A True Hero Interviewed

Photo by: Ariel Jerozolimski

In the attached article, Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, talks about Passover, connection between Israel and the Diaspora and Jewish identity and freedom. This interview is a moving statement of the Jewish world from the perspective of the man most in charge of aliyah to Israel and promoting Jewish education in the Diaspora.

Why a True Hero? Natan Sharansky was a Jewish Refusenik in the Former Soviet Union. Because of his work on Human Rights and Jewish Emigration there, he was imprisoned in the Gulag. For 7 years of the approximately 8 years he was imprisoned, I wore a bracelet as a reminder of his imprisonment. Like many others, I spent time writing letters to and visiting with our federal representatives on his and other Refuseniks' behalf. Whenever our national representatives met with the leaders of the Soviet Union, the freeing of the Refuseniks and the allowing of Jewish emigration was always on the list.

The cause of the Refuseniks in the United States was not just a Jewish cause. Other groups who believe in freedom, justice and democracy also took up the cause. I remember being at a National Young Republican meeting in Washington, DC where Congressman Jack Kemp told the group that if they believed in these ideals, they needed to take up this cause. Trust me when I tell you that this was not a Jewish group. I was probably the only Jewish member attending this conference of approximately 800 people.

Sharansky was the symbol of standing up to authoritarian dictatorship. He was cruelly punished. He never gave up and finally was freed. In my opinion, a true hero.

I hope that you find this interview in the Jerusalem Post interesting. The link to the article is posted below:
http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=172404