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An Emotional Welcome
For An Israeli Hero
Special to The Jewish News
353-1424
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NEWS
Jewelers
Jerusalem — Israelis took a
holiday from their everyday cares
and concerns to give a tumultuous
hero's welcome to Anatoly
Shcharansky. For Anatoly — who
has now changed his name to
Natan — the two-day journey
from a Soviet prison to the West-
ern Wall in Jerusalem, from Rus-
sian pariah to Israel's favorite
son, must have been overwhelm-
ing.
But for Israelis his arrival had
the same cathartic impact as
Entebbe or the rescue of Ethio-
pian Jewry. It reminded everyone
-- for awhile at least — that there
is life beyond economic crisis,
political infighting and peace
processes that don't quite make it
off the ground.
Here, n the flesh, was a
genuine Jewish hero who had de-
fied the might of a powerful state
for the right to live in the Jewish
homeland.
The result was a spontaneous
outpouring of affection that in-
cluded more than a touch of
gratitude.
For Anatoly Shcharansky has
become more than a symbol of
Soviet Jewry's struggle. He re-
minds those who already live in
Israel of their privilege and ulti-
mate purpose.
Not every Israeli turned out to
greet Anatoly. It only looked that
way. The rest were at home glued
to their television sets or waiting
at the Western Wall, hoping that
he would come there straight from
the airport as former Prisoner of
Zion Yosef Mendelevich had done
on his memorable arrival nearly
five years ago. (Mendelevich was
at Anatoly's welcome, shepherd-
ing two tiny children and looking
every inch an Israeli.)
It was mostly religious Zionist
youngsters who flooded. into
Ben-Gurion Airport; busload
upon busload of them, a sea of
knitted kippot, an ocean of flags
and banners. Hundreds of young
parents came with children,
whom they held aloft to see the
great man. "There he is, there is
Anatoly," parents called out, as
the children stared uncom-
prehending through the arc lights
and the din. But perhaps some
memory of the historic moment
will remain to be told to their
children.
By the time Anatoly and Avital
reached the dais, there were an
estimated 10,000 people swaying
below them — a moving wall of
love.
Speaking in hesitant but usable
Hebrew — and turning to Avital
to help find the words when they
escaped him — Anatoly spoke
briefly of his long struggle, telling
how, alone in his cell, he would
sing Hebrew songs like "Hinei
Matov U'Mana'im" (How good
and pleasant it is for brothers to
sit together).
The crowd needed no further
prompting. They picked up the
song with such gusto that the
strength of their voices alone
seemed enough to, carry frail
Anatoly to Jerusalem.
In any event, he made the jour-
ney as he has made so many —
Religious News Service
38 Friday, February 14, 4986
A natoly Shcharansky
with a close police escort. But this
time, the men in the black cars
were Jews, like himself, and he
was going home.
It takes about 45 minutes to
drive from Ben-Gurion Airport to
Jerusalem, past sleeping
moshavim and up through the si-
lent forests of the Judean Hills. It
was a breathtaking night, crisp
and scarlet, and the city itself was
looking its best.
We cried as we drove around the
Old City to the Kotel (Western
Wall), knowing that Anatoly
would be seeing all this for the
very first time. It was a slightly
different crowd that met Anatoly
and Avital on the Great Plaza by
the Western Wall. There were
throngs of black-hatted men, the
boys from the Ray Kook Yeshiva
who long ago took Avital and her
crusade to their hearts, and hun-
dreds of couples in their 30s and
40s who, before making aliyah,
had marched and demonstrated
for Anatoly in the West.
One heard everywhere the
comment that Anatoly, the sym-
bol, had been a part of their lives
for so long that the prospect of se-
eing him here in Jerusalem, no
longer just a fact on a poster, took
some adjusting to.
There was no time for contem-
plation. Anatoly was swept to the
Wall above a dancing, singing
crowd. Avital left his side for the
first time to pray in the women's
section. There were scores of pro-
fessional photographers and hun-
dreds of amateurs everywhere.
But the absence of privacy at so
emotional a moment did not ap-
pear to stress the Shcharanskys.
They seemed, rather, to be buoyed
up by the joyful mood of the crowd.
Avital, who had scarcely rested
through all the long days of ten-
sion preceding Anatoly's release,
looked near collapse but insisted
— waving away a chair — "I feel
fine, so much excitement."
All around were old friends, col-
leagues from the Soviet Union
who had fought alongside Anatoly
before his arrest and for him in
the years that followed.
For thein,,'this night was a
Continued on Page 40