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BY ERIC WEXLER
Special to The Jewish News
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11-30-85
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Friday, November 8, 1985
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Yosef Mendelevich looks on Monday as Akiva Hebrew Day School
students launch balloons urging action on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
"Stop singing," shouted the
Soviet prison guard. You forget
this is a prison, not a resort."
Yosef Mendelevich didn't forget.
In front of the cold eyes of
Soviet guards, Mendelevich sang
and danced to celebrate the
Sabbath and to pray for his
freedom and the freedom of
other Soviet Jews who were
locked in chains of oppression.
Mendelevich, 38, told this
story to some 600 people at the
Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield Tuesday night.
The former Prisoner of Con-
science told the audience about
his 11 years in Soviet prison
and urged them to take action
on restoring the freedom of the
two million Jews still living in
the Soviet Union.
"You would have thought that
I was insane," said Mendelevich
of his singing and dancing. "But
I was really enjoying Shabbat. It
was as if the walls would disap-
pear and I was in the land of
Jerusalem.
His appearance was organized
by the Greater Detroit Chapter
of Hadassah and the Friends of
the Soviet Jewry Education and
Information Center. The pro-
gram was co-sponsored by 26
other Jewish organizations.
On Monday, the former POC
visited Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Lathrup Village,
where students released
helium-filled balloons carrying
postcards urging action on be-
half of Soviet Jewry.
Mendelevich, whose two-week
tour of the United States took
him to Miami, New York and
Los Angeles, capped off his
three-day visit to Detroit by tel-
ling the crowd at the JCC; "I ate
well, I slept well, I'm going
home to Israel, but the Jews in
the Soviet Union are not."
It was his attempt to reach Is-
rael more than 15 years ago
which landed Mendelevich in
prison. On June 15, 1970 Men-
delevich and 11 other people
from Riga, a province in the
Soviet Union, tried to seize a
small Soviet civilian airplane,
land in Sweden and make their
way to the Jewish state.
The plan failed. The 12 were
tried in Leningrad City Court
and sentenced to long prison
terms in labor camps.
During his stay in prison,
Mendelevich would take
courageous pains to preserve his
observance of Jewish law. He
often had to cite lines from the
Siddur by memory because
Soviet prison authorities had
confiscated his prayer books. To
get his books back, Mendelevich
went on a 57-day hunger strike
and sent postcards to friends in
Moscow to publicize the strike
in the West. Once the Soviet
government learned of the pub-
licity, they gave in to the pres-
sure and returned the books.
In order to observe the Sab-
bath, Mendelevich was forced to
work an extra 11 hours during
the week. He would also scratch
candles into his cell wall, save
the crusts of bread he was
allotted throughout the week
and split his handkerchief into
two halves
8 one half for the blessing
over the bread and the other for
his yarmulke.
Mendelevich was finally re-
leased in February 1981. And he
considers himself one of the
lucky ones.
Since the height of Jewish
emigration in 1979, when
51,320 were allowed to leave the
Soviet Union, the release of
Soviet Jews has dramatically
declined. In 1984, only 896 Jews
were allowed to leave.
Mendelevich said that after
meeting with a few Congres-
Continued on next page
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GENERAL
FOODS
SHANGHAI BEEF
STIR-FRY
JI/Mr.a11/ POD
egge
STIR-FRY
srp.
req.1., ■
Combine 1 /2 teaspoon ginger, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 minced garlic clove in a bowl. Slice
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To use BIRDS EYE' Farm Fresh Mixtures — Cauliflower. Baby Whole Carrots and Snow Pea Pods or
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1985 General Foods Corporation
79