Sharansky prompted his Jewish commitment

By Dor Gwieta

Dor Gwieta

LA JOLLA, California — Natan Sharansky has been my inspiration, from his work not only as a Jewish leader, but also as an educator and a pro-Israel activist. His life story is a guidebook for me on how a Jewish community leader should act—we must manifest his ideals within the Jewish community.

As The Jewish Agency for Israel prepares to celebrate Natan’s accomplishments with the organization on March 7 in New York City, I am inspired to share my personal connection with one of our brightest leaders in the global Jewish community.

Natan has been the Chairman of The Jewish Agency for nine years, including during my two-year service as a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at University of California, San Diego. I had many opportunities to speak with him personally, and to listen to his ideas about the history and future of the Jewish people.

Six months ago, I had the privilege of walking Natan to his hotel in Washington, D.C. On that walk, we spoke about my fears for the future of the Jewish people. That was when I realized how impressive a leader and mentor he is. Natan could see far beyond anything that I could imagine, and created a space for us to discuss my fears and hopes for future communities. I am proud to have served under his leadership.

Every day, when we recite tefilat ha’amidah (the standing prayer) three times, we say, “הָשִׁיבָה שׁוֹפְטֵינוּ כְּבָרִאשׁוֹנָה, וְיוֹעֲצֵינוּ כְּבַתְּחִלָּה,” meaning “bring us our most high advisors and our judges at first.” We need this prayer so that we can differentiate between right and wrong, and have the courage to choose the right path. For me, that mission has been driven by Natan Sharansky, and for that I am grateful.

On that day in Washington, I told Natan about my relationship with Arab students at my university. Natan showed great interest in my work and helped me understand how important my job is as one of The Jewish Agency’s corps of more than 2,000 shlichim (Israeli emissaries) throughout the Diaspora. I shared with him a connection that I have with a number of students who are not supporters of Israel, but simply don’t know the truth about the Jewish State. I managed to have a healthy conversation with those students. With a little bit of Arabic, good coffee, a nice smile, and a lot of understanding, we were able to find common ground.

Following this conversation with Natan, I decided to commit myself to the future of the Jewish people—to try as best I can to build the type of community that we can all be proud of. My work with students has become more focused and more powerful.

Today, after two years on campus, I can easily measure the impact all of the ideas that Natan has given me as an educator, a Jewish leader, and a pro-Israel activist. I pray from the bottom of my heart that our paths will cross again, and that I will again have the opportunity to learn from my mentor and ask him questions.

Thank you, Natan, for all of your hard work, dedication, and commitment to improving our Jewish future and cultivating our community’s aspiring leaders. I encourage my fellow Jewish leaders to join me and #CelebrateWithNatan.

Dor Gwieta is the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow to Hillel at University of California, San Diego.