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Freedom Sunday Rewind
National Mall march helped spur freedom for Soviet Jews.
“If Soviet Jews are not free, then all Jews are
not free.”
— Natan Sharansky, on the National Mall
JN Photo Archives
O
n a cold, sunny day in December
1987, the eve of the Reagan-
Gorbachev summit in Washington
and four years before the breakup of
the Soviet Union,
American Jews, 250,000
strong, including 1,000
Michiganders, stood in
solidarity on the National
Mall. They gathered on
behalf of all Soviet Jews
seeking freedom from
the ironclad grip of the
Robert Sklar
Soviet government.
Contributing Editor
The Dec. 6 rally in
Washington, the dream
of acclaimed refuse-
nik and human rights champion Natan
Sharansky, left such an impression that
Jewish Detroit became an important com-
ponent of Operation Exodus, United Jewish
Appeal’s massive relief effort that netted
more than $1 billion between 1990 and
1997 to rescue and resettle Soviet Jews in
Israel, America and Canada.
Jewish Detroit filled three planes bound
for Washington that crisp day as well as
a caravan of buses and cars. Plenty of
families, with clusters of kids of all ages,
participated. So did local youth and college
groups.
The multigenerational event, dubbed
Freedom Sunday, enabled everyone to
sense the despair and the opportunity felt
by Soviet Jews — and to be a part of his-
tory in the making. All of the local leaders
I spoke with had family
members enthusiasti-
cally join in. And all
confirmed the day was
nothing if not transfor-
mative.
“It was probably the
most impressionable
day ever for my family,”
Jane Sherman
reminisced Jane Sherman
of Bloomfield Hills, a
Federation and Operation Exodus leader.
“It was mindboggling.
“That one event got the American Jewish
community behind the Soviet Jewry move-
ment. If American Jews didn’t understand
it before, they sure did after the rally. The
feeling of excitement that day — the power
to act in solidarity within the group — was
Detroiters rally in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Soviet Jewry on Dec. 6, 1987.
amazing.
“And it carried forward.”
It sure did.
Operation Exodus enabled more than
1.2 million Jews to leave the former Soviet
Union between 1990 and 1994. More than
1 million settled in Israel. About 200,000
left for the United States and Canada.
Detroit became home to 7,000.
RISING UP
Jeannie Weiner of West Bloomfield co-
chaired the Detroit delegation, identifiable
by white painter’s hats with “Freedom
Sunday, Detroit, Michigan” block lettered
in red. She was chair of the Soviet Jewry
Committee of the Jewish Community
Council (now Jewish Community Relations
Council of Metropolitan Detroit) that
teamed with the Jewish Welfare Federation
(now Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit) to enlist countless volunteers and
supporters to assure an unforgettable expe-
rience for Detroit marchers. Federation
allocated $45,000 toward delegation costs.
Four years earlier in Leningrad, Weiner
had met Evgeny Dragunsky, a former
refusenik — a Soviet Jew denied an exit
visa to emigrate. At the time of the rally,
Dragunsky was living in Washington.
Weiner called to tell her about the rally and
to watch for the “Michigan” sign. The mass
of humanity on the Mall dimmed Weiner’s
hope of finding her friend.
“I had given up seeing Evgeny, just feel-
ing pure joy that a record
number of Jews were
together to demonstrate
our deep commitment
to ensure that every
single Jew who wanted
to leave the Soviet Union
would be freed,” Weiner
recalled.
Jeannie Weiner
“And then I saw her.
“Out of 250,000 people,
there she was, a few steps in front of me.”
The women stopped, shrieked, hugged
and cried.
Says Weiner: “That emotional moment
embodied the long struggle of the Soviet
Jewry Committee.”
Weiner couldn’t have imagined the years
of resettling that would follow, thanks in
part to the local work of Jewish Family
Service and Federation’s Resettlement
Service (which later merged).
“I am satisfied our advocacy that day led
to the freedom of Soviet Jews, which gave
us the opportunity to assist in the resettle-
ment process,” Weiner said.
Michael Berke was Federation campaign
director in 1987. The
plight of Soviet Jewry was
the campaign’s corner-
stone that year.
“Even though I had
spent most of my adult
life working for the
Jewish community, the
rally underscored the
Michael Berke
difference we can make
when we are united in a common and righ-
teous cause,” Berke told the JN.
“I believe our collective actions that
day were instrumental in bringing pres-
sure on lawmakers to accelerate Operation
Exodus,” the Farmington Hills resident
added.
HISTORIC MARCH
Freedom Sunday, marking the 15-year
struggle by American Jews in service
to their Soviet brethren, was the larg-
est Jewish demonstration ever held in
Washington.
There were dozens of speakers, but
Natan Sharansky, the conscience of the
struggle and initiator of the rally, drew the
loudest cheers, according to JN coverage
of Operation Exodus, searchable in the
William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish
Detroit History (www.djnfoundation.org).
continued on page 32
30 May 12 • 2016