Jerusalem—Chaim Chesler and Sandra Cahn, Co-founders of Limmud FSU (Former Soviet Union), recently announced that the upcoming Limmud FSU conference in Belarus, taking place this summer, will feature a special event in memory of the late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon whose parents were born in Belarus. The event is expected to take place in Sharon’s father’s hometown city of Brest. Sharon’s sons, Omri and Gilad, are expected to be invited to the event.

The event, which is expected to attract some 700 Russian-speaking young adults from across Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the Baltic states, is also expected to have an official representative from both the Belarus and Israeli governments.

Sharon’s parents were Shmuel Scheinerman (1896–1956) from Brest-Litovsk and Vera Scheinerman (1900–1988) from Mogilev; both towns are in what was then Belorussia and is now Belarus. The family immigrated to mandatory Palestine in 1922 in the wake of the growing persecution of Jews in the region by the local Communist authorities and settled in the agricultural village of Kfar Malal in the Sharon plain.

Limmud FSU is operational in eight countries and this will be the second Limmud FSU conference to be held in Belarus. The first was held in Vitebsk, the birth place of Marc Chagall, and honored the memory of two other prominent Israeli leaders, both of whom were also born in Belorussia. Prime Minister Menachem Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk 100 years ago, and President Shimon Peres, in the small town of Vishneyeva, 90 years ago.