A Soviet Jewish Zionist group in Israel has established the first formal links with an organization in the USSR said to represent grassroots Soviet Jewry.
An agreement signed in Moscow this month declared their common goal is “to secure the survival of the Soviet Jewish community as an integral part of the Jewish community.”
The agreement for cooperation is between the Jewish Cultural Association, EKA, and the Jerusalem-based Soviet Jewry Zionist Forum.
The signatory for the Israeli organization was former prisoner of Zion Yuli Edelshtein, who visited Moscow recently for the inauguration of the Mikhoels Jewish Cultural Center. It was the first time a former Jewish prisoner was allowed to return to the Soviet Union.
Edelshtein, who flew home Tuesday night, said his trip itself was a sign of the major changes taking place in the Soviet Union.
He hailed the accord as a historic development that could lead to Soviet Jewry’s reintegration into international Jewish affairs in a public, formal and officially sanctioned mode.
The Soviet signatory was Dr. Mikhail Chlenov, whose organization is described as an umbrella for 29 local Jewish groups throughout the Soviet Union.
The agreement pledges mutual cooperation and calls on the Soviet authorities to extend official recognition to the EKA and allow its incorporation into international Jewish organizations.
The Soviet Jewish Zionist forum, headed by Natan Sharansky, embraces most Soviet Jewry activist organizations in Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
