New Castle, Greeley Club Commemorate Human Rights Day
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During a celebration of Human Rights Day, Anna Kaplan and Joyce Masry-Schaul provided plenty of inspiration for the audience at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center.
The two women arrived in the United States as teenagers from Iran and Iraq, respectively, and spoke of the circumstances that forced them to leave their native country and their struggles and triumphs in navigating life in a new land.
Although they came from two different nations and arrived in the U.S. 18 years apart, there were intriguing parallels in each of their stories.
Kaplan was sent by her parents to the U.S. by herself at 13 years old after the start of the Islamic Revolution gripped Iran in 1979. As a Jewish family who had a relatively comfortable life under the Shah of Iran, their lives were turned upside down once the Shah was overthrown.
A rabbi in Tehran, where Kaplan and her family lived and was organizing efforts to find safe passage out of the country Jewish children, urged her parents to take action. Kaplan had two brothers attending college in Chicago, but wondered what had to have been a gut-wrenching choice for her parents.
“I can’t imagine what it took for them to make this really hard decision to send their 13-year-old daughter to the United States,” Kaplan said.
Masry-Schaul left Iraq for New York after finishing high school. For centuries Iraq had been a mostly peaceful place for Jewish families like hers, but that deteriorated following the fall of the Ottoman Empire earlier in the 20th century. Her parents had first applied for visas to the U.S. in 1945 but didn’t receive them until the late 1950s.
When they departed in 1961, all the family was allowed to leave with was what they could carry. Her father and relatives had led prosperous lives, but any valuables had to be left behind – except what they were able to sew into their clothing.
“My mother was pretty instrumental in getting us out because she was really focused on getting out of Iraq,” said Masry-Schaul, a longtime New Castle resident. “She had brothers in the States and so did my father have family in the States. He had two sisters in the States. It took a lot of bribes for my mother to go to the American embassy a few times a month, bringing sweets and candies and baklava and stuff like that, befriending all of the people there and bribing Iraqi immigration services.”
The commemoration last Wednesday evening, held in advance of the worldwide celebration of Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, was sponsored by Horace Greeley’s E.N.O.U.G.H. (Education Now on Understanding Genocide and Hate) Club and the Town of New Castle’s Holocaust and Human Rights Committee.
“We hope that you will leave with an understanding of the challenges facing refugees and immigrants, and we hope what you learn here tonight will inspire you to create a more welcoming community here in New Castle and beyond,” said Alexandra Rosenberg, committee co-chair.
Kaplan, whose family eventually migrated to New York, has lived in Great Neck, Long Island with her husband, where they raised two children. She graduated from Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University and Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.
Although she never practiced law, Kaplan eventually served her community on the library board, followed by a stint on the zoning board and the town council in North Hempstead., She then won the first of two terms to the state Senate in 2018. Her husband is a class action attorney.
Kaplan said she’s been blessed where her life in the United States has taken her.
“I have to say it’s been a wonderful journey for me,” Kaplan said. “Hard, very hard at times, but a journey that really has made me grow as a human being, as a woman, and I am so blessed to be standing here and telling you about all of my journey.”
Masry-Schaul, attended art school, said she left Iraq as a child and her move to the U.S. forced her to become an adult quickly.
She has never missed participating in an Election Day since becoming eligible to vote.
“I took great joy in voting as soon as I became a citizen, and I voted in every election,” Masry-Schaul said.
Board of Legislators Chair Vedat Gashi, whose district includes New Castle and is himself a refugee from Kosovo, said in these times it’s crucial to hear the stories of perseverance and success from those who have fought to have a better life.
“It’s a reminder that we each have a role to play through our voices, through our actions and through our shared commitment to those in need,” Gashi said. “Your triumph is our collaborative triumph.”
“We hope through the messages here tonight, we are empowering you, our community, to stand for human rights and for every individual,” said E.N.O.U.G.H. Co-President Jared Saiontz.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/