Mitzvah heroes

NO REFUSALS Rae Sharfman has been working on behalf of Soviet for more than 20 years. Ask her to do anything for the refuseniks; she never says no.

That one year, which saw the A swimming coach and former naval ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM, Assistant Editor friend in London who did the same. They exchanged information and, if implementation of Soviet Premier officer, Valery was arrested and im- ven the trees there are dying. they met with a crisis, put out the 's policy, prisoned for one year after his brother, Kiev is a city of rustic and alert. produced tremendous change, Sharf- Alec, became an outspoken prisoner of moral decay — a city where liv- "If we came across an emergency, we man says. She saw new freedom — conscience. He was beaten and starved e Jews studying Hebrew and Jewish while interred. ing things waste away in the poisoned were on the telephone to every Soviet air of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a Jewry council. culture; she also saw a terrifying Alec has since immigrated to , city where human beings wither away "But I'm not important," Sharfman dread that seemed to smother the Jew- but Valery, who despite his isolation is because they have no freedom. insists. "I'm just a messenger." ish population everywhere. studying Hebrew, is still being refused Kiev is where Mark Kotlyar, his To Judy Granader, and others who "I remember standing outside the because of his access to "state wife, Oxana, and son, Yuri, live. know Sharfman well, she is much synagogue in Moscow on Simchat secrets." He was told his visa applica- They are Jewish, and they have been more than a messenger. ," she says. "I could almost feel tion will not be reconsidered until waiting to emigrate since December "Rae is constantly giving of herself the panic." 1995. 1977 — repeatedly refused because of to help others," says Granader, who It's a panic grounded in reports that Sharfman also speaks often of the Mark's alleged access to "state has been working with Sharfman on pogroms are just around the corner, Kotlyars, whom she met during her secrets." He reportedly had such behalf of Soviet Jews for more than 20 pogroms as bold and as powerful as the visit last year to the . access while working 17 years ago as years. heavy stone statues of Lenin that Together they went to a large field of "I can call her up at 12:30 ai night grace almost every Soviet street. thin trees with pale leaves. Nearby, a an apprentice at the Scientific Resear- group of teenagers played soccer. ch Institute in Moscow. and say I have a question, or I need to A lack of food permeates the Soviet The Soviets keep ignoring the know something about a Soviet Jew- Union, she says. "And the worse the With glowing candles in their hands, Kotlyars' appeals and their pleas for ish family, and she's always there for food situation gets, the more Jews get Sharfman and Kotlyar said Kaddish, freedom. The Soviets seem convinced me; it's never a bother. blamed." then looked out at the vast land before that if they wait long enough the "She has so much information" The group Pamyat is collecting the them. The calm belied the horror refusenik family will be forgotten. about the refuseniks. "Everyone names and addresses of Jews, Sharf- trembling just underneath the fallen Rae Sharfman will not forget. She knows to call Rae." man says. Group members stand on leaves, a quiet horror that seemed will never forget the Soviet Jews. Sharfman is not the kind of person streets in Leningrad and hand out ready to scream out from the earth at The Mark Kotlyar family is one of who craves awards or public recogni- pamphlets discussing "action to be any moment. the many Soviet Jewish refuseniks for tion. taken against the Jews." This was Babi Yar, where the Nazis whom Sharfman has worked tireless- "All her work is truly from the "People are being threatened, murdered thousands of Jewish men, ly. She took up the cause in 1969 when heart," Granader says. beaten and stabbed simply because women and children. Bits of bone and she realized that, but for the lucky "Rae Ann is unique," agrees Rabbi they are Jews," Sharfman says. teeth can still be found there. ticket that brought her relatives to the David Nelson of Congregation Beth Sharfman compares the situation of Soviet Jews today to that of Eastern Today, at home in West Bloomfield, United States, she, too, would have Shalom, where Sharfman is a mem- Sharfman shakes her head. She been languishing somewhere in East- ber. European Jews as Hitler came to power. doesn't have to say a word. It's obvious ern Europe. "She is more than dedicated; she br- what she's thinking: Will that also be Sharfman attended a lecture by ings an important zeal to these very And that's what keeps Sharfman go- ing, long before and long after the the fate of Jews still trapped in the former refusenik Rifka Alexan- human concerns. She has a network of Soviet Union? drovich, whose daughter was interred friends around the world because she Soviet Jewry cause was in vogue. This is why she , cannot bear those in a Soviet prison. reaches out to people and remembers "I really feel that I've gotten much more than I've given," she says. who say they are tired of hearing "I looked at her standing up there on their birthdays and anniversaries and about Soviet Jews, who complain the stage and I thought, 'It's just a on the holidays." "Some of the relationships I've made will last forever." about funds used to bring them out of matter of fate that I'm sitting here and Sharfman is not one to take "I'll try the Soviet Union. This is why Sharf- you're up there pleading for your to get around to it" for an answer One of those relationships is with the Valery Zelichenok family. man herself never tires of speaking daughter's life. My grandparents when seeking support for the cause, about the Kotlyars and the happened to leave; yours didn't."' Rabbi Nelson says. "She knows Leaflets, biographies and photos of the refusenik families fill her table and Zelichenoks, and why she calls, writes, So she went into action. Working human lives are at stake. She is part sends them gifts and goes to meet with with the New York-based Union of of the conscience of the community." kitchen counters. Begin a conversa- tion with Sharfman about anything — them. Councils for Soviet Jews, Sharfman Sharfman made her first visit to the Sharfman encourages those wanting collected the names and biographies of Soviet Union in October 1988. the weather, politics, your children — and invariably she will find a way to to help to start with one refusenik refuseniks throughout the Soviet She went to Riga, Vilnius and Len- family. Write letters to them, and Union. She began writing them and ingrad, meeting with "Hebrew bring it back to Soviet Jews. Sharfman, who is active at Beth write U.S. and Soviet leaders about sending packages. She wrote to sena- teachers, activists, Zionists — all very their cases. tors, congressmen, the President and brave people." Shalom and with Mogen David Adorn, These letters "absolutely do make a Soviet leaders. One year later, she returned for a is deeply concerned about Zelichenok Sharfman also was placing calls two- Soviet Jewry conference. She met with who, with his wife Ludmilla and son difference." three times a week to Jews in the Jews from around the world and from Vladimir, live in Krasnoyarsk in "You have to start some place," she Soviet Union, then talking with a cities throughout the Soviet Union. Siberia. says. "Start with one." ❑

70 FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1990