A group of Christian women demonstrated their solidarity with Soviet Jews last week by holding a one-hour vigil at Lincoln Center in Manhattan during the premiere performance there of the Bolshoi Ballet. The participants in the vigil took special note of the forthcoming trial of Victor Polsky, the prominent Jewish activist who has sought to emigrate for years. Polsky has been wrongfully accused of “operating his car in an improper manner” in an auto accident and faces a stiff prison term.
The Christian women at the vigil deplored the persecution of Polsky, asserting that the Soviets “are attempting to use the incident to discourage other Jews from seeking exit visas.” The participants in the vigil included Sister Rose Thering of Seton Hall University; Sister Kathy Hardy, representing the New Jersey Council of Churches; Mary Jean Friel-Nieto, representing the United Farmworkers of America; Dolores Mann, who works closely with the Oceanfront Council for Soviet Jewry, and Lorraine Nicolas, a student at Seton Hall.
In a statement issued at the vigil, they urged the Soviet Union to grant freedom to the many oppressed artists and other Jews who desperately want to emigrate from the USSR, They said, “We believe in the cultural exchange programs between the United States and the Soviet Union. We believe that these programs can foster greater understanding between the peoples of these two nations.”
However, the statement said, if the Soviet Union “wants to give true meaning to cultural exchange, and if that country truly wants to build stronger bridges of understanding, then it is imperative that the Soviets assure human rights to all Soviet Jews. Human decency demands that the Soviet Union call an immediate halt to its campaign of harassment and persecution of Jews and remove all barriers to free emigration.”
Continuing, the statement declared: “On this Jewish High Holy Day season, we hope that our pleas to make this year of hope for Soviet Jews will be heard in the highest councils of the Soviet government, and acted upon at once….The dignity of Soviet Jews, and, indeed, the dignity of all people everywhere, demand that Jews who wish to leave the USSR be able to do so without fear of oppression.”
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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.
