More than 125 Jewish students from a dozen Eastern colleges and universities said prayers and sang Hebrew songs across the street from the Soviet Embassy today in an appeal to the Soviet government to allow Jews to emigrate to Israel.
The gathering at the site of the daily vigil here for Soviet Jews was part of a series of events organized by the Student-Faculty Coalition for Soviet Jewry at Brandeis University. Today’s events were led by Beth Huppin of Spokane, Wash., and Stephen Rubin, of Fairfield, Conn., both 19-year-old Brandeis sophomores. About 50 other students came from the Boston area by bus. The students came from Dartmouth, Columbia, Queens College, American University, the University of Virginia, Brandeis, Wellesley, Harvard, Bryn, Mawr. University of Pennsylvania, Beaver and Haverford.
The students attempted to telephone from American University here to physicist Leonid Kovnor, 24, who was fired from his post at Gorky University after applying for an emigration visa to Israel. They said Kovnor’s parents, both members of the faculty at the university, have been denounced unanimously by the university’s faculty for permitting their son to seek emigration. The parents have not applied for exit visas.
After their appearance at the Soviet Embassy the students went to the Capitol and met with members of both Houses to ask them to help Soviet Jews, particularly Anatoly Sharansky. The students were assisted by the Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York.
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.
