Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was presented with a Torah scroll and a medal here Tuesday by leaders of the Latin American Jewish Congress, in gratitude for his contributions to world peace, democracy and human rights.
In accepting the Torah and medal, Gorbachev compared his quest for freedom with that of Moses. He said that once people move forward toward Freedom, there can be no going backward.
For example, he said, when the Jews left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness, many of them complained and said they wanted to return. However, Moses insisted on going forward toward the Promised Land, even when the going got rough.
Gorbachev spoke warmly of his recent visit to Israel, and said he saw there “the great desire of the people to have peace.” He joked that in Israel, unlike Brazil, he did not need an interpreter, because everyone speaks Russian.
He said that now that there is no longer an Iron Curtain, frequent encounters between people of all continents and all religions are possible.
“Perhaps what is most important is one person encountering another,” he said. He stressed that there is no longer a Cold War, but there are other problems, such as ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and the poverty in Latin America.
Benno Milnitzky, president of the Latin American Jewish Congress, presented Gorbachev with the Medal of Israel and thanked him in the name of all of the Jews of Latin America “for advancing world disarmament, restoring democracy and freedom of religious expression within the ex-Soviet Union, as well as the right to free mobility for its citizens, regardless of religion or origin.”
The Latin American Jewish Congress is affiliated with the World Jewish Congress.
Rabbi Henry Sobel, who presented Gorbachev with the Torah, said, “You have received gifts from kings and queens, from heads of state and presidents, from community leaders throughout the world.
“Today, in Sao Paulo, as a rabbi, I would like to give you the most precious symbol of our faith: a Torah. Because you have restored to our Soviet brothers and sisters the right to study it and practice its teachings.
“Moreover, you gave our brothers and sisters in the former Soviet Union the freedom to take the Torah with them to any country in which they choose to live.”
Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, were in Sao Paulo as part of a four-country Latin American trip. The Sao Paulo meeting, sponsored by Latin American Jewish Congress and attended by leaders from all segments of the community and more than 300 community members, was the only Jewish event on Gorbachev’s agenda in Latin America.
There are some 150,000 Jews in Brazil, half of whom live in Sao Paulo.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
