A Jewish Professor's Political Punditry: Fifty-Plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin

8. The Plight of Soviet Jewry Continues

219 8 The Plight of Soviet Jewry Continues Rubin’s continued interest in Soviet Jewry was echoed by the second oldest of his five daughters, Shulie, in a touching Letter to Russia, the winning entry in the 1984 National Council of Young Israel’s National Youth Essay Contest, which is used as an introduction to this chapter. Another “winner” in the chapter is The Soviet Jewish Problem at the United Nations. Published in the 1970 American Jewish Year Book, this paper is included in the prestigious Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner. Letter to Russia Shulie Rubin [As published in the Young Israel Viewpoint, February 1985] To my Jewish Brother/Sister in the Soviet Union, Sometimes, I sit and wonder, What am I doing here? Why is it that I am not helping any of my fellow Jews behind the Iron Curtain? What is the reason that I, a twelve-year-old girl am sitting here in America, and another twelve-year-old Jewish girl, just the same age as me, is living in fear and terror in Russia. Clearly, it is not because I deserve any more special privileges than my counterpart trapped in the U.S.S.R. I am no different than she. But yet, I am living in the United States of America, where one of the main rules we abide by is freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion. I am not really able to understand with my scanty knowledge of the workings of HaShem and His ways, why a young Jewish girl, just the same as me is not here and I am not there. 220 • Established Professor and Author But we have not forgotten you. Just today, about one hour ago, I attended a rally in front of the Soviet Embassy. It was an emergency rally, called because of the death of Yuri Andropov. We protested the continued imprisonment of Anatoly Sharansky and we were spoken to by Mrs. Avital Sharansky, his wife. And just as Anatoly Sharansky is a modern Jewish hero, you too are the modern Jewish heroes of our time. Throughout our history, we have been persecuted and jailed so often, simply for the fact that we were innocent Jews. But we have not died out. We are the only nation that has continued a clear, unbroken path all the way from the time of Avraham Avinu. We have been crushed and trampled upon, and we have been slaughtered and forced to move from our homes, but HaShem has always put us back on the top! Always. For we are the ones that carry His Name through the world. We are the ones to glorify His Being! And you, our Jewish brothers and sisters living in the Soviet Union, represent a people that will never die. I believe that it is because of such great and holy people as you that HaShem leads us, the Jews, to survival. Have Emunah [faith] in HaShem and Moshiach—for it will come soon— in your honor. I hope to meet you soon in Eretz Yisroel, where no torture or pain can be inflicted upon us. I will meet you in front of the third and final Beit HaMikdash. L’Hitraot B’Eretz Yisroel [Until We Meet in the Land of Israel]. B’Ahava U’veChavod Rav [With Love and Great Honor], Shulie Rubin Young Israel of Riverdale # # # American Jews and Soviet Jews [Jewish Life, September 1970] Although political scientists cannot precisely estimate the impact of nongovernmental pressure groups on another country’s policies, there is plausible evidence that protests on behalf of Soviet Jews in the late 1960’s and through 1970 have at least slowed the Kremlin’s plans to send its Jews to Plight of Soviet Jewry Continues • 221 spiritual oblivion. Among indications of the Soviet discomfort are the following : a trickle of Jews, for the sake of family reunion, have been permitted to emigrate (mainly to Israel); a limited printing of prayerbooks and the promise of expanding the number of books authored in Yiddish; the visit of Rabbi Yehuda Levin to the United States in 1968; the numerous stories put out by Novostoi, the Soviet foreign propaganda agency, contending that the Jews in the U.S.S.R. are in good shape. In addition to showing that the Soviet Union is, within limits, responsive to hostile foreign opinion, these developments raise questions about...