CLOSE-UP

THE NEW BAR MITZVAH

Soviet Twins

Important efforts to link American teens and
Soviet refuseniks have mushroomed in Detroit

ROBYN KLEEREKOPER

Special to The Jewish News

hen Gabriella Burman, a
teen living in Southfield,
symbolically linked her
bat mitzvah 2% years ago
with Anna Yoffe, a young
girl in Moscow, she was
participating in a fairly
new minhag (custom) that
is spreading around the
United States and several
other countries. "Twin-
ning" gives any bar/bat
mitzvah youngster the op-
portunity to do something positive in
the fight to help Soviet Jewish
families who have been refused per-
mission to leave the Soviet Union.
Twinning is a simple concept. A
local youngster is paired before the
bar mitzvah with a Soviet Jewish
child of the same age. The American
youngster is encouraged to corres-
pond with the "twin" and possibly
call the family at the time of the bar
mitzvah. Having a proxy ceremony for
the refusenik child is strongly
suggested.
Kathy Ozery is community affairs
associate for the Detroit Jewish Com-
munity Council's Soviet Jewry Com-
mittee. When the twinning program
first began in 1980 there were two
participants. Since then, says Ozery,
17 local and several outstate
synagogues and temples have become
actively involved in encouraging
twinning. Last year, 241 youngsters
twinned their special day and more
than 1,000 in Michigan have been
twinned since the program began.
"We began with a committee in
1980," says Jeannie Weiner of the
Soviet Jewry Committee. "There was
a national program already going on.
I believe Detroit is one of the most ac-
tive cities in this in the United States
. . . But we don't want massive
numbers twinning just for the sake of
doing what everyone else is doing.
This could be a lifetime project,
depending on whether or not the
family gets released. It can be a
lengthy process. It isn't just for the

time of the bat mitzvah. The message
of the committee is, "This is not a pro-
ject to be taken lightly!"
Children may get discouraged if
their letter-writing efforts are not
answered. But, as Weiner explains,
the letters that get through and those
that don't are important.
"It's not only the senators and
congressmen who will impress the
Soviet authorities, but it is young peo-
ple in different parts of the world who
-are letting them know they are aware
and concerned about the plight of
these children and their families."
Educating local youngsters on
how to most effectively "twin" is well
organized by the Detroit Soviet Jewry
Committee. Once a child or a parent
contacts the committee, a comprehen-
sive but easily-understood booklet is
sent to the youngster, along with the
name of a refusenik child. The
Detroiter is given a simple biography
of the refusenik youngster's family,
including the length of time they have
been refuseniks and special problems
they may be encountering. Several
American children may be paired
with the same Soviet child because of
the small number of names available
to Jewish agencies in this country.
Dr. Robert Bree, chairman of the
twinning program, says, "It may be
that a Soviet child will have a lot of
twins in the United States. There are
not enough refuseniks of the right age
to go around. That doesn't mean
there's no call for what we are trying
to do. With the recent flood of im-
migration there'll be less known
refuseniks left in the Soviet Union."
"One problem we may face in the
near future, and from what we
understand of glasnost, there's an ap-
parent tactic to let prominent
refuseniks go. There are a lot more
Soviet citizens who wish to leave, but
haven't yet had the courage to make
an application. What it seems the
Soviet Union is trying to do is let
enough refuseniks go so the ones left

behind will have no organization left
to look to.
"In the small villages and towns,"
Bree says, "there are people who wish
to leave. One thing that's been sug-
gested by national groups here in the
United States is that travelers start
to visit the smaller towns and talk to
the Jews there.
"We don't know what the Soviet
authorities are really thinking, but
we do know they are interested in the
world opinion of them. We are very
fortunate in having people like U.S.
Secretary of State George Shultz who
is a strong proponent of Soviet Jewry,
and who brings the subject up
whenever possible. The letter-writing
and the phone calls of the local twins
is an excellent way of keeping their
governmental officials constantly
aware. Mind you, the Soviet govern-
ment has never been amenable to out-
side propaganda in the past. Perhaps
with Gorbachev, he'll be a little
smarter than previous leaders," says
Bree.
The Soviet Jewry Committee's
twinning booklet, Make The Connec-
tion, details how best to write a let-
ter to the refusenik child, stressing
that letters must be apolitical and
should be warm and personal. Deal-
ing with the Soviet postal system is
covered as well. Letters must, by
Soviet policy, be addressed to the
father, not the child. The Detroiter is
warned there is a strong possibility
the letters will never get to the twin,
but the fact that the letters keep com-
ing is highly important.
Suggestions are given on how to
include the refusenik youngster in
the bar mitzvah ceremony, even in the
invitations for the party. Chanting
part of the Haftorah on behalf of the
twin is one of the ideas mentioned.
Some synagogues and temples place
an empty chair on the bimah to repre-
sent the Soviet youngster who could
not publicly celebrate his or her own
step into Jewish adulthood. Many

