1983-1984 Rothberg Yearbook

O N T H E F U T U R E O F ! S O V I E T J E W R Y
As 32 year-old Avital Scharansky
climbed to the stage and turned to face
the packed Rosenblum auditorium on
Tuesday night, December 6, I noted she
looked somewhat wearier than when I saw
her last, less than a year ago at a similar
gathering in New York City. Still, not a
wrinkle marred her fair, dark eyed,
expressive face. She has been living for nine years now in Israel without her husband,
Anatoly, who in July 1978 was convicted of treason and espionage, and sentenced to
thirteen years exile, forced labor and imprisonment, during which time he has been
forbidden to speak with anyone except the KGB interrogators involved in fabricating the
case against him. Due to her time away, Avital feels “inadequate” to describe the present
condition of Jews in the Soviet Union or the plight of the thousands of refuseniks (those
who have applied for exit visas but have been refused) still trapped behind the Iron
Curtain.
Yet, throughout her period of separation from Anatoly, which began the day after
they were married in 1973, she has immersed herself in his struggle, traveling the globe in
an effort to arouse the consciousness and indignation of World Jewry. The response has
been energetic support for her husband’s release. Like the thousands of divided families
dwelling here, Avital lives only for the day of her reunification with Anatoly — in Jerusalem.
When Yosef Mendelevich, the second featured speaker of the evening, first applied to
emigrate in 1969, he was greeted with this curt bit of advice: “Young man, forget about
Israel. You will die here in Russia.” Today, the oversized black kipah which he wears even
while away from his Yeshivah studies in Jerusalem, seems his proud respite for this
gloomy prediction and for the years he spent risking his life while in prison to study and
teach Hebrew, and to wear the Kipah he had fashioned from the cloth of his prison
trousers.
Yosef and Avital are, o־f course, two of the fortunate ones. The last segment of the
program that evening consisted or a slide presentation written and compiled by Dr.
Martin Gilbert, renowned scholar, author and Soviet Jewry activist, during a recent visit
to the Soviet Union. It centered on the current struggle of refusenik families to pursue
“normal” Jewish lives, to pass on the precious Jewish heritage — to deliver this generation
of refusenik children from the clutches of Russian subjugation and Jewish ignorance.
Their task has not been an easy one. The attack on Jewish religion and culture has
been long and thorough in the Soviet Union. Today, books with Jewish content are a
rarity. Jewish students are denied entrance into institutions of higher learning; their
parents are stripped of degrees and demoted to absurd, menial positions that make a
mockery of any previous scholarly accomplishments or professional ambitions. It is
virtually impossible to find kosher meat in the metropolises of Moscow or Leningrad.
And yet Soviet Jewry persists. Such was the emphasis of a talk given by Dr. Gilbert on
Nov. 29 to members of students in Israel for Soviet Jewry, the newly created activist
group on campus and co-sponsor or the Soviet Jewry “Happening” two weeks ago. Standing
before posters bearing the poignant, resolute expressions of Anatoly Scharansky, Yosef
Begun, Vladimir Slepak, and Ida Nudel, four of the sixteen “Prisoners of Conscience”
assigned to forced labor and imprisonment because they would not compromise their
Jewish ideals or aspirations, Dr. Gilbert set out to prove that Soviet refuseniks are not
“ charitable cases” but rather “strong brethren engaged in their own struggle, with whom
we must try to link arms.”
Today, he informed us, there is a concerted and growing movement among Soviet Jews
to educate themselves in Jewish history and culture, and to learn Hebrew, despite the lack
of teachers and Hebrew books, and the fact that it is a criminal offencse to teach religion
in the Soviet Union to students under sixteen years of age.-And in spite of official efforts
to prevent such congregation, Jewish holidays often bring determined throngs to the sixty
or so remaining synagogues of the U.S.S.R., as was witnessed during this year’s massive
celebration of Sukkot in Moscow.
In relating all this, Martin Gilbert’s message was clear — we must be inspired by the
strength of dissident Jews and give them good and constant reasons for maintaining it.
Among the things that we can do: 1) Visit the Soviet Union. There are funds available
for anyone who is interested in the experience (and mitzvah) of a lifetime. 2) Correspond
with a refusenik family. Talk about school, your uncle Harold, the weather, Dear Linda —
Your letters will be like gold to them. All necessary information is available at the Office
of Student Activities. 3) Become Informed. The Soviet Jewry information packets distributed
at the “Happening” are a good start. There are plenty more available at the OSA.
In the meantime we may take heart in the courageous example of Avital, who despite
her personal tragedy, believes that the real miracle of the Soviet Jewry Movement is the
Jewish state, toward which oppressed Jews world-wide can direct their hope-filled prayers .
by Linda Pardes
Barnard College, Columbia University
כחול ולבן י׳ רשל
‏)שירם של י הו די ב רי ת-‏ ה מו ע צו ת(‏
/
כחול ולבן
ז ה צבע שלי,‏
כחול ולבן
צבעי אדמתי.‏
כחול ולבן
כמו שיר כמו ‏|חלום,‏
כחול ולבן
כחול ולבן
כחול ולבן,‏
זה צבע שלי
כל י מי לעולם.‏
-
כחול ולבן
חרמון וכינ ר ת
כחול ולבן
ליבי מזמ ר
את -
כחול ולבן
שמים ושלג,‏
כחול ולבן
זה הפלא ופלא.‏
RUSSIAN JEWRY
Blue and White
Are my colors
Blue and White
My homeland colors
Blue and White,
Blue and White
My colors
All my days, for ever
Blue and White
Like a song like a dream
Blue and White
My hope for peace.
Blue and White
Chermon and Kinneret
Blue and White
My heart sings.
Blue and White
Sky and Snow
Blue and White
The most wonderful show!
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