SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 13

OUR COMMUNITY

to take matters into their own 
hands. They boarded a plane 
en route to Moscow and later 
Leningrad with luggage full 
of clothing, religious articles, 
medicine and electronics 
Soviet Jews could later sell, 
like cameras. “We went as 
tourists,” Weiner recalls, “and 
at night we’d sneak out after 
dinner to see Soviet Jewish 
families.”
While in Soviet airspace, 
they didn’t dare utter a word 
of their mission in fear of 
being overheard. They worked 
undercover in partnership 
with national organizations 
that provided them with the 
names and addresses of Soviet 

Jews in need. In addition to 
the religious artifacts that 
helped teach these families 
about Judaism, the electronics 
and clothing could later be 
sold to secure much-needed 
cash for the lengthy emigra-
tion process.
The process often involved 
a carefully organized pipe-
line that ran from Vienna to 
Rome, which refugees would 
spend months traveling 
through. Prior to leaving, 
Weiner and others secured 
as many donations of blue 
jeans as possible from local 
merchants, which were a 
hot commodity in the Soviet 
Union and sold for high pric-

es, helping families secure 
temporary housing in Rome.
In 1987, Weiner also 
co-chaired a trip to 
Washington, D.C., for Freedom 
Sunday for Soviet Jews, a 
national march and political 
rally held on Dec. 6. There, 
250,000 Jews and non-Jews 
gathered to rally for more 
American governmental sup-
port in the fight for Soviet 
Jewry. That afternoon, three 
planes full of Detroiters (plus 
buses) went to Washington, 
D.C. to join the rally.
“It was a massive demon-
stration,” Yost recalls, who also 
attended the march.
The relentless efforts of 

Weiner, Yost and hundreds of 
others eventually paid off. Now, 
thousands of Soviet Jewish 
refugees and their American-
born families call Metro 
Detroit home. They’ve become 
an essential part of the Jewish 
community and workforce, but 
no one, not even those behind 
the movement for Soviet Jewry, 
could have imagined the extent 
of the impact.
“We were up against a 
brick wall,” Yost says of the 
movement’s early days. “There 
seemed to be no way to break 
through it. That’s how it felt 
for a long time until things 
changed. It was a moment that 
stands out in my life.” 

“WE WENT TO THE USSR AS 
TOURISTS, AND AT NIGHT 
WE’D SNEAK OUT AFTER 
DINNER TO SEE SOVIET 

JEWISH FAMILIES.”

— JEANNIE WEINER

LEFT: American Jews protest against Soviet Jewish policies during a demonstration in Washington, D.C. 
RIGHT: A scene from the Free Soviet Jewry March, Dec. 6, 1987, with Sen. Carl Levin in the lower left. 
BELOW: Natan Sharansky, left, and Elie Wiesel, right, separated by activist Vladimir Slepak.

© WALLY MCNAMEE/CORBIS/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES, JTA

ADL

PETER TURNLEY/CORBIS/VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES 
JTA

