Quantcast


Advertisement

Bloggish

Email | Print | Text - Text +

June 20, 2009 | 8:17 pm

Wolpe Calls Iranian Protest, “A Vision of Freedom”

Posted by Rob Eshman

The rabbi to one of the largest Iranian Jewish congregations in the world spoke directly to some 1200 congregants on Saturday morning from the pulpit, saying the events unfolding in Iran echo the Biblical promise of freedom.

“The people marching on the streets of Iran have seen a vision of freedom,” said David Wolpe from the pulpit of Sinai Temple at Sabbath morningservices
Sinai is home to hundreds of Ianian Jewish families.  Most arrived in Los Angeles following the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago, and settled in the West Los Angeles neighborhoods around Sinai.

On Saturday morning, it was a largely Persian Jewish crowd that filled the pews.

“We all know that 50 percnt, 70 percent of Iran’s population is under 30 years old,” said Wolpe. “They do not know what it’s like to be free.  But they have heard.  They have seen. They have the vision of freedom, and that’s why they are marching.”

Wolpe echoed the beliefs of many of his congregants when he cautioned against over-optimism, even if the protesters get their way. Most Iranian Jews maintain that Iran will likely still remain a theocracy at odds with the United States and Israel no matter who is in power. 

But still, the rabbi said, the protests are hopeful sign that freedom is stirring and that Israel’s example of democracy in the Middle East may spread elsewhere.

Wolpe is a Conservative rabbi and author who was named as the top rabbi in America in a Newsweek magazine-published tory.

Two months ago, Wolpe and his congregation hosted New York Times columnist Roger Cohen after Cohen published a series of columns from Iran that Wolpe’s Iranian-bon congregants underestimated the cruelty and rigidity of the current regime. An outpouring of letters prompted Cohen to appear before the congregation to defend his views in a vigorous debate (click here for a video of the confrontation).

During the current post-election unrest, Cohen, reporting from Iran, has admitted his columns promoting the idea of a more democratic Iran were mistaken.

For more on Rabbi David Wolpe, click here.

3 Comments — Leave your comment

Share this post: del.icio.us Favicondel.icio.us Digg FaviconDigg Facebook FaviconFacebook Google FaviconGoogle Reddit FaviconReddit StumbleUpon FaviconStumbleUpon Technorati FaviconTechnorati YahooMyWeb FaviconYahooMyWeb

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback. Comments may not exceed 700 characters.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

What an idiot (Rb Wolpe). What freedom? Only Khamenei-vetted candidates were allowed to run to start with. There is very little difference, so far as the rest of the World is concerned, between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.

Comment by rz on 6/22/09 at 1:00 pm

I’m not clear on what this article is trying to say about Cohen’s thesis:  what’s wrong with saying that the current generation of WLA exiles underestimated the cruelty and rigidity of the Ahmadinejad regime?  It was and is those things.  However, the local exiles are correct to assert that the Mousavi regime would be no better as far as the US or Israel or the west in general are concerned:  they’re theocracies threatened by genuine democracy.  The only one sounding foolish is the Rabbi who sees anything resembling “freedom” here.  The only thing that’s different is that the revolution is not televised but playing out on Twitter so that we are not in the dark.  Maybe eventually when young people realize how to plan for and mobilize in advance there can be demonstrations that might lead to real democracy, but for now they’re just getting killed and arrested.  Still, the the regimes in Iran knowing that these arrests especially of high profile people are known around the world might lead to less brutality than there would be otherwise.

Comment by jimmyj on 6/22/09 at 3:00 pm

The Iranian Jewish exile community continues to wallow in nostalgia for the Shah’s dictatorship, much like the post-revolutionary “White Russians” in Paris and French nobility in London. You have forgotten his legacy of corruption and the brutal repression of Savak, because you were content so long as you could do business in relative peace.

The Shah is not coming back. Hundreds of thousands are risking their lives to protest, not because they love Mousavi, but because he provides a rallying point for the first steps to begin the dismantling of the ayatollahs’ terrible theocracy. Please wake up and join your Muslim brothers and the rest of the world!

Comment by awake in l.a. on 6/22/09 at 3:54 pm

Post a Comment

Name:  
Email:  

Type the word you see below:

Comment:


About this Blog

Blog Home
About the Blogger(s)
Contact

RSS


Blog Archive






Newspaper

Serving a community of 600,000, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles is the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. Our award-winning paper reaches over 150,000 educated, involved and affluent readers each week. Subscribe here.

© Copyright 2012 Tribe Media Corp.
All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net. Homepage design by Koret Communications.
Widgets by Mijits. Site construction by Hop Studios.

counter fake hit page