Former refusenik Lev Blitshtein celebrated his first “open” Passover, as the special guest at Bnai Zion’s annual Third Seder Sunday, dedicated to Jews who live in oppressive societies.
“Thank you all for your support,” Blitshtein told more than 200 Bnai Zion members and their families, and 30 invited guests from the National Association for the Jewish Poor.
“What helped us all in the Soviet Union was your support. Sometimes we would get telephone calls two times a week from our friends in America. Today is my first ‘open’ seder with so many friends. In the Soviet Union you couldn’t have such a seder. It was too dangerous. If you tried to do it, you were making a second revolution.”
Blitshtein, first refused in 1975 because he possessed “secrets” in connection with his work in the Soviet meat industry, divorced his wife Buma so that she and their two children might emigrate. On his arrival in the United States recently, the Blitshteins were remarried.
In welcoming the Blitshteins, Arlyne Parness, Bnai Zion’s Third Seder chairperson said, “We are very honored that the Blitshtein family, now reunited here, are able to celebrate the festival of Passover for the first time without fear of persecution. We hope that those Jews remaining in the Soviet Union will one day also celebrate in freedom.”
The Third Seder was led by Sidney Wiener, chairperson of the Bnai Zion Foundation, who noted the presence on each table of a special matzoh, representing “a prayer for the deliverance of our brethren from political and religious 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.
