{"id":36267,"date":"2018-07-29T16:39:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T13:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=36267"},"modified":"2022-02-21T14:28:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:28:46","slug":"leaving-aram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leaving-aram\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving Aram"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I too left my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house. Like Abraham our father, I escaped from Aram Naharaim.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was September of 1985, and I was filled with anxiety. In just a number of days Shay, my fifteen year old brother, and I (then eighteen) would leave our parents, our sister, our community, and our birthplace Tehran. This was not going to be an easy journey physically or emotionally, we were leaving Iran, our family\u2019s home for the past 2,500 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mind was racing: what if we are caught by the Iranians? What if the truck breaks down in the desert, or worse if it is in an accident in an isolated location? What will happen if the smuggler hands us over? Even if we arrive safely, how am I going to adjust to life in a new country, live in a completely different culture? Nonetheless I knew, that if I wanted to evade the Iranian army, if I wanted to live a free Jewish future I needed to leave my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tehran is in Northern Iran, and our plan was to cross the Southern border into Pakistan. Goodbye mom, Bye-bye dad, time to fly southeast to Zahedan. Upon arrival we followed the smuggler, without a word or gestures, through the airport to his car. There were two other Jewish boys in the car already, quite a relief. \u00a0The four of us were driven into a tiny village and left in a home. Our smuggler returned some two hours later with a pickup truck. We jumped into the bed and drove east, toward Pakistan. At some point the truck veered off the road into the desert, driving right through the roadless desert.<\/span><\/p>\n

At around 10 PM, we entered a mountainous region, we were handed over to four motorcycles who drove us through the mountain pointing out the distant lights of the Iranian bases. After some six or so hours we stopped. One of the drivers pointed to a ditch, and said \u201cthere is the border, we have made into Pakistan.\u201d \u201cNo way\u201d I responded, \u201cwhere is the wall, the fence, the security guards?\u201d We drove two or so more miles, and were transferred into the truck of the Pakistani smugglers.<\/span><\/p>\n

After some thirty-six hours, after multiple exchanges we were in Pakistan. Not quite the promised land, but, the watermelon that I ate in a remote village near the border a couple of hours later tasted to me like it came straight from Eden.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story is not just mine, and Shay\u2019s, it is the story of thousands of young Persian Jewish boys, who left behind their beautiful home and crossed the desert into Pakistan, or the hills into Turkey, who followed God\u2019s call to Abraham of <\/span>Lech Lecha<\/span><\/em>, \u201cgo forth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":102212,"id":102212,"title":"-62120c2b8e90a--62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep desert.jpg","filename":"62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leaving-aram\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":36267,"date":"2022-02-20 09:38:51","modified":"2022-02-20 09:39:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1278,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1022,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1278,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-631x420.jpg","home_baner-width":631,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"My Own Private Lech-Lecha","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"I too left my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house. 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