The Charlotte Jewish News - August 2009 - Page 25
Iranian Baha’is Suffer Discrimination in Their Home Country
By Karen Brodsky
We have just completed observ
ing the hohday of Tisha B’Av, a
sad day for the Jewish people.
Several events over the millennia
occurred on this day, including the:
* destruction of the First and
Second Temples in Jerusalem;
* beginning of the First
Crusade, when thousands of Jews
were murdered;
* expulsion of Jews from
England;
* eviction of Jews from Spain;
and
* deportations of Jews from the
Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.
These events reflect the myriad
times Jews have been persecuted,
exiled, and murdered throughout
history.
As part of its work of resettling
refugees in Charlotte, HIAS NC is
familiar with the travails of reli
gious and ethnic minorities from
many countries. One such group
the agency has resettled are
Iranians of the Baha’i faith.
According to the group’s website
they “believe that humanity is one
race, that men and women are
equal and that all religions and
prophets are derived from the same
source, God.”
Iran is the birth place of the
Baha’i religion. With 300,000
Baha’is in fran, it is the country’s
largest religious minority. In Iran,
repression of the Baha’i communi
ty is official government policy.
According to the faith’s official
website, the Iranian government
regards Baha’is as apostates and
“unprotected infidels.” Baha’is in
Iran have no legal rights, and they
are not permitted to elect leaders of
their community.
A recent survey by the U.S.
Commission on International
Religious Freedom documented
the repression of the group in Iran.
More than 200 Baha’i leaders have
been executed since 1979, and
more than 10,000 “have been dis
missed from government and uni
versity jobs” and have endured
“increasingly harsh freatment,” the
USCIRF report said.
The Iranian state-run broadcast
er Press TV reported that seven
Iranian followers of the minority
Baha’i faith are waiting to be fried
in Tehran for “espionage for Israel,
desecrating religious sanctities and
propaganda against the Islamic
Republic.” If convicted, the five
men and two women could be sen
tenced to death. The charges are
baseless.
One franian Baha’i family set
tled by HIAS NC agreed to be
interviewed only if their names
and photos would not be revealed
in this article. They hope in soli
darity with their seven imprisoned
brothers and sisters and are con
cerned for the safety of friends and
family in Iran.
In Iran, the family — father,
mother, daughter and son, like all
Baha’is — was not allowed to
work in corporations, industry, or
the government, only odd jobs.
They were denied licenses to oper
ate businesses. Children were not
allowed to attend university.
Considered “unclean,” Baha’is
were not allowed to work in the
food industry either, the father
says. They were prisoners in their
own country. No one of their faith
was allowed to practice, and, when
they did, they gathered in each oth
ers’ homes in secret. This recalls
our ancestors, who had to study in
secret because the Greeks decreed
that the teaching or studying of
Torah was a crime punishable by
death. The Jews studied, and when
Greek patrols were spotted, they
would pretend to be playing a drei-
del game.
In a famous story in 1983,
Mona, a 16-year-old held classes
for young children in her home.
When Islamists discovered her,
they imprisoned and tortured her
force her to recant her faith. She
would not, and was hanged.
The daughter interviewed car
ries a photo of this girl sheathed in
plastic. She is her heroine.
When they decided to leave, the
family applied for visitors’ visas to
Turkey, saying they were going to
visit friends. The father suspects
they were allowed to go because it
is “a relief’ for the Islamic govern
ment when they do. The family
sold everything they owned, trav
eled to Turkey, rented an apartment
and waited until their refrigee sta
tus was confirmed. All the while,
their frinds grew scarce. They did
n’t have enough money even to
return to Iran, the father says.
Finally, they were granted refugee
status, and HIAS brought them to
Charlotte.
Most, if not all, franian Baha’is
leave because there is no friture for
their children. In America, the
father says, “my daughter has total
freedom and endless opportunities.
No one here tells us we can’t prac
tice our faith. We have been freed
from the cage.”
Commemorating Tisha B’Av
reminds us that their stories are
eerily similar to Jewish stories and
the stories of religious minorities
around the world. HIAS is here for
them.
HIAS NC accepts cash dona
tions and donations of furniture
and household items. Volunteers
are welcome and always needed.
Please contact Ellen Dubin at 704-
535-8803 or ellen.dubin@hias.org
for more information. ^
Jewish Wall of Fame
■ u ^3
Jewish mill of iw
T
mm
m
■1
m
m
a
1
mm
gg
B m
The latest installation of the
Jewish Wall of Fame highlights
Jewish artists and is sponsored by
Barbara and Jerry Levin.
The six honorees are:
Yaacov Agam, Israeli-bom pio
neer of kinetic art movement
Anni Albers, pre-eminent tex
tile artist of the 20th century
Marc Chagall, Russian-bom
French painter specializing in
Jewish and biblical themes
Roy Lichtenstein, innovator in
the Pop Art movement
Louise Nevelson, Russian-bom
American creator of “assemblage”
sculptures
Camille Pisarro, bom in St.
Oasis Program Rescued by Levine Family
(Continued from front page)
Thomas, VI, patriarch of the
Impressionist movement
Additional exhibits of the
Jewish Wall of Fame are located in
the Gorelick Family Educational
Building and the Don and Bobbi
Bemstein Education Building.
The Jewish Wall of Fame’s mis
sion is to disseminate knowledge
of the many achievements of the
Jewish people and instill pride in
our Jewish heritage. To insure
future exhibits, you may address
your tax deductible donation to the
Foundation of Shalom Park, 5007
Providence Rd., Charlotte, NC
28226, with “JWF” in the memo
line. ^
legal assistance, insurance, nutri
tion, and many other issues impor
tant to older adults,” says Berman.
“The elderly population is
expected to double by the year
2030,” explains Linda Bass,
Senior Adult Program Director of
the LJCC. “The Oasis program
has tripled its participation in the
past three years. We need to con
tinue to provide quality resources
and programs for the growing
number of Jewish seniors in our
community.”
The Oasis program partners
with Jewish Family Services to
provide Caregiver Support to
baby-boomers and seniors who are
providing care for loved ones. The
educational presentations are
quarterly and the support group
meets monthly.
As a way of explaining the
enormous cuts, the United Way
points to unprecedented increases
in requests from critical need
agencies as the Charlotte commu
nity experienced this year’s eco
nomic downturn. Critical pro
grams, defined as those providing
basic services to sustain life, expe
rienced less significant cuts in
funding than the LJCC.
The additional funding must
now come from our community
members. Anyone interested in
donating funds to help maintain
the continuity of programming for
our senior population is encour
aged to call 704-366-5007 or send
donations to the LJCC OASIS
Program at 5007 Providence
Road, Charlotte, NC 28226.
Bass continues, “Oasis partici
pants rely on our program for their
connection to physical and mental
stimulation as well as easing the
adjustment to the challenges of the
aging process.”
As one regular Oasis partici
pant explains, “This program is
our lifeline. If we lose this than we
won’t be able to see our friends,
exercise our bodies and our minds
and get out of our homes. For us,
the Oasis program is a critical
need.” ^
Shop Shalom.com
Announcing a fantastic new way to shop online, and help
Shalom Park and its agencies at the same time. ShopShalom
Park.com is a web portal that will take you to over 800 major
online merchants, each of whom confribute back to the Park based
on a percentage of each sale. There is no cost to you, no joining
fee, no additional expense. Just use the merchants listed through
the main site at ShopShalomPark.com and you will help all the
Park agencies by doing so. You will find many of the merchants
you afready know and buy from, along with a “green” section for
additional savings for nature-based products that help the environ
ment. Don’t hesitate! Shop now!
ShopShalomPark.com
Jewish Family Services
litzvah Maker Cookers
Marcelle Oxman
Sandy Rosenberg
May
June
Jodi Valenstein
Donna Emerson
Lynne Cojac
July
Pafricia Fleishman-Gooder
Lynn Edelstein
Ann Abel
Katherine Goldstein
Iris Friedlander
Emily Chatham
Shirley Goodman
Deborah Goldstein
Sharon Katz
Linda Isser
Adrienne Gossett
Judi Lecker
Sharon Katz
Gail Green
Phil Levine
Audrey Madans
Susan Jacobs
Paula Musler
Carol Sandler
Florence Jaffa
Jill Newman
Stephanie Seitlin
Marilyn Lippman
Marsha Scheer
Faye Sinkoe
Elise Menaker
Nancy Tarbis
Janice Weiner
Mamie Moskowitz
Lynda White
Mitzvah Baskets
in honor of:
B’not mitzvah of Lydia Safir, Carly Coben,
Danielle Adler, Olivia Bear
B’nai mitzvah of Sam Ditesheim, Jacob
Greenblatt, Brandon Greenblatt, Jake
Goldberg