8 | SEPTEMBER 21 • 2023
PURELY COMMENTARY
column
Show Solidarity with American Reporter
Evan Gershkovich, Jailed in Russia
J
ewish families are
gathering together for
the High Holidays, but
in an otherwise flourishing
community on the East
Coast, one
heartsick family
of Jewish
emigres from
the Soviet
Union will
be missing
their 31-year-
old son. Ella
and Mikhail
Gershkovich, separately fled
the Soviet Union during a
period of mass emigration
in the wake of rumors that
Jews were about to be exiled
to Siberia, ending up in the
United States in 1979 and
eventually New York City.
Their son, Wall Street Journal
reporter Evan Gershkovich,
was seized by the Russians
in March, while he was on
assignment in Yekaterinburg.
Gershkovich had lived in
Russia for six years prior
to his arrest, at the time of
which he was based at the
Journal’s bureau in Moscow
and covering the war in
Ukraine. He was covering the
Russian mercenary military
organization Wagner when he
was arrested.
He is now languishing
in the notorious Lefortovo
Prison, used to imprison
political dissidents, including
Soviet author Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, author of The
Gulag Achipelago. With
Evan’s pretrial detention now
scheduled for Nov. 30, it is
critical that we demonstrate
our solidarity with Evan as he
endures these long months in
custody.
Redeeming captives is
an essential part of our
obligations as Jews. In the
Torah, when Lot is taken
captive, Abraham mobilizes
318 servants to rescue him.
Our sages used this as the
basis of a universal Jewish
obligation to redeem Jews
who are taken prisoner,
exemplifying the paramount
Jewish value of preserving life
at all costs and elevating the
responsibility that all Jews
have for each other’s safety
and wellbeing.
Throughout Jewish
history, our community has
undertaken extraordinary
campaigns to redeem
captives. In the 10th century,
Jews in Spain, North Africa
and Egypt all contributed
sums for the liberation of
four rabbinic scholars who
were captured while sailing in
Italian waters. The renowned
12th-century Jewish
philosopher Maimonides
wrote open letters to the
Jews of Egypt to urge them
to redeem captives in the
Land of Israel and elsewhere.
Jewish communities in
Constantinople, Salonika
and Venice took up a
collection to free 20,000
Polish Jews during the
time of the horrific
Khmelnitsky massacres in
the 17th century. And in the
20th century, Jews around the
world and the State of Israel
joined together to redeem
millions from behind the
Iron Curtain.
We are fortunate that the
United States government
is working assiduously to
ensure Evan’s release, along
with that of former U.S,
Marine Paul Whelan, who
was accused — also without
any evidence — of spying.
Lynne M. Tracy, the U.S.
Ambassador to Russia,
has visited Evan three times
in prison, most recently
in mid-August, and has
reported that he seems still
to be in good health and
remains strong.
Even as Evan’s case is not
in the headlines every day, we
have not forgotten him and
we will stand behind him, no
matter how long it takes until
he is released. It is for this
reason that we are inviting
people of all faiths around the
globe to send Evan a greeting
with a wish for the Jewish
New Year. We will deliver
one collective letter to Evan
combining these messages
of hope. We will deliver the
full messages in their entirety
to Evan’s family to comfort
them, in hopes that Evan
will be able to read them all
upon his return home. The
more people of all ages who
participate in this project, the
louder our voice of love and
support will be.
A traditional greeting
during the High Holiday
period is to wish one another
to be “inscribed in the book
of life” for the coming year.
Let us all pray that Evan
Gershkovich and all others
in captivity be inscribed
in the Book of Life for the
coming year and let us also
ensure that the Russian
authorities know that
securing Evan’s freedom is
forefront in our minds, as is
the manner in which Russia
treats this case.
Please visit https://tinyurl.
com/mrxh8tmh to write your
High Holiday greeting to
Evan.
Eric D. Fingerhut is the president and
CEO of The Jewish Federations of North
America (JFNA). Prior to his appointment
at JFNA, he served as the president and
CEO of Hillel International from 2013-19.
At Hillel, he led the organization’s Drive
to Excellence, which resulted in doubling
the number of students engaged by Hillel
each year to over 130,000 and the total
funds raised each year to nearly $200
million.
Eric
Fingerhut
Times of
Israel