Natan Sharansky Sharansky is married to Avital Sharansky and has two daughters, Rachel and Hannah. In the Soviet Union, his application to marry Avital was denied by the authorities. They were married in a friend's apartment, in a ceremony not recognized by the government, as the USSR only recognized civil marriage and not religious marriage. Sharansky was denied an exit visa to Israel in 1973. The reason given for denial of the visa was that he had been given access, at some point in his career, to information vital to Soviet national security and could not now be allowed to leave. After
Eli Sadan During his studies, he was asked by Rabbi Kook to assist in establishing Moshav Keshet in the Golan Heights and in establishing a core of Torah scholars in Eilat. Together with Rabbi Tzvi Tau, he was delegated by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda with regarding to prisoners of Zion, among them Natan Sharansky. They even held a secret telephone conversation before Sharansky entered the Russian prison. Afterwards, Sadan held several meetings with US officials in order to secure Sharansky's release. In 1988, Sadan established the first pre-military preparatory program (mechina), together with Rabbi Yigal Levinstein. The mechina is named "Bnei David" and