“We are not here long, but our accomplishment is a lot,” declared a speaker before the dinner.

I have gone to countless community meetings, religious services, and synagogue banquets over the last 30+ years.

Last night, for the first time, I went to the annual dinner of the Ohr Hamizrach Congregation, the religious home of approximately 200 Jewish families who fled Iran after the fall of the Shah.

“My family got a phone call telling us the police would soon be at our home,” recalled one congregant during the cocktail hour.  “We took jeeps to the mountains, then camels, and fled to Pakistan.  Then to London and Baltimore.”

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I drove past City College this morning.

The tower was impressive amidst the fog.

So is the teaching that takes place inside that building, I said to myself, as it has for immigrants, their offspring, and African-Americans who were equals in an integrated setting there for the first time in their lives.