By Alex Alper

“We are here because we are against the UN granting a dignified platform to one of the most immoral human beings,” said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis. He and roughly 40 other rabbis gathered two blocks from the headquarters of the United Nations in downtown Manhattan on September 23 to protest the visit of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Nearby, hundreds of Iranian protesters yelled, “Ahmadinejad is not our president,” while the Rabbis, clad in traditional prayers shawls called talitot, offered prayers, songs and speeches, and sounded the ram’s horn “shofar” as Iranian President addressed the UN General Assembly.

“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” said Potasnik, who believes that is effectively what the UN is doing by continuing to negotiate with Ahmadinejad.

The rally culminated when police asked the rabbis, who were seated in the intersection of 1^st Avenue and 41^st Street, to leave. Twelve who refused were arrested, handcuffed, mounted into police vehicles to be later released.

“The rabbis have a responsibility to be here, today,” explained Potasnik, whose organization comprises 700 rabbis of various denominations from the New York Metropolitan area.

Shmuly Yanklowitz, a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chova Torah and PhD candidate in Psychology at Columbia University, was among those arrested. He was driven in a police vehicle, along with seven others, only to be released several blocks away. “They were supposed to take us jail, but they told us they agreed with our cause, so they let us out,” said Yanklowitz.

For him, participating was not an easy decision. “For the last week, I have been scared…I have never participated in civil disobedience. Intellectually, I was skeptical. Is this effective? Is this an outdated practice from the 1960s?” And on a practical level, “do I have time for this?”

Yanklowitz, who also runs Uri L’Tzedek, an orthodox Jewish social action committee he founded in 2008, changed his mind about civil disobedience: “Sitting in the road, I knew it was the only place I was supposed to be in that moment. It was one of the clearest moral moments I’ve had – spiritual clarity. That was exactly where I want to be.”

While he is concerned with Ahmadinejad’s fiery statements towards Israel, Yanklowitz cites Iran’s restraining of its citizens’ civil and social rights following the contested June Presidential elections as his principle motivation for participating. “There is nothing that keeps me up at night more than the torture of young people who fight for human rights,” he said.

Nearby Iranians protesters expressed the same sentiment. Mitra Behnam, a member of California’s Persian community, said she was there to “show all the world that he is not our president. They torture, rape and send Iranians to prison, violating their human rights.” “We want democracy and freedom. Religion should be separate from politics. You should have your own private relationship with God,” she explained.

Most Jewish and Iranian protesters interviewed agreed that negotiations with the current regime are pointless However, the U.S administration made significant gains last Thursday in Geneva where it secured a deal to allow Iran to ship uranium to Russia for processing for use in Iranian nuclear reactors. A visit to Iran’s recently disclosed nuclear reactor by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors is scheduled for October 25, giving credence to the claim that dialogue may still work.

But for Yanklowitz “It’s a difficult issue. Both dialogue and protest are necessary…I think Obama will have to carry a carrot and stick to handle this effectively.