Harold and Judith S. Einhorn Papers
Scope and Content Note
The collection reflects Harold and Judith S. Einhorn's involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement. The materials include clippings on the stories pertaining to the Einhorns' activism from the local press, correspondence with Refusenik families in the Soviet Union, and with the United States elected officials and instructional materials from Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.
The collection consists of one folder.
Dates
- 1964, 1973-1979
Creator
- Einhorn, Harold (Person)
- Einhorn, Judith S. (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 Harold and Judith S. Einhorn 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.
Residents of Laverock, Pennsylvania—husband and wife Harold and Judith S. Einhorn—were among the pioneers of the grassroots Soviet Jewry movement. Starting in 1964, the chairman of the Temple Beth Tikvah Community Relations Committee, Harold Einhorn, cooperated with the leaders of several other synagogues and congregations in the Philadelphia area to take their members on the so-called "pilgrimages of protest" —trips to Washington, D. C. to picket the Soviet Embassy in protest of the antisemitism behind the Iron Curtain. After these initial protests, picketing of the Soviet Embassy became an established and accepted means of protest by the American Jewish community in its call for an end to persecution and discrimination, and for Soviet Jewry's right to emigrate. The "pilgrimages of protest" were favorably acknowledged by the US government. The groups' leaders participated in conferences with the representatives of the State Department and met with consultants of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The participants received multiple encouraging telegrams from their elected representatives in Congress. As chairperson of the Soviet Jewry Committee at Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Judith S. Einhorn worked to get her community involved in the Soviet Jewry movement. She coordinated mass letter writing to Jews in the USSR and telegrams to the U.S. elected officials, provided information and instructions for making phone calls to the Soviet Union and personally kept in touch with Refusenik families in dire need of moral and material assistance. She undertook special projects, like planting trees in honor of the families adopted by her congregation. 1
References
- Local Delegates March on Washington To Picket, Protest Soviet Discrimination. (1964, October 9). The Philadelphia Jewish Times, p. 1.
Extent
1 Folders
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the personal papers of Soviet Jewry Movement activists Harold and Judith S. Einhorn. Residents of Laverock, PA, husband and wife Harold and Judith S. Einhorn were among the pioneers of the grassroots Soviet Jewry movement. Harold Einhorn chaired the Temple Beth Tikvah Community Relations Committee and Judith S. Einhorn chaired the Soviet Jewry Committee at Congregation Adath Jeshurun.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into a single series.
Physical Location
Collection is located in Consolidated Box P30.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Harold and Judith S. Einhorn in 2006.
- Title
- Guide to the Harold and Judith S. Einhorn Papers, 1964, 1973-1979 P-996
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov
- Date
- © 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Processed as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation
Revision Statements
- November 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository