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Committee Urges Detroit
Not To Forget Refuseniks

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

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18

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1990

final sale items excluded

fter receiving their
exit visas in May
1989, Roman and
Svetlana Sorkin and their
three children began mak-
ing preparations to leave the
Soviet Union and start a
new life in Israel. Then, in
December 1989, just days
before their plane was
scheduled to leave, Mr.
Sorkin's exit visa was
cancelled by Soviet au-
thorities.
To remember those who
are still denied permission to
leave, the Jewish Commun-
ity Council's Soviet Jewry
Committee is asking Detroit
Jews to take a moment while
they light the Chanukah
candles and consider the
plight of the Sorkin family
and others left behind in the
Soviet Union.
Mrs. Sorkin has spent the
past year writing letters to
Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev, former English
Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and numerous
Soviet officials seeking her
family's release, but to no
avail. Not wanting to leave
her husband behind, but
fearing for her children's
safety, Mrs. Sorkin is con-
sidering sending her chil-
dren alone to Israel.
"To do so would be the act
of a desperate woman," said
Ms. Linda Foster, Jewish
Community Council pro-
gram coordinator.
While thousands of Soviet
Jews are leaving for Israel
and the United States, the
Sorkins are among hundreds
who are refused permission
to leave.
Most, like the Sorkins, are
denied for allegedly knowing
state secrets, Ms. Foster
said. Others are refused be-
cause an employer or
relative won't sign docu-
ments necessary to get an
exit visa. Some aren't given
a reason.
Because Human Rights
Week began Dec. 10, a day
before Chanukah, the Soviet
Jewry Committee felt the
holiday was a good time to
promote the cause of Soviet
refuseniks, Ms. Foster said.
"If not on Human Rights
Day, then when? " she ask-
ed.
Chanukah is also a time to
celebrate miracles, Ms.
Foster said. So she en-
courages people as they light
the menorah to think about
the thousands of Jews who

have gained their freedom
and the many Jewish in-
stitutions opening within
the Soviet Union. But
Detroiters should also re-
member the refuseniks, the
uncounted Jewish institu-
tions still denied official rec-
ognition by the state, and
the increase of anti-
Semitism.
"It's an important time for
us to remember," she said.
"We think things are look-
ing up, but there is still so
much more that needs to be
done. There are new oppor-
tunities to help these people,
to bring back a sense of Jew-
ish culture and religion to
those who need it."
Detroit Jews can send
letters or telephone refusenik
families to show their sup-
port, Ms. Foster said. "We've
been sending letters for
years, but for the first time
most letters are getting
through to the families. It's
important to show we are
concerned about them."
Detroiters can also write
letters to American and
Soviet officials asking for
the release of refuseniks, she
said.
For those Jews unable to
leave the country, Jewish
books written in Russian
and other Judaica items
have been sent to various
Soviet cities.
Minsk should have receiv-
ed the nearly 600 Chanukah
menorah packages sent by
the Detroit Jewish commun-
ity earlier this week, Ms.
Foster said. After collecting
$2,300 from more than 100
people, the JCC covered the
cost of purchasing menorot,
candles and dreidels and
mailing them to Minsk.
"Everyone was so excited
by the project," she said.
"Ellen Labes (Soviet Jewry
Committee chairman) would
go into a (Jewish Welfare)
Federation meeting and
come out with a check. I got
a letter from one family
whose two children donated
the $5.56 in their tzedakah
box."
Additional donations will
be used to fund the food cost
for the Jewish Winter Day
Camp in Minsk for 200 chil-
dren, she said. "They are
desperate for food and we
want to make sure the chil-
dren have two hot meals a
day."
A Detroit delegation has
planned a Dec. 25 trip to
Minsk, she said. The delega-
tion hopes to speak to Jewish
leaders. ❑