I ANALYSIS rimmt
Soviet Fear
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18
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1990
ed — dismissed the early
reports as wild and un-
substantiated rumors.
And there are concerns
about a kind of "cry wolf'
cycle, in which Jewish pleas
for their brethren in the
Soviet Union become
devalued because of inac-
curate and exaggerated in-
formation.
"We've been hearing these
dates — supposedly for
pogroms," said Dan
Mariaschin, public affairs
director for B'nai B'rith
International. "Given Rus-
sian history, we have to be
careful not to dismiss things.
But we also don't want to
engage in self-fulfilling pro-
phecies. With the Soviet
Union in such a state of flux,
it's a tightrope for all of us
who are engaged in these
sorts of activities."
Strong concern is essen-
tial, Mariaschin said. But
panic could complicate the
already difficult job of get-
ting as many Soviet Jews
out of the Soviet Union as
possible while the "window
of opportunity" remains
open.
And with the Soviet Union
tottering on the edge of
chaos, it is far from clear
how long that window will
remain open. ❑
Ukrainian Jews
Reported
Beaten
New York (JTA) — Anti-
Semitic activity turned to
violence earlier this month
in the Ukrainian city of
Kharkov, according to
Soviet press reports.
Jewish apartments were
broken into, and about 20
Jews were beaten, although
no deaths were reported.
The chief of Kharkov's
department of internal af-
fiirs was quoted Tuesday in
the Moscow newspaper Trud
as saying that proceedings
have begun against "several
people who took part in the
pogroms against Jews in the
past week."
A United Jewish Appeal
delegation spokesman in
Moscow also reported that
several Jews from the city of
Baku, in the Soviet republic
of Azerbaijan, have sought
refuge at Moscow's Choral
Synagogue.
The Jews fled the Azerbai-
jani capital, he said, because
they fear violence directed
against them as a result of
ethnic tensions between
Azerbaijanis and Arme-
nians.
Meanwhile, the ethnic
violence that rocked Tad-
jikistan this week brought
no physical harm to the
Soviet Asian republic's
estimated 22,000 to 25,000
Jews, according to early
reports reaching the Student
Struggle for Soviet Jewry.
But a Jewish resident of
the capital city of Dushanbe,
where much of the violence
took place, reported by
phone that the Jewish com-
munity was frightened, ad-
ding, "Get us out of here."
300,000 Books
On Their Way
To Soviet Jewry
New York (JTA) — An
Israeli-based- organization
that supports Jewish edu-
cation among Soviet Jews
and Soviet Jewish emigres
has begun a mass mailing of
books that is designed to
reach every Jewish family in
the Soviet Union.
In the initial effort of
SHAMIR — the Hebrew
acronym for Israel Associ-
ation of Professionals from
the USSR -- a set of 10 Rus-
sian-language books is being
sent to 30,000 families in
some 60 cities. Volunteers
from several Jerusalem high
schools are mailing out sets
every day.
"We must take advantage
of the unique opportunities
presented by perestroika to
help reverse the negative
impressions. left by more
than 70 years of vicious anti-
Semitic and anti-Israel pro-
paganda," said Herman
Branover, chairman of
SHAMIR and a Soviet im-
migrant. Soviet Jews beg for
such books of Jewish inter-
est, he said.
SHAMIR, a 17-year-old
group that bills itself as "the
world's largest publisher,
editor and creator of Russian
Judaica," has sent
thousands of books, games
and videocassettes to the
Soviet Union. The current
project is supported by
grants from Zev Wolfson of
New York and Eli Horn of
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The 10 books in the
package are: This Is My God,
by Herman Wouk; To Be a
Jew, by Chaim Donin; Man
and His Home, by Eliyahu
Ki Tov; Kuzari,by Yehuda
Halevi; The Thirteen Petall-
ed Rose, by Adin Steinsaltz;
The World Is Created for Me,
from works by Aryeh
Kaplan; Neither Shall the
Flame Kindle Upon Thee, by
Yitzhak Silber; The
Mordechai Constellation
by Mordechai Luxemburg;
Torah from Sinai, by
Yehuda Eisenberg; and Jew-
ish Names, by Pinchas Gil
and Israel Aler.
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