It was December of 1979. 52 American hostages had been taken by angry mobs in Tehran. Three Jews were among them; Barry Rosen, Malcolm Kalp, and Jerry Plotkin. The Red Cross had finally obtained permission for a delegation, including a Rabbi and three priests, to support the beleaguered hostages and help negotiate an end to the crisis. America and the world waited with bated breath. The Middle-East was to forever be changed by the face of tyrannical, fanatical Islam.
Khomeini personally approved the Rabbi, Rabbi Hershberg zt"l, of Mexico City, Mexico.
Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Hershberg, a”h was a Torah Giant. A prodigious student in the legendary Yehivas Chachmei Lublin, a holocaust survivor who fled during the war to Shanghai, China and set up Yeshivot in Chicago and Mexico City , where he served for 25 years as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi.
On the first Friday there, without notice, the delegation was suddenly summoned to a mass religious rally. Nearly a million people had gathered to hear the Ayatollah’s words of hate and incitement. The clergy was placed up on the dais near the Ayatollah himself.
At one point of the rally, the huge mass of humanity suddenly dropped to their knees in prayer. Everyone bowed, that is, except for Rabbi Hershberg. He alone remained standing. The crowd stirred, and one of Khomeini’s aides approached in fury, demanding in Farsi as to why he did not bow. The Rabbi's response: “I am a Jew and I believe in the Torah of Moshe…”
Rabbi Ezrahian, the Chief Rabbi of Tehran at the time, who translated this message, was shocked at the strength of the man-- yet deeply apprehensive of what would arise from it. They did not need to wait long. The Ayatollah sent a message that he wanted to see the Rabbi immediately.
When Rabbi Hershberg entered, Khomeini, who had been sitting with his head bowed, lifted his head and smiled as he said the following: “I congratulate you for not flattering me … You did not bow and you were not afraid of a human being. That shows me that you are a person of truth.”
Rabbi Hershberg proved to be a pivotal person in protecting not only the Jewish American hostages, but with his newfound respect, he was able to advocate for his Jewish Iranian brothers as well. The wearing of Talitot, having access to Kiddush wine, breaking curfew to attend synagogue -- were some of the threatened religious rights successfully defended by a man… who refused to bow.
When I reflect on this story, I am moved deeply. We, thank G-d, do not face the likes of Hitler, Haman, and Khomeini, Yemach shmam, for the most part -- but we do face social pressures. It is difficult to stand out in the conformist Silicon Valley culture by leaving early on a Friday, by sporting a kipah or by standing by our Torah-values.
Like Mordechai, and (Rabbi Avraham) Mordechai --when we will declare simply and faithfully, “I am a Jew, and I believe in the Torah of Moshe”, the world will take note… and respect.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yisroel Hecht
Marcos Frid wrote...