Viktor Yoran, the 36-year-old Russian-born Jewish cellist, attempted to deliver an appeal to the Soviet government today to-allow his wife, their son and his mother who are in Moscow to reunite with him in Israel. But the Soviet Embassy passed word through a special U.S. police officer on guard duty that it would not accept his letter.
The officer, Lt. Donald Cassell of the executive protective service, said an Embassy officer whose identity he said he did not know, had instructed him that “if he (Yoran) wants his letter delivered, he can mall it through normal channels.” The musician, who has been living in Israel since 1969, is to give a concert Thursday night at the Washington Hebrew Reform Congregation’s Temple. His letter typed in English declared that he is living in Israel “not for political reasons but as a matter of conscience” and that he and his family “pose no threat to the USSR.”
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.
