Dr. Zand to Address ZOA National Convention; First Time in U.S.

The Zionist Organization of America announced today that Dr. Mikhail Zand, the Russian-born Jewish scholar who withstood intensive Soviet harassment in his ultimately successful attempt to emigrate to Israel, will address its national convention next month in Pittsburgh. Dr. Zand, who will be making his first visit to the United States, will speak on the plight of Soviet Jewry at the convention’s opening session on Sept. 2 and again at a public affairs program Sept. 4. The 44-year-old scholar in Oriental languages had been a professor at the Institute for Eastern Studies in Moscow until his participation in a sit-in for Soviet Jews last March resulted in his arrest and imprisonment. Dr. Zand has continued as a forceful spokesman for Soviet Jewry since coming to Israel. He says Soviet Jews now seeking to emigrate regard themselves as “an inseparable part of the Jewish people.” Speakers previously announced for the ZOA convention, the organization’s 74th, include Israel Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Avriel, chairman of the Zionist Actions Committee of the World Zionist Organization.