I had the fortune of meeting and interviewing David Harris of the American Jewish Committee today. The AJC has been instrumental in fighting for the rights of Russian / Soviet Jews for over a hundred years. I asked David about the history of Soviet Jewry, and the effect that the Soviet politic had on us as a people. His answers were poignant and clearly demonstrated why he is one of the key figures in the political landscape of Eastern-European Jewry. I also couldn’t help asking why he has personally invested so much of his time and career into the movement for our freedom, and thanked him for his part in my own family’s release from the state that tried on several occasions to prevent my very existence, to say nothing of my identity.
Nov 102010