Reflections on a hero

CASSANDRA FREEMAN

In September 2009, Natan Sharansky made his first official trip to Russia as the newly elected chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). He was there to support fundraising efforts for Jewish educational programs for the Jews of Moscow, Odessa and other former Eastern-bloc cities.

That a visit by Sharansky was welcomed by Russia at all is, in itself, an historic event. As a leader of the Refusenik movement of Jewish dissidents in the 1970s and '80s, the Soviet government accused Sharansky of posing a serious threat to the regime, and arrested him for treason, alleging that he was a spy.

I was attending university when, in 1977, Anatoly Sharansky was arrested and imprisoned. Tragically, he was arrested one day after he married his new wife, Avital. She was expelled from the country three years later, but this attempt to dishearten their prisoner backfired. Living in Israel, Avital Sharansky quickly mounted a worldwide campaign to free her husband. I felt privileged to join others around the world to be a part of it.

As a member of the North American Jewish Students Network, I clearly remember more than 100 of us demonstrating in front of the Soviet consulate in New York. At the time, I was considering a career in journalism and, here was this giant of a man, standing up to a communist police state for the right to speak out and write without censorship. To a fledgling journalist like myself, he was a hero.

Then, in 1986, Sharansky was freed in a prisoner swap with the United States. That same day, I was standing with a throng of about 10,000 people at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport waiting, for him to arrive in Israel and address the crowd. One of the first things he did was thank all of his supporters who had kept him going and alive for the 12 years he spent in prison.

I was ecstatic. I was only one of thousands, but I felt exhilarated to be part of the movement that helped bring this man to freedom. At that moment, people in the crowd from all over the world spontaneously broke into song. We sang "Hinei Ma Tov," whose lyrics translate to "how good and pleasant it is for brothers to sit together." And claiming his Hebrew name, Natan, sang right along.

Avital was right there on the stage with her husband. She had waited 13 years for him, and the two met at the airport as if they had never been apart. Legend has it that the first thing Sharansky said to his beloved was, "Sorry I'm late."

Sometimes history has a way of correcting itself when one person stands firm in the face of persecution. Sharansky is often quoted as saying, "A Jew can do what he or she wants to do in this world. It is the power of the word which has created this freedom. If you want it, it is no dream."

For the last 20 years, Sharansky has continued his activism through his involvement with Israeli politics. In 1996, he established an immigrant political party, Israel b'Aliya, which merged into Likud in the early 2000s, and he served in four Israeli governments, as minister and deputy prime minister, until 2005.

Always a controversial figure, I haven't always agreed with Sharansky's politics but I have always been inspired by his dedication to speak his truth uncensored.

In 2003, as minister of the Diaspora, Sharansky toured university campuses in North America. Despite being physically attacked by an audience member at one of those appearances, he carried on with his mission to gather information on anti-Israel activities on campuses and to encourage students not to tolerate Israel-bashing. Now, a large part of his job at JAFI is to bring students and other youth to Israel to study and volunteer – the perfect job for a man who struggled so long to be free to get to Israel himself.

It's no coincidence that when I write profiles of people who inspire me, they are often about people intent on healing their corner of the world. I feel greatly inspired by my hero, Natan Sharansky. One person can make a difference by breaking through the fear that says to us: "Things will always be this way."

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver freelance writer. This article is dedicated to the students who fought for the release of Soviet Jewry as part of the North American Jewish Students Network.

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