Ariel Sharon. Exhibition includes photos from IDF, government archives and personal collections
Photo: AP
Ariel Sharon honored in Belarus museum
Special photo exhibition in memory of late Israeli prime minister displayed at National History Museum of Belarus, from where Sharon’s parents immigrated to Jewish state.
A memorial event with a special photo exhibition honoring late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon
took place this week in Minsk at the National History Museum of Belarus, from where Sharon’s parents immigrated to the Jewish state.
The memorial for Israel’s 11th prime minister was held in collaboration with the government of Belarus, the Israeli Embassy and the local Jewish community, with the participation of Sharon's son, Gilad, and close aide Israel Maimon, who served as his cabinet secretary.
The event was held as part of the Limmud FSU Belarus festival, a festival of Jewish learning held in Vitebsk last week, which drew over 600 young Jews, mostly professionals 20 to 40 years old.
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Marit Danon, who was prime minister Sharon’s personal secretary, curated the photo exhibition, which includes photos from the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli government archives and Sharon's personal collections.
"I am very excited to stand here today at the opening of the exhibition on the life of my father," said Gilad Sharon at the opening ceremony. "My father's life stations integrated in Israel's history, and I hope this beautiful exhibition will be another step in deepening the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jews, and maybe some of them will go to Israel."
"It is a great honor for Limmud FSU to host this new exhibition, which is on display here in Belarus, about one of the great leaders of the State of Israel who was born to parents who came from this country last century," said Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU.
"Ariel Sharon never forgot the legacy of his family and put in great effort to learn Russian and his family’s history. This is why we’ve decided to have this event and exhibition during our Limmud FSU Belarus Festival- to show a wonderful example of a great leader whose roots are here, though his life and activities were in Israel."
Sharon himself was born in Kfar Malal, an agricultural moshav in central Israel, in 1928. He is not the only Israeli with Belorussian roots to be honored in the country of late.
A ceremony honoring Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew, was held last week 100 miles north of Minsk in Glubokoe, where Ben-Yehuda studied Jewish studies.
Launched during the second Jewish learning conference in Belarus of Limmud FSU, the ceremony featured the unveiling of a plaque by Ben-Yehuda’s great-grandson Gil Hovav, an Israeli celebrity chef. Ben-Yehuda immigrated to the land of Israel in 1881, where he worked to revive and modernize the Hebrew language.
"This emphasis helps Jewish and non-Jewish Belarusians connect to Israel and the Jewish people,” Chaim Chesler told the JTA, remarking on Limmud FSU’s priority to underline the cultural links between Israel and Belarus.
The Jewish community in Belarus in the third largest in the former Soviet Union, with Minsk serving as the largest center with 20,000 Jews living in the capital and the rest spread out in the country's smaller cities and towns.
Other Israelis with Belorussian roots include former prime ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, as well as former presidents Chaim Weizmann and Shimon Peres.
Reprinted with permission from the Tazpit News Agency.
