Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page i A Second Exodus Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page ii BRANDEIS SERIES IN AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY, CULTURE, AND LIFE Jonathan D. Sarna, Editor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Associate Editor Leon A. Jick, 1992 The Americanization of the Synagogue, 1820–1870 Sylvia Barack Fishman, editor, 1992 Follow My Footprints: Changing Images of Women in American Jewish Fiction Gerald Tulchinsky, 1993 Taking Root: The Origins of the Canadian Jewish Community Shalom Goldman, editor, 1993 Hebrew and the Bible in America: The First Two Centuries Marshall Sklare, 1993 Observing America’s Jews Reena Sigman Friedman, 1994 These Are Our Children: Jewish Orphanages in the United States, 1880–1925 Alan Silverstein, 1994 Alternatives to Assimilation: The Response of Reform Judaism to American Culture, 1840–1930 Jack Wertheimer, editor, 1995 The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed Sylvia Barack Fishman, 1995 A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community Diane Matza, editor, 1996 Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy Joyce Antler, editor, 1997 Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture Jack Wertheimer, 1997 A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America Beth S. Wenger and Jeffrey Shandler, editors, 1998 Encounters with the “Holy Land”: Place, Past and Future in American Jewish Culture David Kaufman, 1998 Shul with a Pool: The “Synagogue-Center” in American Jewish History Roberta Rosenberg Farber and Chaim I. Waxman, 1999 Jews in America: A Contemporary Reader Murray Friedman and Albert D. Chernin, 1999 A Second Exodus: The American Movement to Free Soviet Jews Stephen J. Whitfield, 1999 In Search of American Jewish Culture Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page iii A Second Exodus THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT TO FREE SOVIET JEWS Murray Friedman and Albert D. Chernin, editors BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY PRESS Published by University Press of New England / Hanover and London Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page iv Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England, Hanover NH 03755 © 1999 by Brandeis University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 54321 cip data appear at the end of the book EISBN 978-1-61168-666-1 This book has been partially underwritten by a grant from the Myer and Rosaline Feinstein Center for American Jewish History, Temple University. Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page v Contents List of Abbreviations vii Murray Friedman Introduction: The Jewish Community Comes of Age 1 I. OVERVIEW Albert D. Chernin Making Soviet Jews an Issue: A History 15 Nehemiah Levanon Israel’s Role in the Campaign 70 Zvi Gitelman Soviet Jews: Creating a Cause and a Movement 84 II. IMPACT OF STRATEGIC PRESSURES William Korey Jackson-Vanik: A “Policy of Principle” 97 Marshall I. Goldman Jackson-Vanik: A Dissent 115 William Korey From Helsinki: A Salute to Human Rights 124 Richard Schifter American Diplomacy, 1985–1989 136 III. HARMONY AND STRIFE Steven F.Windmueller The “Noshrim” War: Dropping Out 161 Myrna Shinbaum Mobilizing America: The National Conference on Soviet Jewry 173 Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page vi vi contents Rabbi Douglas Kahn Advocacy on the Community Level: A Personal Perspective 181 Walter Ruby The Role of Nonestablishment Groups 200 Micah H. Naftalin The Activist Movement 224 Contributors 243 Index 245 Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page vii Abbreviations AIPAC: American Israel Public Affairs Committee AJCommittee: American Jewish Committee AJCongress: American Jewish Congress AJCSJ: American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry BACSJ: Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews CJF: Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds CRIF: Representative Conference of the Jews of France CSCE: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe CSSJ: California Students for Soviet Jewry FSU: former Soviet Union GNYCSJ: Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry HIAS: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society JCRC: Jewish Community Relations Council JDC: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee JDL: Jewish Defense League MFM status: most-favored-nation status NACSJ: National Advisory Council on Soviet Jewry NCRAC: National Community Relations Advisory Council NCSJ: National Conference on Soviet Jewry NGOs: non-governmental organizations NJCRAC: National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council OVIR (Soviet immigration agency) POCs: Prisoners of Conscience SJEIC: Soviet Jewry Education and Information Centre SJM: Soviet Jewish movement SSSJ: Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry UCSJ: Union of Councils on Soviet Jewry UJA: United Jewish Appeal USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WJC: World Jewish Congress Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page viii blank Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page ix A Second Exodus Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page x blank Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page 1 Murray Friedman Introduction The Jewish Community Comes of Age In 1984, together with a number of Jews from Philadelphia, I traveled to the Soviet Union to meet with Soviet refuseniks to express solidarity with them in their efforts to leave the country. We “tourists” and those Soviet citizens we met with were deeply distrusted by Soviet authorities. The act of becoming a refusenik resulted in severe penalties and dangers to Soviet Jews, including loss of their jobs and in some cases imprisonment. When it became known to Soviet dissidents in Moscow that I was an American historian, I was asked to lecture to a group gathered at the home of Boris Klotz (who is now a citizen of Israel). I chose as my topic the role of the United States and American Jewry in the rescue of Jews during World War II. The evening stands out for me with special vivid- ness. The shades and curtains were tightly drawn in the Klotz living room. Some fifty Soviet Jews crowded into the tight quarters. As I spoke, my words were simultaneously translated into Russian. When I finished, there were questions. One affected me very deeply: “Will American Jews forget us?” I recall saying that I thought we would not. I described the ef- forts under way in the United States—indeed, throughout the world—on their behalf, including, of course, our own visit. American and world Jewry did not forget. More than a million Jews have come out of the Soviet Union since the movement began, and for much of this time against the strong opposition of the authorities there. This has to be seen as one of the great exoduses in Jewish history. The means for bringing this emigration about was the Soviet Jewry movement (SJM), a mobilization of Jews and their friends throughout the world to bring pressure on the Communist regime and force the authorities there, as the Bible proclaims, to “let my people go.” These pressures, as the es- says in this volume indicate, came from many directions and were marked by creative imagination, enormous skill, and above all with con- sistency over forty years. In the process, the American Jewish community Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page 2 2 introduction matured. From a series of disparate and contending groups—“a cacoph- ony of voices” in Henry Feingold’s telling phrase—that during World War II was unable to mount a major campaign to rescue their coreligion- ists from the horrors of the Nazi onslaught, Jews formed themselves into a community able to bring about a positive resolution.1 There was another important and little noted effect of the SJM. The Soviet Union was made up of a variety of nationality groups, many of whom were restless and sought release from Soviet oppression. The fact that in releasing Soviet Jewish citizens, the ruling authorities felt con- strained to yield to worldwide human rights protests (including that of their own citizens) may have weakened the system and played a role in the ultimate destruction of the Soviet Union. As might be expected, there are a number of surprises in this story. The first is that the SJM began not in the United States but in Israel, as Nehe- miah Levanon’s and several other essays here make clear. During the war, Soviet authorities enlisted all elements of the population, including its Jewish citizens, to repel the invaders. After the war, however, Soviet au- thorities embarked upon a campaign of repression (described here by Al- bert D. Chernin), a systematic anti-Semitism that grew increasingly harsh. While it never reached the proportions of the Nazi horrors, harass- ment and murders of Jews took place regularly. The 1948 murder of S. M. Mikhoels, a leading personality in Soviet theatrical life and leader of the wartime Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, at the orders of Stalin, marked the onset of what has been called the “shvartze yoren,” the black years. During the last years of Stalin’s reign, the Soviet Union embarked upon a campaign to wipe out every vestige of Jewish cultural and relig- ious life. During this time, except for an occasional report by the American Jewish Committee and others, Soviet Jewry was cut off from the world’s Jewish community. Levanon, who directed the Israeli effort through the Liaison Bureau— the “Office Without a Name”—describes here the start of the campaign in 1952, beginning with a meeting in Tel Aviv of Soviet Jews who had come to Israel in the 1920s. The decision was made at the highest level of the Israeli government to initiate contact with their endangered brethren: Emissaries would be sent into the Soviet Union to awaken there a sense of Jewishness and solidarity with the Jewish state. Surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors bent on its destruction, Israel was anxious also to en- courage immigration to strengthen it in the battles that lay ahead. The bureau, also known as the Lishkat HaKeshar, set out to arouse world Jewry and others to the threat that existed. Working with Israeli diplomats like Meir Rosenne, stationed at that time in New York City, it helped to create a Jewish Minority Research organization under Moshe Decter, a brilliant organizer and activist, to mobilize support for Soviet Friedman & Chernin: A Second Exodus page 3 M.