On November 7, Lubavitch of Bucks County welcomed Natan Sharansky, former Soviet refusenik and Knesset minister, to their Tribute Gala for a dialogue on "Vision, Courage and Leadership."
At a grand event at the Hyatt at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia, Lubavitch honored Karin Kasdin and Harold Weinstein, who received the Couple of the Year Award, and Emily Deutsch, recipient of the Future Leadership Youth Award.
Lubavitch's Glazier Jewish Center is located in the heart of Newtown, and their programs, such as Chanukah Wonderland, have become popular events in Newtown.
To the sounds of the Odessa Klezmer Band, the guests dined on a vast spread of food, as they waited in the Hyatt's Grand Ballroom for the night's honorees to speak.
Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov began the presentation by sharing a speech that a woman had written about the influence that Lubavitch had on her daughter and her family, ultimately leading to her daughter's Bat Mitzvah. "They have reaffirmed my belief that all people are good," Shemtov said, reading from the woman's speech.
"Lubavitch is not here to change you," said Shemtov, "but to bring out the best." Lubavitch strives to reach out to unaffiliated Jews, working toward "a bright future where every Jewish person will feel their connection in a warm and positive way," said Shemtov.
Couple of the year honorees Karin Kasdin and Harold Weinstein of Newtown thanked the crowd, and spoke on how they found a community of acceptance six years ago. Weinstein said that they "are proud to be participants in this organization."
"We believe all Jews belong to one family - no matter what," he said.
Karin Kasdin extolled the diversity in Lubavitch, from politics to faith.
After Kasdin and Weinstein spoke, Rabbi Shemtov presented a menorah, which also doubled as a shabbat candle holder, to Future Leadship Youth Award honoree Emily Deutsch of Upper Makefield Township, so that she could continue practicing her faith as she went off to college next year. He praised her work with Friendship Circle, a group that pairs teens with disabled children. Deutsch spoke of the friendship that developed between her and an autistic girl named Lexi, whom she met with on a weekly basis.
Deutsch shared one of her favorite stories about a man who asked God, "There is so much destruction and despair in the world, please send someone to help repair it." God says to him, "I did, I sent you."
Rabbi Shemtov said of the honorees, "What you've seen today isn't the effort of one person, it's the effort of a community."
After the awards, the group gathered in the neighboring ballroom to hear Natan Sharansky speak. His lecture focused on life in the Soviet Union, where hiding his faith was a constant struggle. He said that Soviet policy was that "we should know nothing about ourselves, our identity." He spoke of his father telling him that when Stalin died, it was a great day for his family - they would likely be spared from exile now that the dictator had died. But in school, Sharansky needed to pretend that he was saddened by the loss of the Soviet leader, just as the other children were. He called the situation the "constant doublethink" for Jews in the Soviet Union. There was another truth, a secret truth of faith, for the family and no one else.
Sharansky realized that he was "part of the struggle." He became connected to the state of Israel. He became Jewish and he became a Zionist. He began reading books and learning Hebrew. He applied for permission to emigrate to Israel, but became a refusenik - the Soviet Union refused to let him leave the country.
In 1978, Sharansky was imprisoned and convicted of treason and spying for the United States. After 16 months in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, he was transferred to a prison camp in Siberia.
While Sharansky was in prison, his wife, Avital, worked tirelessly for his freedom. "There was not one moment that I had doubts I was on my own," Sharansky said. As Avital led protests, her group was dismissed as "an army of students and housewives."
In 1986, Sharansky was released as part of a prisoner exchange, and as he crossed the border into Germany, the Israeli ambassador granted him his Israeli passport.
Sharansky spoke of how while he was being interrogated in prison, he would make anti-Soviet jokes, and watch as his interrogators tried not to laugh. "You cannot laugh when you want to laugh," Sharansky told them. He knew that although he was imprisoned, he was finally free. The days when he had to cry when he wanted to laugh were over. "That is the power of Jewish solidarity," he said. "It gives the strength not to be afraid."
©Newtown Advance 2005
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