SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 11

Remembering 
Our Local Heroes

continued on page 12

Soviet Jewry was organized 
by a small group of deeply 
committed activists. This, Yost 
explains, paved the way for a 
wider communal movement to 
launch several years later.
Piece-by-piece, awareness of 
what Soviet Jews were experi-
encing daily made its way to 
Jewish leadership in the Metro 
Detroit community. They 
learned that many Soviet Jews 
experienced constant antisem-
itism, had limited education 
and work opportunities, and 
couldn’t openly practice their 
religion. Children born after 
World War II had little-to-no 
knowledge of Jewish life, often 
never having been exposed to 
Jewish holidays or culture.
“It was a gradual awakening 
to a very serious problem,” Yost 
says.
Yet in the years that followed 
the Six-Day War, the issues of 
Soviet Jewry became entangled 
in other major problems facing 
the Jewish community. There 
was the Yom Kippur War, 
worry about domestic issues 
and overall concern for Israel. 
A dedicated group of individu-

als continued to push for Soviet 
Jewry, though, and moved the 
issue to the forefront of Jewish 
concerns.
“The Jewish Community 
Council was able to get a grant 
from the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit to focus 
on Soviet Jewry,” Yost recalls. 
“They were able to hire some-
body to specifically work on 

Soviet Jewry, and that was me.”
In the early 1980s and on, 
Yost and other supporters 
dived straight into raising 
awareness for Soviet Jewry, a 
cause that was quickly gain-
ing speed and becoming a 
major issue not only in Metro 
Detroit, but across the entire 
United States. They advocated 

with elected officials, worked 
with members of Congress 
and pushed awareness for the 
cause through community 
education.
Jewish youth who became 
bar or bat mitzvahed in the 
1980s often participated in 
a twinning program, where 
they would receive a Jewish 
“twin” in the Soviet Union who 

couldn’t have their own bar or 
bat mitzvah. American Jews 
would recite the name of their 
Soviet twin at their service, 
honoring the individual while 
also driving awareness for the 
struggles of Soviet Jewry. Many 
of these Soviet twins were 
“refuseniks” or Soviet Jews 
denied the right to emigrate. 

FIGHTING FOR 
THE REFUSENIKS
Freedom concerts, fund-
raisers, runs and more were 
also put on by various Jewish 
community organizations 
and synagogues to spread the 
message about the issue of 
Soviet Jewry and catch the 
attention of the government. 
Many local families also par-
ticipated in an adopt-a-family 
program where they would 
write letters to a family in the 
Soviet Union.
“This was a challenge 
because many, if not most, of 
these letters didn’t get through,” 
Yost recalls. “People were 
making phone calls. A lot of 
the time the calls wouldn’t go 
through.” 
Activist Jeannie Weiner, 
meanwhile, remembers writ-
ing letters that would receive 
censored responses. “Probably 
30% of it was missing,” Weiner 
says, “but it caused me to learn 
even more.”
Weiner, advocating for the 
Soviet Jewry movement since 
the mid-1970s and involved 
with the Jewish Community 

“SOME JEWS WAITED YEARS FOR 
APPROVAL TO LEAVE, OFTEN LOS-
ING THEIR JOBS. OTHERS WAITED 

YEARS AND WERE STILL DENIED.”

— BEVERLY YOST

A U.S. demonstration on behalf of the liberation of Soviet Jews

 RICK MAIMAN/SYGMA VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

