Iranian Community Honors Katsav

On the last evening of Moshe Katsav’s three-day visit to Los Angeles, it was the turn of the Iranian Jewish community to fete Israel’s Iranian-born president, and the hosts made the most of it.

Like a Jewish mother drawing pleasure from a favorite son, speaker after speaker during a festive dinner at Sinai Temple dwelled on the Israeli-style Horatio Alger story of the young immigrant boy housed in a makeshift tent city who rose to head of the State of Israel.

During his ascent through the ranks of the Likud Party and the government — during which he was voted the most polite Knesset member — Katsav has not forgotten his humble beginnings.

When he learned that it would cost the Israeli Air Force about $300,000 to provide a special plane for his use, Katsav and his wife Gila opted for commercial flights — El Al to New York and Continental to Los Angeles.

In his own remarks, Katsav picked up where his predecessor, Ezer Weizman, left off by urging his audience to make aliyah to Israel.

He urged his listeners not to repeat the mistake of their ancestors, who decided to linger in Persia after the Babylonian exile some 2,500 years ago, rather than return to Jerusalem.

“We have had waves of immigrants from Europe, the Muslim countries and Russia; now it’s time for the Western aliyah,” he added. “If we have 6 to 7 million Jews in Israel, the Arabs will realize that they cannot destroy us.”

Hitting on a similar theme, Israeli Consul General Yuval Rotem urged those present to visit Israel. “We need to know that we are not alone,” Rotem said.

Sharing in the encomiums for the president was the local Iranian Jewish community, now more than 30,000 strong and the largest in the Americas.

Rabbi David Wolpe of the host temple (whose synagogue president and half the membership are Iranian-born), praised the tenacity and “the outburst of activity.”

“As an Ashkenazi Jew, I say we are deeply in your debt,” Wolpe said.

Katsav spent much of the evening surrounded by groups of well-wishers and nervously eyed by Secret Service men and women, whose alertness had been raised in response to threats received against the president.

Although the dinner and preceding reception were marked by warm fellowship, the advance planning reopened some old fissures between the long-established Iranian American Jewish Federation and the newer Council of Iranian-American Jewish Organizations.

George Haroonian, the Council president, charged that his organization was not properly represented in the planning process for the reception and dinner, and that while the Federation was listed on the official invitations, the Council was not.

Ezat Delijani, the Federation’s president, rejected the claim and noted that the Council’s six constituent organizations were listed on the invitation, alongside the Federation’s 16 affiliates.

Israel’s Yuval Rotem, who had named a five-person planning committee, also rejected the Council’s complaint. “We went the extra mile to make certain that all segments of the Iranian community were represented and that the dinner for President Katsav would be above politics,” he said.