THE RETROIJ,JEVIISK
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r
Friday,,August J9, 1983
3
See Emergence of Soviet Jews Jewish Pride
(Continued from Page 12)
seems to have dissipated
during the past few years,
perhaps because of the
deterioration of the situ
ation of the Jews within the
Soviet Union today. How-
ever, at one time, it did
cause many problems be-
tween the differing groups.
The support for the Jews,
from some democratic dissi-
dents and others from
nationalistic groups has
caused some problems. The
Jews, that have been aided
by the dissidents, feel that
they in turn should give
credit where due, and feel
an obligation and desire to
assist those dissidents when
needed. There has been a
great deal of differing opin-
ion within various Zionist
groups regarding any sup-
port for these dissidents or
political opponents of the
Soviet system.
Dr. Gitelman does not
delve into this subject
(and rightly so) but these
"differing opinions" have
caused problems in Is-
rael, in the Western world
for those that support
Soviet Jewry.The Israeli
position and some
"Jewish Establishment"
organizations have al-
ways supported only
Soviet Jewish aliya. They
do not want to give any
appearance of wanting to
reform the Soviet Union,
or appear to be anti-
Soviet. Having contact
with former prisoners
and refusniks; this some-
times presents a terrible
dilemma for them.
They're aided and sup-
ported by some dissidents;
on some issues there has
been much cooperation.
They feel that they cannot
abandon their friends when
they are needed.
Dr. Gitelman has stated
in his book: "The Israeli
authorities have consis-
tently taken a 'hands off'
attitude toward the political
dissidents and have actively
opposed attempts by Soviet
immigrants to,publicly sup-
port political oppositionists
in the USSR. When an arri-
val told authorities of his in-
tention to 'prevent the
Soviet Union from doing to
others what they did to
him,' he was told bluntly
`Not from here you wouldn't
do any such thing.' "
This issue was recently
raised again at the World
Conference on Soviet Jewry
held in Jerusalem, last
March, and disagreements
arose. Misha Eidelman
(long time refusnik, for-
merly of Riga, now of Kiryat
Motzkin, who continues to
use his energies to fight for
freedom for Soviet Jews) put
it very clearly as printed in
the New York Times.
"I believe it is impor-
tant to have also non-
Jews fighting for Jews. If
I want nuns and priests to
go and fight for Jews, and
somebody askes me to
sign a declaration for
Sakharov, can I say no,
because he is a Gentile?"
Interesting note, the only
two prisoners left from
the first Leningrad trial
are Alexei Murzhenko
and Yuri Federov, both
non-Jews. They have not
denounced their Jewish
friends. Is the Soviet
Union continuing to hold
them "dafka" because
they are non-Jews?
As Dr. Gitelman points
out, Israel did not want to
admit to Soviet Jewish
emigration during the
1960s and no statistics were
ever published. He feels this
was due to the fear of offend-
ing the Soviet Union and
thus halting the small
trickle of emigrants.
The. Soviets at the same
time feared publicity, stat-
ing it was only • for the
reunification of families,
and that on humanitarian
grounds, only the old and
sick were being allowed to
leave. The Soviets. obviously
feared that other
nationalities would also
begin to- pressure them for
permission to emigrate. As
emigration grew, the Is-
raelis'became more secure
and began to publicly- ac-.
knowledge that, indeed
Jews were •eaving the
Soviet Union kid coming to
Israel.
The Israeli policy at the
beginning of the Jewish
emigration was set by Shaul
Avigur, and his "special
office." That policy was not
to publish open appeals and
petitions, because of the be-
liefthat Jews would be freed
through secret negotia-
tions. Nechemia Levanon
attempted to continue his
policy.
There had been much
controversy about these
policies, although Dr.
Gitelman does not go into
it. The activists claimed
that information regard-
ing refusniks was being
withheld from them, and
they (the activists) felt
that all groups wanted to
see the same results - i.e.
the freedom of Soviet
Jews to emigrate, there-
fore, information ob-
tained should be shared
by all.
I remember at a confer-
ence in Israel some years
ago, a former refusnik
openly confronting Mr.
Levanon with the words,
"You have no right to keep
the lists of refusniks secret,
when they want their
names published."
In fact, during these
times, there was much open
complaining about this very
issue, and the lack of open
support from Israel.
A change finally was
forced upon Israeli policy by
various means, as Dr.
Gitelman points out. Just to
list a few: The Soviet Jews
established their own con-
tacts with the Western ac-
tivists, newspaper and TV
reporters, etc.; public
demonstrations in the West
by Soviet Jewry activists
and sympathizers; and more
Soviet Jews in Israel de-
manding more open sup-
port.
The Israelis had no
choice, but to change their
policies, and slowly but
surely they have become
more vocal and open in the
struggle for Soviet Jewry.
Israel has never been short
of immediate pressing prob-
lems, and perhaps the ques-
tion of precedence was con-
sidered, perhaps the change
in government brought a
change in policy.
emigration
Soviet
policies are purposely
undefined, vague and, of
course, nothing appears
in writing. One never
knows when one' applies
to leave, what will hap-
pen. Will they be let go
with no problems, or will
they yet become another
"example" for all to see —
i.e. held in limbo for years
and years, or face the
possibility of being put in
prison and/or a labor
camp on some trumped
up charge. This in itself
puts doubt and pressure
on potential emigrants.
The Soviets have signed
at least three international
agreements to allow those
that wish to leave, to leave,
and yet they blatantly viol-
ate these agreements. Some
say that there is no rhyme
nor reason to the Soviet pol-
icy of allowing some to leave
with no problems, and some
to wait for years and years,
either at home, in exile or
suffering in prisons and
camps.
It seems to me that the
unpredictableness and
quixotic policy is definitely
part of the Soviet policy.
One never knows that will
happen.
The big iron doors of the
Soviet Union open and then
they close and then they
,
Talmud Fragment Published
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A
Fragment of talmudic liter-
ature, possibly dating back
to the Fifth Century or even
the talmudic period itself
(which began in the Third
Century), has recenity been
published here.
The fragment was dis-
covered in 1980 among the
more than 140,000 pieces of
Hebrew writings recovered
from the Cairo Geniza. A
geniza is a traditional
Jewish burial place for holy
writings.
The significance of the
discovery, which was made
by Marc Bergman, lecturer
in rabbinic literature and
coordinator of classical He-
brew studies at the Hebrew
Union College in
Jerusalem, is that it is one
of the only existing manu-
scripts of talmudic litera-
ture from before. the Ninth
Century.
"The fragment demon-
strates the way in which
this literature, which is the
foundation of all later
Judaism, was set down in
writing," Bergman said.
"This fragment is for tal-
mudic research, what the
the Dead Sea Scrolls were
for biblical and Second
Temple period studies," he
added.
open again. Slowly the
numbers rose from the
1960s to about 34,000 leav-
ing in 1973. During the
height of the Yom Kippur
War, thousands were leav-
ing, while the anti-Zionist
propaganda was spewing
forth from the Soviet Union.
Then the numbers
dropped again, rose
slowly to the •peak of
about 50,000 leaving in
1979, and since that time
they have dropped
dramatically. At this time
the doors of the Soviet
Union are barely open —
we see only a tiny trickle
leaving now.
We observed the 31st
anniversary on Aug. 12
of the Night of the
Murdered Poets, when the
Soviet governthent mur-
dered 24 Jewish writers and
Poets in Lubiyanka prison
in Moscow. We witnessed
the death of Yiddish culture
within the Soviet Union.
They are gone, but cer-
tainly not forgotten, at the
same time we cannot forget
those that need our help
now, more than ever. We do
not know exactly what will
work these days to help our
Soviet Jewish brothers and
sisters, but we must use all
available legal . means to
free them from the big
prison called the Soviet
Union.
I have heard it said that
conditions for the Soviet
Jews will improve as rela-
tions between the Soviet
Union and the United
States improve — that very
well may be, but in the
meantime, we must con-
tinue to insist the United
States government bring up
this issue at every opportu-
nity, not just at every meet-
ing with the Soviets. Now is
the time to send letters to
Secretary of State George
Shultz (who may be meeting
with Gromyko soon) regard-
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ing the third trial (soon
forthcoming) of Yosef Be-
gun.
There is no doubt that he
will be sent ,away again.
However, if enough pres-
sure is applied, we may be
at least able to effect a lesser
sentence for him. Let us
work continuously to free
the Soviet Jews, so that they
can become Israelis.
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