Sharansky to visit Australia
Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency Nathan Sharansky will visit Sydney and Melbourne next month.
Natan Sharansky pic: The Jewish Agency
The visit is being hosted by the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Zionist Council of Victoria, the Zionist Council of NSW and the United Israel Appeal.
Sharansky will be the special guest and keynote speaker at the ZFA’s Biennial Conference on Sunday 30 March in Melbourne. He will also undertake a series of events with various groups in the community, including students, young adults, and members of the Israeli and Russian Jewish communities.
A Sydney communal event is planned for the Central Synagogue on March 27 with the Melbourne function to be held at Beth Weizmann on April 1.
From Israel, Sharansky said: “The Australian Jewish community, with its emphasis on Jewish education and its strong connection to Israel, is in many ways a model for the Jewish world. I look forward to visiting my friends down under and experiencing the vibrancy of Australian Jewry.”
Philip Chester, ZFA President remarked: “The ZFA is honoured to bring Natan Sharansky to Australia in his capacity as Chairman of the Jewish Agency. He is no stranger to Australia having visited here in 2008, Sharansky has always had a huge impact on those who hear him speak. I have admired him from when he was an iconic dissident and a key player in the ‘let my people go’ campaign and to see his professional and personal evolution makes him a personal role model. His presence at the ZFA Biennial and events in both Sydney and Melbourne promise to engage with community and he will certainly resonate across the generations. We look forward to him sharing his story with the community. His incredible biography, activism and involvement as Chairman of the Jewish Agency is inspiring and we welcome him, his voice and his narrative.”
