In 1977, Natan Sharansky was arrested in Moscow for demanding the right to live as a Jew. He spent the next nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps. Join us as he traces the movement that freed Soviet Jewry — how a small circle of activists in Moscow, backed by an American Jewish community rediscovering its own identity, brought down the Iron Curtain for millions.
Sharansky will draw the line from that struggle to the one we face now. After October 7, a new wave of antisemitism swept American campuses and public life. The fight for Soviet Jewry offers a powerful precedent: an ordinary generation of Jews found the courage to build a movement that changed history. How did that leadership emerge, what made the movement succeed — and what kind of leadership will it take to meet this moment?
The evening will include time for audience questions.
Light refreshments will be served.
Sharansky will draw the line from that struggle to the one we face now. After October 7, a new wave of antisemitism swept American campuses and public life. The fight for Soviet Jewry offers a powerful precedent: an ordinary generation of Jews found the courage to build a movement that changed history. How did that leadership emerge, what made the movement succeed — and what kind of leadership will it take to meet this moment?
The evening will include time for audience questions.
Light refreshments will be served.
Two Struggles, One People: Natan Sharansky on Soviet Jewry and Antisemitism Today
Moderated by Prof. Shaul Kelner
Thursday | October 15, 2026
6:00–7:30 PM (program begins promptly at 6:15 PM)
The Dupree Conference and Education Center
Thursday | October 15, 2026
6:00–7:30 PM (program begins promptly at 6:15 PM)
The Dupree Conference and Education Center
Natan Sharansky was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, and became a spokesman for the Soviet human rights movement, a Prisoner of Zion, and a leader in the struggle for the right of Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel. After requesting to make aliyah, he was arrested on trumped-up charges of treason and espionage, convicted in a Soviet court, and served nine years in the Gulag with many stretches in a punishment cell. Following massive public campaigns by the State of Israel, world Jewry, and leaders of the free world, he was released in 1986 and made aliyah on the very day of his release.
In Israel, Mr. Sharansky founded the Zionist Forum to assist Soviet olim and, in the 1990s, the Yisrael B'Aliyah party, going on to serve in four successive Israeli governments as Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He served as Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel from 2009 to 2018 and continues to chair the Shlihut Institute, which he founded. He is Chair of ISGAP (the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) and of the Combat Antisemitism Movement Advisory Board. He received the Israel Prize in 2018 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006, and is the author of four books: Fear No Evil, The Case for Democracy, Defending Identity, and Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People.
In Israel, Mr. Sharansky founded the Zionist Forum to assist Soviet olim and, in the 1990s, the Yisrael B'Aliyah party, going on to serve in four successive Israeli governments as Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He served as Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel from 2009 to 2018 and continues to chair the Shlihut Institute, which he founded. He is Chair of ISGAP (the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) and of the Combat Antisemitism Movement Advisory Board. He received the Israel Prize in 2018 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006, and is the author of four books: Fear No Evil, The Case for Democracy, Defending Identity, and Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People.
