Soviet Jewry Movement

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The Soviet Jewry movement was an international human rights campaign that advocated for
the right of Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate.
The earliest organized effort was the The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, a
grassroots organization that brought attention to the plight of Soviet Jews from 1963 until 1983.
It began as a study group led by three of the founding members of Beth Israel - The West
Temple in 1963: Louis Rosenblum, Herbert Caron, and Abe Silverstein. [1] Though the council
included prominent rabbis, pastors, priests, and city officials, many initial council members
were fellow congregants. As the first such group in the world, this organization spawned other
local councils and a national organization. Between 1964-69, the Cleveland council developed
educational tools, such as organizational handbooks for other communities, the newsletter
Spotlight, and media presentations. They also devised protest strategies that became integral
to the movement to free Soviet Jewry. One of the council's most successful activities was the
People-to-People program of the late 1960s, which represented 50,000 members.
Although not officially sponsored by Beth Israel The West Temple, the temple provided office
space to the council from 196478, and the council periodically reported to the congregation's
Social Action Committee. Although the Cleveland council was still active in 1985, by the late
1970s the Jewish Community Federation had taken over the major local organizing effort for
Soviet Jewry. By 1993, the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism no longer needed to
exist, as it had accomplished its mission, and the Soviet Union had also ceased to exist.
Later, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, founded by Jacob Birnbaum at Yeshiva University in
1964. In 1969, the Jewish Defense League began a series of protests and vigils while
employing militant activism in order to publicize the persecution of Soviet Jewry.[2]The Union of
Councils for Soviet Jews was formed in 1970 as an umbrella organization of all groups working
to win the right to emigrate for oppressed Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union.
The movement was represented in Israel by Nativ, a clandestine agency that sought to
publicize the cause of Soviet Jewry and encourage their emigration to Israel.
Contents
[hide]

1Tensions between wings of movement

2See also

3References

4Bibliography

Tensions between wings of movement[edit]

Throughout the timeline of the movement to free Jews from the USSR -- 1964 - 1991 -tensions existed between the Jewish Establishment groups, represented by the umbrella
organization the American Conference on Soviet Jewry and its successor the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry. Differences revolved around policy and action. Behind the
scenes, the clandestine Israeli Soviet Jewry office, Nativ (known as the Lishka), supported the
ACSJ and NCSJ, which it had helped create. Such conflicts between Establishment and

nascent, independent groups -- such as between the NAACP and SNCC in the civil rights
movement -- are not new.[3][4]