Michael Greene Papers
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of the book Tzedakah and the Precious Pushke, a CD and a cassette tape with stories, music and lyrics by Michael Greene including songs used for the Bar and Bat Mitzvah twinning ceremonies, and sheet music for those songs; a tzedakah box, an invitation to the Bat Mitzvah of Michael Greene's granddaughter and twinning with a Jewish girl in the Soviet Union, and a letter written to the head of the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry, Lynn Singer regarding Greene's songs pertaining to the Soviet Jewry.
The collection consists of one folder.
Dates
- undated, 1989, 2001, 2008
Creator
- Greene, Michael (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
The Papers of Michael Greene represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.
Michael Greene was a president of the Long Island Chapter Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). He wrote music and lyrics performed at his synagogue, and at local events of the ZOA and other Jewish organizations. Two of his songs were used at the Bar and Bat Mitzvah twinning ceremonies of which Jewish American teenagers were paired with their Soviet Jewish peers, who were officially forbidden from having the ceremony in the USSR, in order to celebrate their Bar/Bat Mitzvah in absentia. He presented recordings of the two songs, along with the lyrics, to the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry and were subsequently taken to the Soviet Union by the members of the Committee to be presented to the Refuseniks.
Extent
1 Folders (1/4 linear foot)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection contains papers of the former President of the Long Island Chapter Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Michael Greene. Greene wrote music and lyrics that were performed or played back at events dedicated to Soviet Jewry in the Long Island area and were delivered to Refuseniks in the Soviet Union by members of the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry. The materials include correspondence, a book of poems and stories, sheet music, a CD, an audiocassette, and a tzedakah box.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into a single series.
Physical Location
Collection is located in Consolidated Box P29.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Michael Greene in 2008.
- Title
- Guide to the Michael Greene Papers, undated, 1989, 2001, 2008 *P-969
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov
- Date
- © 2013
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Revision Statements
- November 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository