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Natan Sharansky may just have been given the job he was truly born to fill – head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a job that puts him in the forefront of representing the State of Israel to Diaspora Jewry and cementing the ties between the two communities. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has recommended Mr. Sharansky for the post, and the body’s Board of Governors is highly likely to agree. And well they should.
There may be no Jew alive today who is as respected by diverse groups around the globe as is Mr. Sharansky. In his time on the world stage – which began in the 1970s while he was but in his 20s – his titles have included: Soviet human rights activist, refusenik, Prisoner of Zion, Israeli Russian community leader, political party founder, Israeli cabinet minister, noted author and more.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Sharansky rocketed to international fame as the leading voice and cause of the Soviet Jewry movement, due in no small part to his publicly reticent wife, Avital. Ever since arriving in Israel in January 1986 after a prisoner/spy swap with the Soviet Union, he has been his usual gregarious, candid, outspoken and principled self. Sometimes that has angered Diaspora Jews – such as in 1997-98 when he was Mr. Netanyahu’s point man in that round of the “conversion crisis.” At other times, he has thrilled Israel’s right-wing for his stands on behalf of Jewish settlers, which led to disappointment on the left. At other times, the adulation has been reversed.
Through it all, Mr. Sharansky has remained a fearless intellectual with a remarkable common touch. He is, in short, an authentic Jewish story and a hero of our time. As such, he may be one of the last truly charismatic figures who can reach across the widening gulf between Diaspora and Israeli Jewish mentalities. We should look forward to challenging and being challenged by him on the issues of the day as we strive together to strengthen the Jewish people.
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