Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky (Left) in conversation with
Jerusalem Post Editor David Horovitz (Right) at Limmud FSU 2010 in Jerusalem.

July 22, 2010 / 11 Av 5770

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky joined Israeli President Shimon Peres and other distinguished guests at the opening gala for Limmud FSU 2010 in Jerusalem.

Limmud, a festival of Jewish learning and culture, drew one thousand Russian speakers from around the world to Jerusalem for the July 21-23 conference.  This year's theme was Nobel prizewinners born in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and in Israel. 

"In my eyes, Limmud is a great achievement because most of the participants are saying what my friends and I used to say after the Six Day War in our underground learning sessions: that we are discovering our nation, discovering our culture," Sharansky told the crowd at the July 21, 2010, opening event at the Kiryat Moriah campus.

Peres, a 1994 Nobel Peace laureate, expounded on the Nobel.

"Thirty of the Jewish Nobel Prize winners are Jews from the Soviet Union, including writers and scientists, and what is less known is that 52 percent of all the world chess champions are Jews," said Peres. "The reason we are so prominent is that we cannot be satisfied. A Jew who is satisfied ceases to be a Jew. We are a daring nation and we pay a heavy price for that, but we are proud of it."

Sharansky also participated in a conversation with Jerusalem Post Editor David Horovitz, moderated by Sandra Cahn, a co-founder of Limmud FSU.

Expounding on the Russian speaking Jewish population, Sharansky stressed that fostering Jewish identity is crucial.

"Twenty five years ago it was very simple. There were three million Jews behind the Iron Curtain they needed our help," he said.

But today there are 1 million former Soviet Jews living in Israel, approximately 1 million in America, 200-thousand Russian speaking Jews in Germany and around 1 million remaining in the former Soviet Union.

"Now the question of Jewish identity is even stronger because they know as little about their Jewishness as we [Refusniks and those of his generation] did. They don't feel that the Soviet Union wants them and they don't feel Russian. They don't have any identity and they are assimilating very quickly," said Sharansky.

"All Russian speaking Jews have one connection: They all feel a strong connection to the State of Israel. Israel is the initial base of their Jewish solidarity," he said.  

Other participants at the gala opening included Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, Minister of Education, Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Information and the Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Hershkowitz, Leader of the Opposition, Tzipi Livni, Matthew Bronfman, the U.S. businessman who is among Limmud FSUs principal supporters and Chair of its International Steering Committee, Carolyn Bogush, Chair of Limmud UK, members of the Knesset and many other prominent public figures and personalities.