Five Soviet Jewish activists, including two former Prisoners of Conscience, issued a special Passover message which was received here by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ).
They declared: “We, Jews of the USSR, send our greetings and best wishes to the State of Israel and to the Western Jewish communities for Passover. We are still in bondage, but we are luckier than the Jews in the time of the exodus from Egypt because there is now a State of Israel, and because there are now free Jewish communities in the West.
“Your, our dear brethren, are doing your utmost to secure the exodus of Soviet Jews. While raising glasses of Passover wine, all of us wish health and strength to Anatoly Shcharansky, losif Begun and other Prisoners of Zion. Know that they will never give up. Know that we, Soviet Jews, will never give up.
“Our hopes must come true. The day will come when the modern Pharaohs will respond positively to the demand, ‘Let my people go’. Chag Pesach Sameach — a happy Passover, dear friends. Am Yisrael Chai — the Jewish people live.”
The message was signed by Isai and Grigory Goldstein, who are brothers; Elizabeta Bykova of Tbilisi; Ida Nude I, who was exiled from Moscow to Bendery; and Lev Furman, who teaches Hebrew unofficially. Isai Goldstein and Nude I are former Prisoners of Conscience.
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