Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor : Prayer at the Wailing Wall and Heroic Hiram Bingham Iv

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Prayer at the Wailing Wall and Heroic Hiram Bingham Iv

Thought you might be interested in this heroic person.
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Who was Harry Bingham and why is he getting a stamp?

Just an interesting piece of evidence of the curious behavior of the
Roosevelt administration toward the Jews during WWII :-

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a posthumous
award for "constructive dissent" to Hiram (or Harry) Bingham, IV. For
over fifty years, the State Department resisted any attempt to honor
Bingham. For them he was an insubordinate member of the US diplomatic
service, a dangerous maverick who was eventually demoted. Now, after
his death, he has been officially recognized as a hero.

Bingham came from an illustrious family. His father (whom the
fictional character Indiana Jones was based) was the archeologist who
unearthed the Inca City of Machu Picchu, Peru, in 1911. Harry entered
the US diplomatic service and, in 1939, was posted to Marseilles ,
France, as American Vice-Consul.

The USA was then neutral and, not wishing to annoy Marshal Petain's
puppet Vichy regime, President Roosevelt's government ordered its
representatives in Marseilles not to grant visas to any Jews. Bingham
found this policy immoral and, risking his career, did all in his power to undermine it.

In defiance of his bosses in Washington , he granted over 2,500 USA
visas to Jewish and other refugees, including the artists Marc Chagall
and Max Ernst and the family of the writer Thomas Mann. He also
sheltered Jews in his Marseilles home, and obtained forged identity
papers to help Jews in their dangerous journeys across Europe . He
worked with the French underground to smuggle Jews out of France into
Franco's Spain or across the Mediterranean and even contributed to
their expenses out of his own pocket. In 1941, Washington lost
patience with him. He was sent to Argentina , where later he continued
to annoy his superiors by reporting on the movements of Nazi war criminals.

Eventually, he was forced out of the American diplomatic service completely.
Bingham died almost penniless in 1988. Little was known of his
extraordinary activities until his son found some letters in his
belongings after his death. He has now been honored by many groups and
organizations including the United Nations and the State of Israel.

                     PLEASE honor his memory

When It Comes to Prayer…

It doesn't matter if the Jew is a Congressman from New York…

Rep. Elliot Engel Sept 2011

(17^th District Representative to the USA Congress

Bronx, Rockland & Westchester)

or a rock star from California…

Jane's Addiction drummer –

Sholomo (Stephen Perkins) Sept 2011

or a boy from a Mexican village who knew that his mother was Jewish but did not know that he was…

Sept 2011

…you put on tefillin, and thank G-d for all the good that He has given you. Then you ask Him to bless your loved ones, and to protect the Jews who are facing danger all over the world. Not only will He do all this for you, but He will make you feel better for having asked, too.

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