soloveitchik, known as “The Rav,” was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva University Rabbi Isaac Donation by R. Josh Flug:
Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and a seminal religious figure of the 20th century in http://www.yutorah.org/
Judaism. lectures/lecture.cfm/724592/
Rabbi_Josh_Flug/
Halachic_Perspectives_on_Li
Maimonides Laws of Courts 12:3 ve_Kidney_Donations
‫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

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For this reason, one human being was created alone in the world. In order to teach The Mishnah
us that a person who eliminates one human life from the world is considered to that Maimonides
have eliminated an entire world. A person who saves one human life is considered quoted for this
to have saved an entire world. law actually talks about
saving “a Jewish life.”
Responsa Sh’eilat Yaavetz 2:51, Rabbi Yaakov Emden

An important person (adam chashuv) has the obligation to rescue the oppressed What do you think
from the hands of the oppressor by all means available to them, whether by direct compelled Maimonides
action or through political effort, regardless of whether the oppressed is Jewish. So to change the text to be
Job praised himself saying “I have broken the teeth of evil,” and the Torah says of
more universal?
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. What was
Moshe’s standing
R. Ahron Soloveichik - Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind P.67
when he left
Moshe comes to a well where he witnesses another act of injustice. The local Egypt and arrived in
shepherds drive away the shepherd daughters of Yisro so that the shepherds can Midyan? Was he
water their flock first. Here Moshe encounters a dispute between Jews and non- royalty or a fugitive?
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
What does Moshe’s act
which is to defend a victim from an attacker... A Jew should always identify with the
of saving Yitro’s
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 daughters teach us
creed. about who is an “adam
Rabbi Soloveichik, the grandson of Reb Chaim Brisker, was a renowned Talmudic scholar of the 20th chashuv” and therefore
century who taught at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Hebrew Theological College and the Yeshiva obligated to act?
University Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

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Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
E. An Existential Threat?

Babylonian Talmud Tractate Eruvin 45A

‫ ואין‬,‫ אין יוצאין עליהם בכלי זיינן‬- ‫ נכרים שצרו על עיירות ישראל‬:‫אמר רב יהודה אמר רב‬
‫ כשבאו על‬- ‫ במה דברים אמורים‬.'‫ נכרים שצרו וכו‬:‫ תניא נמי הכי‬.‫מחללין עליהן את השבת‬
.‫ ומחללין עליהן את השבת‬,‫ יוצאין עליהן בכלי זיינן‬- ‫ אבל באו על עסקי נפשות‬.‫עסקי ממון‬ President Mahmoud
‫ יוצאין עליהן‬- ‫ אפילו לא באו על עסקי נפשות אלא על עסקי תבן וקש‬,‫ובעיר הסמוכה לספר‬
Ahmadinejad on
.‫ ומחללין עליהן את השבת‬,‫בכלי זיינן‬
Israel:
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
“"This terrorist and
what case was this said? When they came for financial reasons.
criminal state (Israel) is
But if their intention was to kill people, you may go against them with weapons and backed by foreign
violate Shabbat. But if they attacked a neighboring city, even if they are just seeking powers, but this regime
straw, you may go against them with weapons and violate Shabbat. would soon be swept
away by the
Palestinians."

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Why would the Jewish people need to take such detailed considerations
"I warn you to abandon
before defending themselves from attack?
the filthy Zionist entity,
which has reached the
What is so dangerous about the instability of a neighboring city that compelled the end of the line. It has
Rabbis to compare it to a warring nation set out to kill? lost its reason to be and
will sooner or later fall.
The ones who still
support the criminal
PM Binyamin Netanyahu, March 31, 2009 Zionists should know
that the occupiers' days
“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing
are numbered. …
Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.
Accept that the life of
Zionists will sooner or
“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the
later come to an end."
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. "Our nation has no
problem with other
“How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it. I think the Iranian nations, but as far the
economy is very weak, which makes Iran susceptible to sanctions that can be Zionist regime is
ratcheted up by a variety of means.” concerned, we do not
believe in an Israeli
government or an
Israeli nation.”

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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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Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
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 Progress is “an increase
be abused and oppressed... in our ability to see
We have good reason to be doubtful about the preventative impact of human right more and more
codes. Yet if human rights has not stopped the villains, it certainly has empowered differences among
bystanders and victims. Human rights instruments have given bystanders and people as morally
witnesses a stake in abuse and oppression both within and beyond their borders,
irrelevant.”
and this has called forth an advocacy revolution, the emergence of a network of
nongovernmental human rights organizations - Amnesty International and Human
-Richard Rorty
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 room

At the age of 18
One is always standing at the window.
Yehuda Amichai joined
Forced to see the injustice among the thorns,
the Jewish Brigade of
The fires on the hill.
the British army and
And people who left whole
Are brought home in the evening, like small change. fought against the
Germans in North
Out of three or four in a room Africa. After 1945 he
One is always standing at the window. took part in the four
Hair dark above his thoughts. Arab-Israeli wars. In
Behind him, the words.
1982 he received the
And in front of him, voices, wandering, without language.
Israel Prize for Poetry,
Hearts without provision, prophecies without water
and was nominated for
and big stones put there
And staying closed, like letters the Nobel Prize for
With no addresses, and no one to receive them. Literature several
times.

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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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Stand for Freedom in Iran
Stand for Freedom in Iran
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 - letters@nytimes.com

Los Angeles Times - letters@latimes.com
Washington Post - letters@washpost.com
Wall Street Journal - wsj.ltrs@wsj.com

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.

www.StandForFreedomInIran.org 8