An awesome story of Zionism.
Today, former Prisoner of Zion and current Knesset speaker, Yuli Edelstein, became the first Israeli to address the Russian parliament.
Donning a Kippah, he opened his speech in Hebrew;
“Thirty-three years ago, I was a prisoner, here in Moscow, by the authorities of the Soviet Union for the crime of teaching the Hebrew language.”
He continued speaking in Russian.
Edelstein visited the Archipova Synagogue where he and fellow Refuseniks (those who were not permitted to make Aliyah) used to covertly meet to study Zionism and Hebrew.
He also visited Butyarka prison, where he was held prior to being sent to the gulags. Here, Edelstein was once held in solitary refinement for losing his cool at a guard who found and broke his hidden Tephillin.
Edelstein also revisited the courtroom in which he was sentenced to three years of hard labour in the gulags.
Today, Edelstein addressed the Russian parliament in the same language that he was sent to the gulags for teaching. He was not allowed to express his Zionist identity, but today he stood as the speaker of the Knesset, the parliament of the Jewish State of Israel.
Zionism wins.
Credit: @yuliedelstein & @lahavharkov