Various Problems Cited As Reasons for Increasing Rate of Dropouts

The Yom Kippur War and absorption difficulties in Israel were cited here Friday as major reasons for the alarming increase in the rate of Soviet Jews who leave the USSR with Israeli visas and, upon arriving at the transit point in Vienna, choose to settle in Western countries rather than in Israel

In a seminar devoted to the issue of Soviet Jewish emigration, following the annual trustees meeting of the United Israel Appeal, Ralph I. Goldman, executive vice-president of the American Joint Distribution Committee, told the leadership of American Jewish communities and representatives of major Zionist organizations in this country who were attending the seminar that many Soviet Jews were “afraid to go to Israel since the October, 1973 war.”

He claimed that letters of complaint by Soviet Jews who settled in Israel to relatives in the USSR were also a factor in the increase in the number of dropouts. Another reason, Goldman noted, is that the Jews who receive permission to emigrate do not come from Jewish communities where Zionist ideology is strong.

COMPOSITION OF DROPOUTS

Irving Kessler, executive vice-chairman of the UIA, who presented a detailed account of the UIA involvement in the absorption of Soviet Jews in Israel and the U.S., said the dropout rate climbed from 45 percent last year to an estimated 60 percent this year. One reason for this increase, he noted, is that “the Russian authorities are carefully selecting the places of origin as well as using other criteria for controlling the current emigration to make certain that a large proportion are, in advance, dropouts.”

As an illustration, Kessler said that emigrants from Vilna had never exceeded 16 percent in dropouts while those from Odessa had a high rate of dropouts–more than 90 percent last year Referring to a survey last year by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that 15 percent of the dropouts are members of mixed marriages and that 60 percent have chosen the U.S. in which to be reunited with their families, Kessler said: “Once a family is settled and finds opportunities in this ‘goldeneh medinah’ there is the usual move to invite and bring in relatives.”

The cost of the dropouts to the U.S. Jewish community is substantial, Kessler disclosed, stressing that “the amounts taken away from programs in Israel (as a result of assisting dropouts) are truly significant.”

PROBLEMS FACING ACADEMICIANS

Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section and a vice-chairman of the UIA, who chaired the discussion, focussed on the issue of the absorption of Soviet Jewish academicians. Noting that there are few complaints regarding their retraining in Israel, she said, however, that the cutbacks in budgets by universities and scientific institutions in Israel have created severe problems in absorbing Soviet Jewish scientists and other academicians.

“This is one of the factors for many Soviet academicians who choose the U.S. instead of Israel, not knowing that it’s difficult here as well.” Mrs. Jacobson said.

The discussion did not touch upon the question of whether U.S. migration and relief agencies, such as HIAS, the New York Association for New Americans and the JDC should stop assisting dropouts. The matter is currently under review by the Committee of Ten (formerly the Committee of Eight) headed by Max Fisher.