Jewish Agency chair Natan Sharansky looked a little confused in front of a packed auditorium Nov. 1 at Stanford University.
Right before his speech, a huge roar went up as the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory was announced. It took a minute and an explanation from someone sitting next to Sharansky on stage for him to become clear on what had just happened.
Then, he looked out at the audience and joked, “That’s nice. But I don’t really understand that game. I prefer chess.”
Although he may not have a lucid understanding of America’s pastime, Sharansky threw fastball after fastball when delivering his views on identity, freedom, democracy and Israeli society.
The former Soviet refusenik and Israeli Knesset member made the case for Israel and explained why there should be no pressure on individuals to make a choice between nationalism and universalism.
In meeting with three different audiences at Stanford, he spoke of Israel’s flourishing, open society and the country’s similarity to the United States in terms of protecting both individual identity and political freedom.
Globally, he pointed to his own struggles in the Soviet Union and to advocates in countries such as Egypt and Iran as he talked about people around the globe who are willing to wage a fight for democracy: “The free world needs to say to them, ‘We are with you.’ ”
Although many in attendance said they were familiar with Sharansky’s riveting personal story and his three books, including his highly influential “The Case for Democracy” and “Defending Identity,” some said it nevertheless was a thrill to see and hear him in person.
Stuart Bernstein of Palo Alto, who remembers marching on behalf of Soviet Jewry as a little boy, was in attendance with his wife, Marcella, and three children at the open, main event at Tresidder Student Union, which was titled “Identity, Freedom and Global Responsibility.” Their children, ages 9, 11 and 14, were the only kids in the standing-room-only crowd of more than 300.
“We wanted to bring our kids to hear and learn from an important figure in contemporary times,” Stuart said.
“It’s important for them to hear firsthand from someone who has persevered and is fighting for peace,” Marcella added.
Dressed in grey flannel slacks, a light blue shirt and navy blazer, the diminutive Sharansky sat on stage with interviewer Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and spoke of all people’s desires both to belong and to be free.
He lamented what he termed “the post-identity era,” in which an over-emphasis on freedom since World War II has, in his view, led to vapid, decadent societies (particularly in Western Europe) that are now vulnerable to damage from sectarian fundamentalist elements.
In answering questions from the audience, Sharansky said that democracy needs to be introduced into the Arab world gradually, through increased economic and social freedoms. He believes that everyone wants and deserves to live in freedom.
“To think that Arabs don’t deserve to live in a democracy is to be a racist,” he said.
However, he was not surprised that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip elected a Hamas government. In a place in which people have little going for them on a day-to-day basis, he said, it was predictable that they would choose a terrorist organization that offered them social services over a corrupt dictatorship.
“Democracy is not about elections,” he warned. “Elections are the last step in developing a free, open society.”
Earlier in the evening, Sharansky met with a group of Hillel and S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation donors at a reception at Hillel at Stanford’s Ziff Center. Federation CEO Jennifer Gorovitz spoke at the event, which marked the 20th anniversary of the federation raising $29 million (toward a $1 billion national campaign) to support the resettlement of Jews who emigrated after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Although Sharansky admitted that he is viewed as a pessimistic hawk, he refuted the idea that he is a pessimist. “I’m an optimist,” he intoned. “How else would I have survived the gulag?”
But he did reiterate his stance against Israel making one-sided concessions in the peace process. “There are no short cuts,” he said. “There will be peace only through partnership and democracy building. We all want to live a meaningful life in freedom, but we need to abandon illusions for immediate peace.”
The evening began — at Sharansky’s insistence — with a meeting with student leaders from Stanford, U.C. Santa Cruz and U.C. Berkeley. As the Jewish Agency chair, he said, one of his most important roles is speaking with and encouraging Jewish students.
In accordance with his agency’s new mission to promote global Jewish identity, Sharansky has doubled the number of shlichim (emissaries) the Jewish Agency sends to North American universities — in an attempt to connect young diaspora Jews and young Israeli Jews.
“What I really want for Jewish students is for them to stop being ashamed of being proudly connected to Israel,” he said in a meeting with student leaders from Stanford, U.C. Santa Cruz and U.C. Berkeley.
The renowned human rights activist told them what he later told the hundreds of others in the auditorium: “You can be for the Jews and for all other people. You don’t have to make a choice between the two.”