Natan Sharansky

Last week I attended a lecture out by Penn's Landing given by Natan Sharansky. Sharansky is famous for the role he played in the refusnik movement in Russia in the 1970's. The refusiks was a term used to described those who had applied to get out of Russia, were denied visas, and were not happy about it to say the least. Sharansky was eventually arrested and at the age of 26 was thrown in the Gulag. After nine years in prison he was finally released and immigrated to Israel as had always been his wish where he was reunited with his wife. He went on to become a major player in Israeli politics rising through the ranks to gain a position which is equivalent to Speaker of the House in America. He would also become Deputy Prime Minister (a position similar to VP) and most recently held a position in Ariel Sharon's cabinet. He very publicly withdrew from the cabinet about six months ago in protest of the pending withdrawal from the Gush Katif settlements in Gaza. He is also the author of Fear No Evil, a book which chronicles his life in the Gulag, and The Case for Democracy (2005), a book which has a garnered a significant amount of publicity because George W. Bush apparently was inspired by it. A friend of mine cracked that "when you read only a few books your entire life they are all very special to you," but that's a different story.

That was all background information. I want to key in on one specific idea Sharansky spoke about which relates to our class. Sharanksy described how during his youth he was totally disconnected with Judaism and assimilated into Russian society. This is not surprising as it is the result of Russian communist philosophy and the disillusionment that many Jews experienced after the Holocaust. It was only in 1973 that Sharansky rediscovered his Jewish identity and became an ardent Zionist. 1973 was the year of the Yom Kippur War when Israel was attacked in the Sinai and the Golan Heights by Egypt and Syria with support from the surrounding Arab countries. Israel was taken off guard by the attack, unsurprisingly, as it was Yom Kippur (the Jews' Day of Atonement). After just under three weeks of fighting the UN called for a ceasefire, but Israel had basically won the war--what many Israelis deem a miracle given their underdog status. After the war, Sharansky described how people began to look at him differently. The newspapers took a different tone when writing about Israel--bitter, but with a grudging acknowledgement of respect. In a memorable moment, Sharansky related how the anti-semitic jokes transformed. Before the war they were the stereotypical kind about big noses and greed, but after the war they focused on Jews being bullies and occupiers. Sharansky realized that he was being viewed as a different person because of a country which he felt no ties to. As a Jew, he had become a representative, an ambassador even, of the State of Israel. Instead of resenting this, he embraced it and went on to lead the life that I described in the first paragraph.

What are the implications of this? Does the media influence how people view us and our religions whether we like it or not? It would seem that it does, but is that fair? It seems very dangerous to me as we don't need to look further than the Nazi propaganda campaign to see how media can convince an entire civilized nation to wholeheartedly support genocide. In any case, Sharansky accepts this as a reality of life, a reality which cannot be changed whether it is just or not. Aryeh Green, a senior advisor to Sharansky, gave a few lectures at Hillel over the weekend. Given the way people associate Jews with Israel, Green insists that Jews must become very active in the State of Israel and do everything they can to improve it and to advocate for it with the ultimate goal of aliyah (immigration). Is Green's plea realistic? Offensive? Fair?