Representative of midwestern Jewish communities gathered here Monday in the first in a series of regional conferences being held throughout the country to consider the continuing oppression of Soviet Jews in the wake of last year’s Geneva summit, and to prepare for the American Jewish community’s response when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev comes to the Unites States later this year.
Among those speaking to the over 200 delegates representing 18 communities in seven states were former Soviet Jewish refusenik and religious leader Eliyahu Essas, who recently arrived in Israel from Moscow, and Ohio Governor Richard Celeste, who announced the formation of the Ohio Public Officials for Soviet Jewry, a new advocacy group.
The conference, whose theme was “To Summit II…and Beyond,” was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Cincinnati, the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC), and the National Conferences on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ). Similar conferences will be held in Detroit, Hartford, Baltimore and Houston in the next few weeks. A Western regional conference in California is also planned.
Essas, who helped spark a religious revival among Soviet Jews in recent years by acting as their unofficial rabbi said, “We have millions of Jews in the Soviet Union deprived of human rights, beginning with their right to learn their language and their religion. I helped teach Soviet Jews their language and their religion, and now they want to be in their homeland, Israel, as my family is now privileged to be.”
Commenting on his release, and that of several other well-known refuseniks, including Anatoly Shcharansky, Essas said, “One can read between the lines and say these releases will continue, but it is only a signal that the Soviets are ready to have negotiations about this and that they are sensitive to public opinion.” Essas, making his first visit to the United States, arrived in Israel in late January. He and his family waited 14 years for an exit visa.
DETERMINATION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS
In announcing the formation of the new Ohio Public Officials for Soviet Jewry, Governor Celeste said, “Formation of such a group shows the determination of elected officials, regardless of political party, to stand up in behalf of human rights around the world and to recognize the degree to which human rights are challenged every day in the Soviet Union.”
The new coalition will involve elected officials of all levels in activities in behalf of Soviet Jews. Another member of the coalition, Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown, who visited refuseniks in the Soviet Union last year, also spoke.
Conference chairperson Marilyn Krug of Cincinnati said, “If we believe the upcoming summit meeting provides a window of opportunity, we must prepare ourselves to take advantage of that opportunity through events like today’s.
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