Dr. Judah J. Shapiro, president of the National Committee for Labor Israel and the Labor Zionist Alliance, told the American ORT Federation annual conference meeting here this weekend that aid must be given to Soviet Jews who leave the USSR but decide not to go to Israel. “We are dealing with an ancient Jewish tradition, the ransoming of hostages, and that aid must be given to ‘dropouts’ on the basis of simple humanitarian obligations to the emigrants no matter where they choose to migrate after they have left the Soviet Union.” Shapiro declared.
He said that “no government, no organization and no individual should dictate the decisions of the individual with respect to his choice of living circumstances and prospects.” He added that although Israel is justified in regarding the existence of an obligation for Soviet Jews with an Israeli visa to go to Israel. Shapiro contended that “over and above the legality and the moral commitment, human migration remains a personal act with the deepest implications for the individual.”
The delegates adopted a resolution on Soviet Jewry which expressed “profound concern” for their problems whether they were still living in the USSR or whether they were in the process of resettlement. The resolution called for “freedom of Soviet Jews to migrate” and an end to the harassment of Jews who remain under Soviet rule and requested that they be “permitted to exercise their constitutional rights to live in that country as Jews.”
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.
