Comments on: What really freed Soviet Jewry?

By: Tim Upham

Tim Upham — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:03:31 +0000

When I was with the National Inter Religious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, everybody told me it will not work, they will always be there. Well, it did work, and the people I was sponsoring emigrated. Perseverance overcomes the impossible. Now the next task to move on to is Israeli and Palestinian peace. For like Soviet Jewry, it can be overcome.

By: Tim Upham

Tim Upham — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:03:31 +0000

By: Reuvain Stein

Reuvain Stein — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:05:53 +0000

The Jewish community is bound to the story that the demonstrations were successful. In the past they have ignored the idea that an alternative narrative exists, that maybe the public confrontations were not the actual cause of the lifting of emigration barriers.

By: Michael Lerman

Michael Lerman — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:03:09 +0000

The picture of Jewish emigration from The Soviet Union was at the time when Leonid Brezhnev was in charge long before Gorbachev was elected General Secretary.

By: Arie Rosenrauch

Arie Rosenrauch — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:48:46 +0000

Let's be real: What freed Soviet Jewry was the Jewish Defense League and the willingness of its members to go to jail for the cause. It was their success sstory and what catapaulted them into the world's headlines/ The US was more then ready to let them die…Kissinger spoke of it being "no problem" if the Soviets massacred their 2 1/2 million Jewish residents. And the UN kept noticeably silent (usual MO when Jews are involved.)

By: Judy Lash Balint

Judy Lash Balint — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:34:32 +0000

As Rav Avi Weiss always says: activism is like a symphony orchestra–it can only function properly when all parts are in their place. Activism couldn't have functioned without quiet diplomacy and quiet diplomacy could only be effective when the activists are out there to push the agenda. The 25th anniversary of the big march on Washington makes it sound like that was the culmination of the movement–it wasn't. There were many more years of grass-roots activism after 1987. Who can forget Yosef Mendelevich standing on the stage and yelling: "Linkage; linkage: linkage" as the establishment figures cringed…