Yelena Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov, visited a synagogue in Newton, Mass. during Sabbath services yesterday and expressed hope that "all the prisoners of Zion will be free as well as all my friends of different nations and religions."
She seemed to include her husband, a Nobel Laureate in physics, who is in exile in Gorky for his outspoken criticism of Soviet violations of human rights, in the category of "prisoners of Zion." He is considered by many Israelis to be a "prisoner of Zion" because of the help he has given Jews who are unable to leave the Soviet Union, she said. Sakharov’s family are of the Russian Orthodox church.
Bonner, whose mother was Jewish and father Armenian, made clear she was not a believer nor does she consider herself a Jew. "My upbringing gives me deep respect toward all beliefs, all religions," she said. She is in the U.S. for medical treatment. The Soviet authorities allowed her 90 days’ leave to seek treatment in the West for eye and heart ailments with the proviso that she would not talk with reporters.
WAS INVITED BY CONGREGATION’S RABBI
She came to Newton, a town in western Massachusetts where her son, Alexei Semyonov, and daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich, live. She visited Congregation Mishkan Tefila, a Conservative congregation, at the invitation of its rabbi, Richard Yellin. She spoke from the pulpit. Her remarks were translated by her son.
In expressing hope for freedom for those refused exit from the USSR, Bonner referred to "My many personal friends, like Anatoly Shcharansky, I hope will be reunited with their relatives." She said she accepted the invitation to the synagogue "especially because there is anti-Semitism in the world, I find it impossible not to come to a synagogue."
It was not clear whether her public remarks violated the conditions imposed by the Soviet authorities, under threat that she would not be permitted to return to the Soviet Union to re-join her husband. Rabbi Yellin permitted journalists to be present but insisted they did not take notes in the synagogue. He excluded Jewish journalists in their professional capacity because they would be violating the Sabbath by working.
Yellin gave Bonner several gifts, including a Bible in Russian and Hebrew and a beginning grammar in Hebrew such as Soviet Jews study clandestinely in preparation to emigrate to Israel.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
