Survival of Jewish Religion in USSR Hangs in Balance

socio-econorolc area -- are un-

the Jewish Center before some 173 younger, post - Stalinist genera-
true.
organization representatives and tion, is their 30s and younger,"
Whereas the proportionate rep-
young people attending the first be said. "They don't have the resentation
of Jews in schools of
Soviet Jewry Conference. The psychological burden of their higher learning
has declined (in
morning meeting, sponsored by the parents, who suffered under the 1930s, they totaled 14 per cent;
Jewish Community Council, was Stalin. They are bolder, more today only 4 per cent), the abso-
designed to explore ways to make imaginative, less fearful. There lute number has increased, Dr.
Soviet Jewry a year-round issue— Is a curious link between them Gitelman said, explaining that
until protests have yielded an im- and their grandparents, the pre- other peoples of the Soviet Union
proved living situation and/or em- revolutionary generation that have developed intellectually in
can recall a flourishing Jewish
igration.
the past 40 years.
culture, that transmits a histori-
Stressing that Soviet Jewry is
He conceded, however, that local
cal memory and a psychological
extremely heterogeneous, divided
officials
in such republics as the
identity to the present genera-
by great geographical and cul-
Ukraine and Moldavia, traditional-
tion.•
tural differences, Dr. Gitelman
ly anti-Semitic areas, may display
also pointed out significant gen-
That link, said Dr. Gitelman, prejudice against Jewish univer-
erational differences. "'Ilse most "often leads to tensions between sity candidates. No matter where
surprising generation is the the children and their parents," he lives in the Soviet Union, the
who, remembering the terror of Jew is considered an alien, said
and 30 years ago, prefer not to Dr. Gitelman, and when native
Detroit Youth Raise Voices 20
rock the boat.
sons are competing against aliens
While the Khrushchev campaign for the same seats, the former are
in Freedom for Russian Jews to close houses of worship has going to get first choice.
of Michigan medical student, who ceased, the diminution in number
One-two-three-four
As for occupations, Jews suffer
described his own experiences as of synagogues continues, most discrimination primarily in seek-
Open up the Iron Door!
Five-six-seven-eight
a tourist among the Jews of the worshipers are elderly, and the ing positions of authority. Particu-
LIBERATE!
handful of rabbis offers little in- larly since the Six-Day War, the
Soviet Unon.
It was the deafeMng chant of
The Habonim Dancers performed tellectual leadership.
charge of dual loyalties has been
some 500 teen-agers whose to the Yevtushenko poem, -"Bald
Dr. Gitelman stressed, however,
among suspicious Soviet au-
thoughts were far from football Yar," read in Russian by Daniel that "We'll do a great disservice loud
thorities, who see the emergence
fields and . rock concerts, whose Berk, a 29-year-old attorney whose to Soviet Jewry if we look at the of
a
new
militancy among the Jews.
concern of many weeks had come o w n experiences in the Soviet situation from an imagined per-
Dr. Gitelman observed that anti-
to a climax of cheering, singing Union have made him a militant spective of 1980 or '90." The Semitism
exists on two levels; on
and dancing — all for the cause on their behalf.
younger generation depends on the the social level, which is not dis-
of unseen brothers and sisters on
Also on the program, chaired older generation to nurture its couraged by the Soviet regime,
the other side of the world.
by Merril Kramer, were a drama- Jewish identity, he said.
and on the official level
Project Outcry 1970 was the tization, "Five Candles," recalling
Additionally, the synagogue is
The latter, he said, is a conse-
work of a group of teen-agers who the history of oppression against the
only
Jewish
address
in
the
quence
of the background of offi-
have sought to express their soli- Jews; songs of Russian Jewry
darity with Soviet Jewry, the vic- sung by "Hador Hadash," Itzy Soviet Union. "Everything else cials, from the top down, who gen-
is
a
person
or
a
that
is
Jewish
erally
come
from peasant back-
tims of a repressive government Weisberg and Nate Frankel; and
book in a museum. Young Jews grounds — anti-liberal, anti-intel-
policy that forbids them the right community singing and dancing.
see
the
may
be
atheistic,
but
they
lectual
and
with
the syndrome of
to live fully as Jews, yet denies
Student planners who were synagogue as a meeting place for anti-Semitism.
them the right to emigrate.
credited with the success of the Jewish people, as a Beis Hakness-
To the Jew living in limbo —
The young people were joined program included Laurel Brain-
denied a full, creative Jewish life,
by a number of adults — bringing in, Marty Gene, Gary Honvitch,
With the continuation of Khrush- yet not permitted to assimilate
the total participation to more Dorothy Blechman, Sharon
than 600 — marching by candle Blechman, Gary Cooper, Steve chev's restrictions on Jewish cul- into the culture of Russia — emi-
light from the Dexter-Davison Mar- Gerger, Lisa Gould, Gary Haupt- ture — the closing of Jewish gration may be the only way out
ket down 10 Mile Rd. to Temple man, Sue Klimist, Bruce Ko- schools and the absence of pub- Yet he is not allowed to do that
Emanu-EL
enlf,sberg, Cary Nagdeman, lishing facilities for scholarly either. Often the mere act of ap-
for an exit permit results
Sympathizers driving down the Madeline Plotkin and Liz Spick- books — young people have led in plying
the development of an underground in the loss of a job, or arrest
street rolled down windows to ler.
What indeed should American
culture, said Dr. Gitelman. They
shout encouragement and added
Joe Weiss, a student at Wayne
demand in Its protests for
some honking horns to the sing- State University, and Jacob Stoll- meet in small groups, play Hebrew Jewry
records, listen to Israel radio via Soviet brethren? Said Gitelman:
ing and chanting of marchers.
man of Windsor, a student at Yes- shortwave sets, read books — all "Can we demand rights for them
Later, at a rally in the temple hiva University, served as advisers
other nationalities? Or for
auditorium, filled to overflowing, throughout the Project Outcry ac- in an effort "to construct a Jewish like
it was announced that Oak Park tivities, including a week-long ef- identification." Dr. Gitelman said the special right to let them
leave?
Can we ask that the Jew-
it
was
in
response
to
the
requests
Mayor Joseph Forbes would pro- fort at shopping centers, distribut-
identification be removed
claim Soviet Jewry Week in Oak ing information and collecting of young Jews that the govern- ish
from
their
passports? Or that
ment-sanctioned Jewish paper
Park, starting Monday.
funds on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Sovietish
Heimland has begun a there be the right to establish
• • •
Mayor Forbes, who could not be
column, Teach Yourself Yiddish. Jewish facilities, thus emphasis-
present for the rally, sent a mes-
Another rally on behalf of So-
the intermarriage rate, once ing that Jewish identification?
sage that at a December meeting viet Jewry was staged on the Uni- Even
high, appears to be declining
"The answer is, we can demand
of the National League of Cities versity of Michigan campus by the very
in
some
republics.
all these things. Soviet Jews should
he would propose a Soviet Jewry Committee for Soviet Jews, under
While
Dr.
Gitelman
was
ada-
have
the right of choice, the op-
Protest Week throughout the coun- the chairmanship of Judy Krohn.
tions that are allowed to other
mant in his condemnation of
The rally included an address
try.
Soviet
repression
of
Jewish
cul-
groups.
The Jews are a special
Rabbi Gerald Teller of Cong. by Karen Goren, who spent a sum-
Shaarey Zedek told the young mer in Russia and who described tural and religious life, he said case, and they always have been.
protestors: "We cannot be silent; the goals of the supporters of So- some of the charges against the Although we must make demands
we must not be silent; we dare viet Jewry as "to save Jewish Soviet Union — namely in the in light of what is palatable to the
not be silent. We must break youth, to be sure religious objects
down the walls of Moscow's reach them and to make our sup- Georgian Jew Befriended Detroit Tourist
hardness . . . and break down port evident."
the unconcern of our fellow
The program also included a
Jews. The plight of Soviet Jewry presentation which drew parallels
Is our cause."
between Soviet policy toward the
Such a protest, said Rabbi Tel- Jews and the treatment of Jews
A Soviet Georgian Jew, whose Comrade Major Kiknadze, with
ler, reminds the Soviet govern- under Hitler. Excerpts from "'Bata desire to emigrate to Israel was shouts: 'Don't ever come here
ment that "We shall not allow our Yar" were read, and Hillel Direc-
again for any Jewish business!
Russian brethren to die." It re- tor Rabbi Gerald Goldman said a described first hand by a South- That's what we have been ordered
field attorney in last week's Jew- by the higher authorities.' "
minds the world and the Jews of prayer for Soviet Jewry.
Russia "that the young people of
Following the formal part of the ish News, has sent a letter to
The letter, the first from a Soviet
America are concerned."
program, participants marched by General Assembly President Ed- Jew addressed to the General
The main address was delivered candlelight to the "Diag," where yard Hambro, appealing for help Assembly president, was delivered
by Jay Masserman, a University Israeli dancing took place.
to Hambro with a covering letter
to leave the Soviet Union.
Abraham Buzukhasvili of Tbilisi from Rabbi Herschel Schacter,
had hosted Daniel Berk and an- chairman of the American Jewish
other American couple in his home Conference on Soviet Jewry.
Rabbi Schacter said the Buzu-
when the three tourists were in the
khasvili appeal was brought out of
Soviet Union.
In an interview with the Jewish Russia by a recent traveler (not
News, Berk had requested that the Berk) and was similar to 124 other
identity of Buzukhasvili and his petitions "signed by literally hun-
family be concealed, for fear that dreds of Jews in the Soviet Union
they might suffer reprisals for which have been submitted to the
speaking up. Now that the man has UN over the course of the past 12
signed both his name and address months."
on an appeal to the UN, Berk
Rabbi Schacter asked the Nor-
agreed there is no longer a need to wegian diplomat to "give this peti-
hide his identity.
tion your personal attention."
The letter, delivered to Hambro
Buzukhasvilli wrote that he had
late last week, appealed for his received a visa from Israel in July
help "to use my human rights 1969 and submitted it with other
and settle In a country which I necessary documents to the Geor-
have selected by my own free gian Ministry of Internal Affairs'
The cheers of young people fill the auditorium of Temple Emann-
will."
office of foreign travel. "I have
El Sunday night, at a Project Outcry rally for Soviet Jewry. The
He claimed that when he and received no answer at all to any of
rally, culmination of a candlelight march down 10 Mile Rd., was
other
Jews
go
to
the
local
visa
my applications," he said.
planned and executed by a team of students, and It drew the par-
office to press their petitions for
He said he sent copies of his re-
ticipation of many youth organizations and some adults.
exit permits, "We are struck with quest to Premier Alexei Kosygin,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS fists and thrown out by the chief, Communist . Party chief Leonid
56 Friday, October 30, 1970

Within the next 20 years, Juda-
ism may cease to function as an
organized religion in the Soviet
Union, according to a young and
respected student of Soviet affairs.
But, said Dr. Zvi Gitelman, his
gloomy prognosis may not come
true if the outcries on behalf of
Soviet Jewry win for them the
same right to survival as other na-
tional minorities have in the
Soviet Union — including the right
to open a rabbinical seminary or
to train young Jews abroad to re-
plenisn a dying rabbinate.
Dr. Gitelman, assistant professor
of political science at the Univer-
sity of Michigan, spoke Sunday at

Soviet system, we must care more

about the integrity of the Soviet
Jews than about the Soviet sys-
tem.
"About 10 years ago, when we
discovered Soviet Jewry, there
were two opinions. One school of
thought said iisshhh, don't make
noise. The other school said, Yell
and embarrass them. Yelling has
helped. Sovietish Heimland first
came out in 1961; there has been
limited emigration since the early
1960s. . . . The policies of acti-
vism have prevented a drastic
worsening of a situation. Before
they (Soviet Union) try another
Doctors' Plot, they'll think twice.
"Publicity will help the Jews.
On their part, they are offering to
yell and scream to bring their
case to the attention of the world.
We, in turn, must be militant to
protect them. . . . Imagine their
courage and desperation if they're
wining to risk losing their job —
or arrest — to file for an exit
permit.
"It is also important for psycho-
logical reasons to raise our voices.
It is important to go to the Soviet
Union as a tourist, to show them
we are Jews too; these are the
ties that keep them alive as part
of the world Jewish community."
In encouraging tourism to the
Soviet Union, he said the only prob-
lems is communication. No Ameri-
can Jew need fear arrest.
Southfield attorney Daniel Berk,
whose story appeared in The Jew-
ish News last week, added his own
appeal to Dr. Gitelman's. He gave
his personal account of a visit to
the Soviet Union and read the
despairing letter of a Tashkent
Jew, pleading for aid to leave the
Soviet Union.
Bernard Panush, who co-chaired
the conference with Morris Lieber-
man, suggested the ways organiza-
tions and individuals can show
their concern — through programs,
telegrams to government leaders,
petitions, protest marches, college
teach-ins and other means.
Judge Lawrence Gubow, presi-
dent of the Jewish Community
Council, urged those in attendance
to consider the conference "only
the beginning of a concerted effort
for Soviet Jewry."
Dr. Gitelman admitted that there
is no way of predicting what the
Soviet policy will be. "One hundred
pounds of outcry might produce
one ounce of action," he said. "But
the Soviet Union wants trade and
contact with the West. They know
they must curry a favorable image
in America and elsewhere. We
must take the opportunity to exer-
cise this leverage."

Plea Sent to General Assembly President

—

Brezhnev, Soviet President Nikolai
Podgorny and to other Kremlin
leaders. "But no one pays any _
attention to us," he said.
He wrote, "Let the Soviet gov-

ernment use any of its usual
methods, including hanging. They
will not dissuade me and I will
always ask to leave this country
and settle forever in Israel. This
right is given to me by the con-
stitution of the Soviet Union and
by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights."

Berk recalled Buzulchasvill's
description of efforts to win an
exit permit and said the Georgian
Jew had taught his family. to
speak Hebrew, in preparation for
the day when they would win
their fight to emigrate.
Buzukhasvili had met Berk and

his companions outside the Tbilisi
synagogue and brought them home
with him for dinner—an experi-
ence, Berk said, that will stand out
in his memory as the highlight of
his trip.
He surmised that Buzukhasvili
has gone out of his way to meet
American tourists and impress on
them his undying love of Israel and
his unending campaign to get there.

(Related Stories, Pages 42, 43)