By Simon Luxemburg
On May 10th, as part of our Nachshon project programming, we had the distinct honor of meeting with Natan Sharanksy, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. For many of us, our only previous interactions with the Jewish Agency have been through the many shlichim they send to our respective summer camps, or through the Agency’s fellows that work in Hillels at college campuses worldwide. We had the privilege of meeting with Sharanksy in the Jewish Agency’s headquarters located on King George Street in Jerusalem. As we learned, this was the first meeting point of the Knesset, and the very office where Sharanksy works today was the former office of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Thus, it is easy to say that the meeting was both an amazing and informative experience from the beginning to the end for all of the fellows.
As Nachshon fellows, many of us have distinct interests in topics revolving around Jewish identity and religion, Zionism and connection to the State of Israel, and world Jewry in the Diaspora. Accordingly, Sharansky is arguably the best speaker in the world to cover these topics from a wide array of angles, as he pulls upon experiences and practical insights from throughout his life. During the beginning part of Mr. Sharansky’s talk, he discussed the operations of the Agency including the many programs that they help run within Israel and throughout the world. This effectively reminded us all that since studying abroad on the Nachshon Project at Hebrew University is considered a MASA program, we could in part thank the Agency for helping us come to Israel this semester.
The topic that seemed to interest us fellows the most during our talk was when Mr. Sharansky discussed his time in the Soviet Union as a prisoner. Sharansky is considered to be one of the most famous refuseniks, and at the time, world Jewry united behind calls for his release. Although he did not go into great depth about his years in solitary confinement and forced labor, he did detail to us how his Jewish identity and yearning for Israel helped to provide him with hope while in jail. The majority of the time during our meeting was dedicated to questions and answers pertaining to a wide array of topics. Personally, I asked Sharansky about the implementation of the Kotel deal and whether or not he thinks that Israel creates a Jewish home for those who do not practice Orthodoxy. He concisely detailed to our group how the Kotel plan has become politicized, and why it has failed to be implemented. He then continued to say that he thinks Israel has a long way to go to create for itself a more pluralistic society in terms of Jewish religion and practice, and that he hopes the Agency can be the leading voice within Israel to achieve such ends. Other fellows asked issues pertaining to European Jewry, U.S. – Israel relations under the new administration, and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. All in all, our meeting with Natan Sharansky proved to be extremely valuable, and I am glad that we had the amazing opportunity to meet the man who is at the forefront of shaping Jewish peoplehood and identity in the 21st century.
