LOS ANGELES — Passover’s theme of liberation took on new meaning when more than 1,000 people rallied here Sunday to demand freedom for the 13 Iranian Jews facing trial for alleged espionage.
The vigil in the outdoor memorial courtyard of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance presented one of the rare occasions when all segments of the often fragmented Jewish community appeared present and united.
The largely bareheaded crowd was sprinkled with the knitted kippot of the observant and the black hats of the fervently religious. Holocaust survivors were joined by newer immigrants from Iran and the former Soviet Union.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, along with 28 other organizations, sponsored the event.
“All Jews are responsible for one another,” John Fishel, the federation’s president, told the 900 people jammed inside the courtyard and the hundreds of others in an adjoining auditorium and out in the street.
He noted that 170 Jewish federations across North America were demanding justice for the “Iran 13,” whose postponed trial is now scheduled to start May 1. They face execution if convicted.
The 13 Jews are accused of spying for Israel and the United States, both of which vehemently deny the allegations.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Wiesenthal Center, touched on the Passover theme in his speech.
“We eat bitter herbs to remind us of the Egyptian bondage. But for the…13 and their families, they have tasted bitter herbs for an entire year waiting for due process, denied the right to have their own attorneys,” Hier said.
Offering a warning to the Iranian authorities, Hier said, “Many before you have attempted to shackle freedom: The mighty Pharaoh — and he failed. The dictators Stalin and Hitler — and they failed. And so will you. Because our 3,500-year history has taught us that you can incarcerate people, but you can never imprison human dignity. You can control the process, but you can never extinguish the hope that burns within the human soul.”
An estimated 25 percent of the crowd was from the Iranian Jewish community, but the number could have been even larger, said Pooya Dayanim, spokesman for the Council of Iranian American Jewish Organizations.
“Many Iranians stayed away because the rally committee did not include one of their number among the speakers,” Dayanim said.
Fishel contested this claim, saying it was important that the protest to the Tehran government be seen as coming from the mainstream Jewish community.
The formal program ended with a stirring singing of “Am Yisrael Chai.”
But as the crowd was leaving, a group of young Iranians started up an impromptu chant of “Let my people go. Let my people go.”