A group of 100 Jews from the Soviet Union, including several leading activists who spent years in their fight for exit visas and 101-year-old Rabbi Moshe Epstein of Leningrad, arrived at Ben Gurion Airport last night.
Many of the new arrivals agreed with some Israeli circles that they were the vanguard of a new wave of immigration from the USSR that was attributed to the second World Conference on Soviet Jewry held in Brussels last week. It remained to be seen, however, whether last night’s arrivals spelled an end to the year-long drought in aliya from the Soviet Union.
One of the emigres, Prof. Alexander Lunz, a 52-year-old mathematician who first applied for a visa in 1972, said experience proved that the Soviet authorities understand the language of pressure. He said Soviet Jews expect that Brussels II and the efforts of world Jewry at large will influence the Soviets to change their emigration policies. (See related story P.3.)
7 ACTIVIST FAMILIES INCLUDED
The arrivals included seven other activist families, among them Israel Vernibitzki, 47, a shipyard engineer from Leningrad, who is joining his son, a student at Haifa Technion; Prof. Ilya Platetzki, of Moscow; Victor Kogan, a geologist from Moscow; Smuel Stroginitz, of Leningrad; and Irma Chernyak and Mordechai Pritzker who both participated in the Brussels conference before coming to Israel.
Most of them expressed the opinion that they got their visas only because of Brussels II. Platetzki, a mathematician who will join the faculty of Tel Aviv University, observed, however, that “Nobody in Russia knows why he suddenly gets the exit visa.” He said he was refused one for years on grounds that he was engaged in secret research, an allegation he denies. Vernibitzki said he waited five years for his visa and that while some activists received permission to emigrate, the applications of others were repeatedly turned down.
Rabbi Epstein’s arrival created a stir at the airport. The fragile centenarian had to be helped off the plane. He arrived with members of his family, including a daughter and grandchildren. He said he wanted to live in Jerusalem. Rabbi Epstein once headed the Jewish community in Leningrad and at one time was exiled to Siberia for Zionist activities.
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