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SOVIET JEWS: BETWEEN "GLASNOST" ANDREAUTY
Two days after Solidarity Sunday in May, I sat'across the table from Natan Sharansky in the ofces of the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews. We were conferring on future strategy with a group of Soviet Jewry advocates. Above Sharansky hung framed posters publicizing past Solidarity Days, including one featuring his wife, Avital. My gaze wandered from the photo of 15 years ago to the animated smiling man before me. In a sense, the scene represented the dilemma facing the American Jewish public: how to interpret the seeming "improvements" in the condition of Soviet Jews. True, a total of 164 people came out of the Soviet Union in the rst ve days of May, after 717 in April, and more than 400 in March. But there remain tens of thousands of Soviet Jews who cannot apply for visas or reapply after having been refused. We hear every day that the Soviet Union has entered a period of "glasnost," (openness), characterized by a move toward greater freedom and cultural diversity. It is true that something has happened in the Soviet Union since Mikhail S. Gorbachev assumed leadership. But that "something" remains unclear. Emigration gures have increased since February, but they're nowhere near the average of over 4^000 a month in 1979. Alan Pesky, chairman of the Coalition, told thousands of demonstrators on Solidarity Sunday, May 3, "There are glimmers of hope in the Soviet Union today, but there are more problems than ever before." The reality is that although about 1,400 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union in the rst four months of 1987. almost 400,000 who seek exit visas are forced to stay behind. The "liberalized" Soviet emigration law allows Jews to leave only if their next of kin are in another country. This policy blocks the majority of Jews still waiting for exit visas and the mass of would-be emigrants who are afraid to apply. There are also many who have been told that, even with dose relatives in Israel, their "security status" prevents them from leaving.' Many of these so-called security risks have not worked at their professions in 17 vears. The almost 300,000 Soviet Jews who have been permitted to leave in the last 20 years owe their freedom to sustained, sophisticated, and dedicated public efforts by world Jewry in particular American Jews. A message now to Washington from the National Conference on Soviet Jewry is-critical. Messages from Jewish

by Abraham J. Bayer

communities have signicant impact in Washington as well as in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, a massive demonstration such as Solidarity Day in New York City says loud arid clear that we have not given up the ght to free our fellow Jews. Demonstrations make international news; cause heads to turn in the Kremlin: and send a message of hope to Refuseniks from Tbilisi to Leningrad. Sending such a message takes resources. And that makes one's commitment to UJA-Federation crucial to how effective the message is. (UJAFederation funds 70 percent of the budget of the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews.) Soviet authorities watch all the signals we send. They're aware of which visiting congressmen discuss Soviet Jewry and how strongly they speak; they gauge the size of the crowds at demonstrations; and they take note of what the signs say. They know how much mail arrives in a senator's ofce, and they certainly know how much mail is received by individual Refuseniks. Fueling those efforts requires dedication, spirit, and funds, as well as cooperation with Jewish communities and organizations throughout the country and with non-Jewish allies. It's a long-term effort; there are still over two million Jews in the Soviet Union. Even at the 1979 emigration level of 51,000 a year, it would take decades for all the remaining Jews to leave. Therefore, any long-term success aimed at loosening Soviet-emigration barriers must stress a continued vigilance among Jews in the Free World. Soviet authorities probe for weakness, and will exploit any sign of complacency. In the Central Committee today sits Anatoly Dobrynin, a chief foreign policy advisor to Gorbachev. Dobrynin served as ambassador to the United States for over 25 years, and developed an unusual understanding of the American political system in general and the Jewish community in particular. He is watching our staying power. We will recognize progress, but, at the same time, we will not let small improvements in Soviet policies obstruct our main concern. That concern remains 'freedom for all Soviet Jews who seek reunication with their families, their homeland, and their traditions. As I left Natan Sharansky, I showed him a snapshot of us at a festive table in Moscow in 1974. "Ah," he said "Chanukah, when we rst met." What we left unsaid was what happened in between the photograph and the reality of May: the changes, the impact of his tenyear imprisonment, his suffering, the brutalities, as well as the impact on his wife Avital and her unyielding campaign backed by Jews in the Free World. All this was left unsaid, but it was on my mind. Who knew what was on his mind? But the past blended with the

present as we embraced and said goodby. I added. "Regards to Avital." To this he added, "and, to little Rachel Sharansky in Jerusalem." In that instant. 1 felt much more condent about our struggle in the long run. (Abraham J. Bayer is director of International Concerns. National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council. He has been to the Soviet Union four times to visit Refusenik leaders as part of his work to stimulate activities on behalf of Soviet Jewry throughout the United States.)

Summer 1987 Issue 4

ON UJA-FEDERATION
is published six times annually by the UJA-Federation Communications Department. Communications UJA-Federation of New York Department ' Judith A. Manelis Morton A. Kornreich Executive Director Chairman of the Board Barbara Waiden Peggy Tishman Associate President Executive Director Burton P. Resnick Goldine Eisrnann General Chairman. Director. Campaign Overseas and Campaign Saul Z. Cohen Janet Gilman Chairman. Director. Domestic Division Domestic Division Joseph Gurwin Michael LoSardo Chairman. Creative Director Overseas Division Ernest W. Michel Kay Brief Special Projects Director Stephen D. Solender Executive Vice Presidents Stephen Steiner Editor Communications Norman Eisenberg Committee Howard Ballon .Assistant Editor Chairman Carol Schulter Graphic Designer Henry Cohen Leonard Kesten Milton Garrison Joyce Kramer Copy Editor Naomi Kronish Allan Rodolitz Ansie Sokoloff

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UJA-rederatioa 130 East 59th Street. New tork. NY I0O22 |2I2) 980-1000 We give til the help you can give.

SOVIET JEWRY RESEARCH BUREAU Jewish Emigration From the USSR Statistics
Oct. 1968 - 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1984
January February March April

4,235 13,022 31,681 34,733 20,628 13,221 14,261

1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1985 1986

16,736 28,864 51,320 21,471 9,447 2,688 1,314 1987

88 9 0 5 1 7 4 19 0 7 2 8 5 8 3 69 2 9 5 5 9 1
896

6 1 8 8 9 8 166 5 1 3 6 174 2 9 9 3 14 2 18 2 92
1,140

7 9 8 4 47 72 49
55

9 8 16 4 470
111

May
June July August September October November December

871 796

3 1 8 8 126 104 12 0 7 7
914 3098

From October 1968 - March 1987, 267,285 persons left the Soviet Union with Israeli visas. Approximately 163,962 of them went to Israel.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOVIET JEWRY

Notional Office: 10 Eost 40th Street. Suite 907. New York. N.Y. 10016 (212) 67<?-6122 /Coble Address: AMCONSOV NY. Telex 237311 NC5J Washington Office: 2027 Massachusetts Avenue. N.W.. Woshmgton. D.C. 20036 (202) 265-611 a <*