The Jewish National Fund named music virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich of the National Symphony Orchestra Man of the Year Wednesday.
Rostropovich, a cellist and conductor who left the Soviet Union 20 years ago, will have a JNF forest named for him outside Jerusalem.
Accepting his award before some 340 persons, Rostropovich spoke of his visits to Israel beginning in 1959, when the country was “full of big stones and bulldozers,” and his friendship with Soviet Jews. “Jews and music, they are the same,” said Rostropovich.
Rostropovich also lauded the U.S. for supporting the National Symphony and for protecting freedom.
“Not only forests need defense, but also people need defense. I’m so happy America is so strong,” said Rostropovich. “We need a strong country to protect us and secure freedom.”
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle echoed the theme of America’s strength, saying that the U.S. must compete with the Soviet Union which spends 15 to 17 percent of its Gross National Product on military.
“American strength is vital not only to the security of our allies, but to the security, even to the existence of the State of Israel. We want to protect the millions of trees and the people who enjoy it,” said Perle. Perle, who left the Reagan Administration three weeks ago, said that when President Reagan first took office, the U.S. defense systems were badly in need of improvement. “We’ve asked the American people to make the sacrifice,” said Perle. “We’re part way there, but not all the way, and it’s no time to quit.”
Perle also said he was sure neither Congress nor the President would revoke the Jackson Vanik Amendment which links increased emigration from the Soviet Union with trade benefits.
Sen. John Heinz (R. Pa.), a friend of Rostropovich, had just returned from a trip to the Soviet Union where he had met with refuseniks.
“They’ve undergone incredible travail and tragedy and yet somehow when you meet them the last thing you feel is any of that. You generally feel inspired,” Heinz said.
Eric Fox, a former JNF president, presented Rostropovich with the JNF award calling him “a living symbol of growth and rebirth.”
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