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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, June 30, 1988-Page 9
inion
Glasnost: ^'opportunities and dangers"
une
ges in new
..- ^ By ;.■
BFXINDA SILBERNIAN
rORONTO -
It's almost 2V2 years since the diminuitive man crossed an icy Berlin bridge to freedom.
As he leaped across the border, the thin string on his baggy pants gave way, but undaunted, Na-tan Sharansky — leading Soviet dissident and fearless Jewish activist — hoisted them up and took his first joyful steps in the West.
Just hours later, 12 years of agonizing separation from his dark-eyed bride, Avital, ended in a tearful embrace at a civilian airport in Frankfurt. Prison and deprivation behind him, Sharansky had ended one of his life's grimmest chapters, turning the page to a bright new future.
Those were the early moments following hi.s release as part of an exchange between East and West; ...
Since then the Sharanskys have settled in a modest apartment in a Jerusalem suburb. Their bright, happy .19-month-old daughter. Rachel, has given new sunshine to their lives, and Avital — whotirelessly lobbied for her husband's release during his long years of inipri.sonment — is due to have a second child in November. •
But the past cannot be easily forgotten and Sharansky ha.s recently completed memoirs of the nine years he spent in the Soviet gulag. His new book Fear No Evil was released here late last month by Random House.
He has also continued to be a fervent freedom. fighter ibr Soviet Jews, earlier this year becoming president of a new organization — the Zionist . Federation of Soviet Jewry — made up. of leading former Refuseniks and heads of Soviet Jewr\' organizations in Israel.
He has also found many unexpected challenges: in his new life, not the lea.st of which is the dramatic .switch from stark isolation in Soviet detention cells where shadows and a chess set were often his only companions, to His reincarnation as the heroic, public;figure Sharansky whose every word and move is of keen interest to clamoring reporters and well-meaning people worldwide. ■ ■
''You feel you have less privacy than you had in prison and you find that :io defend yoiir independence and your freedom; you have to be sohiehow as tough as you were in a punishing cell because everybody is pushing you into diffei--ent directions and groups,'' Sharansky says.
"When you want to be yourself, you must insist on being yourself; "he admonishes of life in the West. But then, he adds, he enjoys living each day with new challenges. '
Sharansky was recently in Toronto as part of a gruelling month-long publicity tour flogging his new. book.
Arnid a flurry of media interviews here he found time to address a public gathering at the Beth Tikvah Synagogue, and speak at a lunch-eonmeeling of the Canadian Lawyers and Jurists for Soviet Jewry at the downtown Holiday Inn. : The balding activist— whose twinkling blue eyes hint at a sense of humor, charm and warmth of character — has intelligent, well thought out yet glib answers to reporters" endless question.s.
Unlike sorrje ex-Refuseniks, he doesn't immediately diSrriiss glasnost. the Soviets' so-called policy of openness, as cosmetics.
Biit he expresses guarded optimism when he asserts that glasnost creates new opportunities; since, he says, it also gives rise to new dangers : too.' . ■
Glasnost has already resulted in freer contacts with Jews in'the Soviet Union and more people are.able to visit, says tiie 40-year-old former com-puter specialist.
Jews in the West are also in a better iX)sition ■ now to test Soviets's claims of increased freedom by bringing in more Je^yish materials and trying to set ijp a system of Jewish education in the Soviet Union. 1
But while Soviet officials — who have released many prorhinent Refuseniks aiid increased Soviet" Jewish emigration in recent years — have been sueeessfui in convincing the West there are major improvements, the feality .is very different, Sharansky warns.
The world may have applauded the release of 8.155 Jews from the Soviet Uriion last year, but the number barely graized die more than SI-,300 letdut in 1979 and "Brezhnev, would never have dreamed to get the compliments Gorbachev is get-'.■tingv':'-.he says;
Arid the Soviet Union's emigration policy is mpre restrictive than ever. Only Jews with invitations from 'ffirst degree" relatives abroad can apply to leave, a policy which prevents more than 90% of those who vi'ould like to submit applications froin doing so, he says.
to improve die Soviet Je\vs' situation, and: bring about real change, Sharansky stresses the Westniust link its trade policies to hunian rights ■ in the Soviet Union, which is desperate to get its
i 4
NatanSchararisky addresses a recent luncheon meeting of the Camadian Lawyers and Juri-sts for Soviet Jewry.
hands on Western technology to boost its faltering economy:
"The challenge for Canadian Jews is to convince their busiiiessmen to have this linkage."' •he says. :
Sharansky — a charishiatic,' tall-at-heart 5 feet. 1 '/2 inches — is equally as articulate when it comes to Soyiet Jewish issues involving Israel;
But he's diplpmafic when commenting on Israel's recent controversial changing of rules for grannng visas to Jews leaving the Soviet Union.
The liew policy is intended to crack down on the niajority of eniigrating Soviet Jews \vho,|i.pon reaching the transit point of Vienna., opt to go to'the U.S; and el.sewhere. instead of the Jewish state as oj-iginally requested on their.vi.sas issued through the Netherlands embassy in Mo.scbw.
To stem this tide of dropouts, Israeli officials have ordered that visas be issued in Bucharest. Critics say the new policy will make it more diffietilt for Jews to settle in countries other than Israel and they may opt not to leave the Soviet Union at all.
Sharansky describes Israel's actions as "a ver)* normal situation," because all it's doing is stipulating that those :who want to go to Israel must ask for invitations from the Jewish state If they vyant to go to another country, then they must ask for invitations from there.
"But the Soviet Union is not a normal country," Sharansky points out. "It's not a normal situation and I think Soviet Jews are in such danger — spiritually and physically — >^'c mast do evervthing we can to get them out first
.of all.-""-'..'
Sharansky also holds an opinion on the controversial issue of whether Israel should reestablish diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union.
"It will depend exclusively on what conditions," he says matter-pf-factly.
Before 1967 Uiere were ties, but no Jews could emigrate to Israel, he .says; ~~
A new diplomatic relationship will be beneficial if it will mean improvements for Jews in the Soviet Union and if Soviet officials will agree lo abstain from playing an aggressive role in the Middle East; he says.
While Sharansky has always been vocal on. Soviet Jewry matters, he's turning out to be no less articulate when it corries to other issues — especially concerns involving his' new home of Israel. In particular, he's concerned about Palestinian uprisings in the territories. -
"For me, first of all it's a problem of security and of course; Israel has a very serious challenge," he says.
While the world views the Israeli army as brutal bullies battling withyoung defenceless Arab boys who are only throwing stones, it forgets that. . in fact, the soldiers are actually struggling with the Islamic Arabic world, which is seeking Israel's destruction,;he says., ... The only way to resolve the situation is for Israel to begin a serious dialogue with direct negotiations. Sharansky believes.
But. such a dialogue requires a partner and. ■'that's the tragedy.of the situation" — there isn't one. he says.
Still.^despite a strong interest in Israeli issues. Sharansky remains coy when it comes to getting involved in the Jewish state's politics.
He claims he isn't interested in joining any of the political parties. ; "First of all I .«>till don't see a party, which from all points of view, I really like," he says. And as long as he's active In the Soviet Jewry rndvement, he believes it's better not to hold any afTillations with parties. . For now. Sharansky is still bu,sy adjusting to. his new life as recent immigrant, public figure and new father. .
"\ think it's a lot o.f fun,'-' he says of the latter, adjustment as parent. "It's very exciting. It makes your system ofpriorities in this life quite . different. .'
"Jt also means yoii sleep much less," he sayS. adding with an extra twinlde in his eyes that his daughter is "very demanding and. very stubborn."
But it's clear Sharansky isn't complaining: ' Reunited in his spiritual homeljand of Israel with his wife. Avital, whose enduring love sustained him through his many years of imprisonment, he's fuifilling what for so many.years wa.s only a dream,
"Every day 1 wait for the .shock.of my arrival, to dissipate, but it will be we^^ks, nionths. even years.; before it.ultimately begins to fade.''" he writes iri his book of his long-awaited arrival in the Jewish state.
' ; "I feel like a meteorite that'finally lell to earth.. aiid is c(X)ling. cooling, cooling,, but is still fright- , lully hot." . ;
y By; ^.:Vr
■.■ELAINE KAHN ■ ■.
In 1979, Cynthia Ozicic wrote what 1 consider to be the basic piece of popular Jewish ferninist thought: Notes Towards Finding the Right Question. Iri it, she makes the germinal point that, .when her rabbi uses the Word "Jev/,'' he means a
= man.
Ozick, on the other hand, js a ''Jewish woiTian," her cherished religion and culture reduced to an acljective'. ; The maleness of "Jew" is so taken for granted diat an organization 1 ike the New Israel Fund of Canada, widely if erroneously assumed to be lefty-radical; recently advertised a speaker as "Orthodox Jewish woman ■' — as if one could not tell, by looking at the picture in the ad, what sex- she wa^.S
Or take - Jewish ^Women's Federation (JWF), a subset of Toronto Jewish Cpn-~ gress. Tell me, what other kind of women's auxiliary would TJC sponsor? ■ Chinese?.-...V-;- : :.. ;''V
And then we had, a few weeks ago, a Jorum sponsored by TJCs Toronto Jewish Cultural Council. NlistiUed "Jewish
Culture as a Shaper of Jewish Identity," the forum had three speakers, all male.(as were the chairitian and moderator). Surely "Jewish Male Cultiire as.a Shaper of Jewish Male Ideritity" was the real topic.
I Was working that night, so couldn't attend., Let's assume "that the men^ on the. panel, acutely aware as they must be of the much vaunted ''separate but fequal''
: strain in Jewish tradition, publicly recognized and spoke of "separate" and gave the cultural experiences and contributions of men and women equal time.
When they spoke about Jewish culture and how it has shaped us, let's assume diey talked of the effect on our literature arid culinary arts of little boys knowing they could grow up to think of shul as a second home, while little potential sisterhood members grew up thinking of it" as a sec-
-dnd kitchen. . .., '
Leaving this historical and, one wishes, anachronistic view behind, the panel of experts then, giving them the benefits of the doubt, discussed how and why the JAP joke is viewed by Jewish men as
"their proudest cultural achievement in_ decades.
And, naturally then, let's assume, the
panel must have mentioned what women contribute to Jewish cultural life as educators (in the home and out), writers, painters, artisans, liturgists, historians and music-makers, and were fully conversant with all the names of these women, dropping them into their speeches like poppyseeds into haman-tashen.
I then imagine they sold the audience a ; bridge in Brooklyn and adjourned for coffee and cookies. ;
JWF took a step in a better direction when, for its March forum on stereotypes of Jewish women, it included a man on the panel. For all I know, this may have been done to give the panel more authority — a too common motive when women's organizations use male speakers (though never vice versa). But, as the trendies say, the optics were right, which is a-start, ; It's good that die number of Jewish cul-tiiral events in Canada is; increasing. : Perhaps the day will even come when people stop feeling they have to fly to Manhattan for Jewish culture; just as they've stopped driving to Buffalo for clothes.
But first we have to remind ourselves tb remember who is a Jew.