Azure Autumn 5765/2004 [antikvár]

CorrespondenceThe Soviet Jewry MovementTO THE EDITORS:How wonderful it was to read Yossi Klein Halevi's article on Jacob Birnbaum ("Jacob Birnbaum and the Struggle for Soviet Jewry," Azure 17, Spring 2004). I met Birnbaum during my first visit to the United States after being expelled from a Soviet prison in 1981. His modesty was such that I could scarcely comprehend the extent of his role in the struggle on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Naturally, the activists in the field were more conspicuous than Birnbaum the theoretician. It was only through this essay that I came to understand the great inspira-tion that served him in his leadership in the early days.It is important to note, however, that our Zionist activity in the Soviet Union was largely unconnected to what Birnbaum was doing. Nonethe-less, we did both start with the same frame of reference: The lessons of the Holocaust. Zionist activism in Riga, for example, began at the Holocaust graves of Rombola, on the outskirts of the town where I grew up to become one of the famed "airplane hijackers." Klein Halevi is correct in saying that the incident was the turning point of the struggle. However, he doesnot mention that on December 24, 1970the day we were sentenced 100,000 Jews assembled in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York and demanded, "Let my people go."I now understand that they gath-ered thanks in no small part to Jacob Birnbaum, whose vision was so won-derfully realized. Klein Halevi writes that, from the outset, Birnbaum envisioned the educational impact of the struggle on American youth, and he was right.If I am not mistaken, it was Mal-colm Hoenlein who told me during my visit to the United States, "We have educated an entire generation on your struggle." While I was most happy to hear this, I am sorry that the contribution our struggle has made is still a modest one. It is true that many of the activists grew into leaders, and their greatness is in that they replaced the previous establishment. I can only regret, however, that the desire to engage in an uncompromising public fight on behalf of the Jewish people has not become a more widespread custom.Yosef MendelevichJerusalem