Jews, Soviet

The collection contains the papers of Soviet Jewry movement activist and New Jersey-based attorney, Lawrence I. Lerner, who repeatedly traveled to the Soviet Union in the 1980s to visit Refuseniks. Mr. Lerner participated in filing legal pleas for Prisoners of Conscience based on international treaties and the Soviet Constitution, and after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., he became President of the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union. The collection consists of four trip reports taken by Mr. Lerner in 1988-1989 and 1991 and case histories of Refuseniks whom he visited, or considered visiting during those trips. Some of the case histories include photos and notes by Mr. Lerner.

This collection contains correspondence, press clippings, and other materials relating to Fein's career and activities while editor-in-chief and publisher of Moment magazine.

The papers of Rabbi Leonard S. Cahan focus on the imprisonment of the American Soviet Jewry Movement activist for demonstrating on behalf of Soviet Jews in front of the Soviet embassy in Washington D.C. on May 1^st, 1985. Materials include memorandums, correspondence, clippings and brochures.

Papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Leslie Schaffer of Reno, Nevada document her trip to the Soviet Union to visit Soviet Jewish Refuseniks in Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev in March of 1982. The collection includes trip reports notes and photographs, correspondence, biographies of the Refuseniks, travel documents and receipts and background materials on the U.S.S.R.

The papers of Lillian Foreman reflect her work on behalf of Soviet Jews as a member of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews. The collection includes correspondence with Jews in the Soviet Union, materials used to create a database of the Refuseniks, materials pertaining to Bar and Bat Mitzvah Twinning and Adopt-A-Family projects, clippings collected in order to monitor the situation of Jews in the USSR and newsletters from Soviet Jewry movement organizations.

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Linda Rutta. The materials focus on her activism as an undergraduate student at City College of New York, and her relations with the family of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik, Victor Ozar. The collection includes materials from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), such as a Soviet Jewry fact sheet, college campus action outline, and correspondence with SSSJ regarding Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience. Also included is Rutta's correspondence with the Ozar family.

Papers of Margery Sanford cover the period from the early 1970s to the late 1980s and document her activities as the Documentation Committee chairperson of South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry, as well as her individual efforts in the American Soviet Jewry Movement. The documents include correspondence, notes, memos, minutes, publications, news clippings, photographs, stickers and a flag.

Personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Marilyn Labendz, who participated in the MetroWest Conference on Soviet Jewry, chaired the MetroWest mobilization to Summit II, and Women's Interfaith Plea for Soviet Jewry. The collection contains speeches, memos, correspondence, pamphlets, news clippings and digital photographs.

Personal collection of Soviet Jewry Movement activist Meta Joy Jacoby who chaired the Soviet Jewry Committee of the Main Line Reform Temple, Beth Elohim in Wynnewood, PA. The Committee provided moral support to Soviet Jewish families through the mailing of letters and telegrams, placing phone calls, and sending Jewish cultural materials to the Soviet Union. Meta Joy Jacoby repeatedly traveled to the Soviet Union to meet with and deliver aid to the Refuseniks. The collection includes memos, correspondence, newsletters, brochures, and clippings.

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.

Papers of Morey Schapira reflect the work of the prominent activist of the American Soviet Jewry movement in the years 1965-1993. The collection includes details on Mr. Schapira’s leadership role with organizations Action for Soviet Jewry, the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry, the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. The collection contains files on many other groups, individuals and topics.

The papers of Mort Yadin reflect his work on behalf of Soviet Jews as a member of the Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry and the B’Nai Israel Soviet Jewry Committee. Included are transcripts of Yadin's phone conversations with Jews in the USSR, his correspondence with and on behalf of Soviet Jewish Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience. The collection also contains news clippings covering Yadin's activism, materials on events and projects, postal receipts, notes, memos, articles, brochures and photographs.

The collection contains papers of one of the pioneers of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. Starting in the early 1960s Moshe Decter instigated broad publicity campaigns to raise global awareness about the persecution of Soviet Jews and authored hundreds of articles on the subject in a variety of publications. Mr. Decter established and directed the Jewish Minorities Research bureau, served as the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews and as a director of research at the American Jewish Congress. Moshe Decter Papers consist of materials dating from the late 1950s to the early 2000s, with the bulk of the collection dating in 1960s-1970s. The documents include articles, correspondence, transcripts, notes, memoranda, publications, news clippings, broadsides and photographs.

Papers of Murray Levine, a rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Framingham, MA, worked extensively to help resettle Jewish immigrants arriving from the former Soviet Union and traveled to the Soviet Union to deliver spiritual and material support to Soviet Jewish Refuseniks. The materials include photographs and slides, trip reports, notes, memos, clippings, Refusenik profiles, a notebook with coded names of Soviet Jews, and correspondence, including a letter of support from Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

The papers of Myrtle Sitowitz reflect her work on behalf of Jews in the U.S.S.R. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Mrs. Sitowitz was active in The 35's—The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry, an international organization with members throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. Myrtle Sitowitz’s collection contains correspondence, newspaper articles, a children’s guide to Soviet Jewry, profiles and case histories of the Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience, community planning information. The materials include notes, memos, correspondence, publications, news clippings and a bumper sticker.

This collection contains the records of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the largest and most influential American Jewish organization created to coordinate efforts on behalf of Soviet Jewry; the NCSJ containes its work today, under the name, the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ).

The bulk of the collection covers the NCSJ's activities from the early 1970s, through late 1980s. It includes meetings minutes, memoranda, correspondence, newsletters and publications of the NCSJ and its precursor organizations (primarily the American Jewish Committee on Soviet Jewry, 1964-1971), and the individual files maintained on Refusenik, prisoners of conscience, and Jewish émigrés.

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The collection also includes a considerable number of reports from the visits to the USSR by Soviet Jewry Movement activists and other. A significant part of the collection is represented by the audio recordings that include 13-minute programs on the WEVD Radio dedicated to Soviet Jewry topics and recordings of phone conversations with Refuseniks. There is also a considerable number of photographs, posters and publications, several film strips and VHS tapes.

This collection documents the activities, administration, planning, proceedings, and correspondence of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, 1944-1994. The collection includes correspondence, programs, minutes, proposals, reports, clippings, press releases, and publications.

The collection documents the National Jewish Welfare Board's (JWB) evolution from an organization founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war to an agency involved in all aspects of Jewish life both in the United States and abroad. In 1990 JWB recreated itself as the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

This collection contains correspondence, photographs and negatives of sites and trips taken, material concerning Soviet Jewry activism and Synagogue services, and trip reports of visits to Jews in the Soviet Union.

Collection consists of typewritten oral history transcripts of executives in the United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Welfare Federation in Detroit. The interviewees are Herbert A. Friedman (1918- ), fomer Executive Chairman of the UJA; Lawrence H. Rubinstein (1940- ), former Executive Director of the UJA's National Young Leadership Cabinet; and Leonard N. Simons (1904- ), former Campaign Director for the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit and Detroit Civic Leader. Also includes inventories for oral histories available at the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia, and the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

The Hadassah Oral Histories consist of audio cassette recordings and typed transcripts of oral history interviews as well as related correspondence and research documents. Interviewees include notable members of Hadassah’s National Board, the Honorary Council, Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO), Youth Aliyah, Machon Szold, and Hebrew University, among others. Discussions cover such topics as Hadassah roles and achievements, Jewish upbringings, education, and family.

Pamela B. Cohen Papers document activities of the prominent activist of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. Pamela B. Cohen began her activity through the independent grass roots council, Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (CASJ) and in 1978, served with Marillyn Tallman as co-chair until 1986, when she became the national president of the Washington-based Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ). She served in that capacity for 10 years. The Pamela B. Cohen papers include materials from the late 1960s through 2009, and the bulk of the collection is dated 1970s-1980s. The documents include correspondence, notes, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs, ephemera, audio and video recordings and 3-D objects.

Papers of Rabbi Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (1908-1995) cover the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and document his activities related to Soviet Jews. The collection contains correspondence, related to Soviet Jews, documentation of Rabbi Teitz’ trips to the USSR, his articles on Soviet Jews, the Russian-Hebrew religious books published for Russian-speaking Jews by the enterprise MOHIR ( established by Teitz) records of shipments of books and religious items to the Soviet Union, a sound recording reflecting the visit of the Chief Rabbi of Moscow to the USA in 1968, and photographs related to Rabbi Teitz Soviet Jewry activities in the USA and the USSR. The documents include articles, correspondence, notes, prayer books, publications, news clippings, a trip report, photographs and a vinyl record.

Papers of Rabbi David Goldstein and Shannie Goldstein contain materials reflecting their work on behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union. The materials include notes, correspondence, fliers, news clippings and photographs. The bulk of the collection consists of oversized cardboard-mounted photographs taken by Rabbi Goldstein on the trip to the Soviet Union in 1983.

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Rachel Braun. The materials focus on the tour of the Soviet Union she took in 1979, under the guise of a tourist, with the intention to secretly meet Soviet Jews, deliver messages and material aid for the Refuseniks and Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience, and to collect information on their circumstances. The materials include diaries, photos and clippings.

Papers of an American Soviet Jewry movement activist Rabbi Ralph A. Dalin that contain correspondence with Refuseniks in the Soviet Union, sermons, and reports on trips to the USSR, publications and newspaper clippings related to his activism.

The collection contains the records of the ASJ, an organization active in the Boston area, which survives today as Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, as well as those of two other organizations closely related to ASJ: the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center. The bulk of the collection is from the decade starting in the late 1970s through the late 1980s. The collection includes large databases on Refuseniks, prisoners of conscience and Jewish émigrés. Along with the database spreadsheet forms there are a large number of individual files. Among these files are materials related to Soviet Jewish refugees in Italy from the time of the Ladispoli crisis of the late 1980s. The collection also includes a substantial number of reports from visits to the USSR by ASJ activists and other travelers cooperating with the Soviet Jewry Movement as well as a considerable number of photographs, posters and publications.

The collection documents the activities of a human rights non-government organization on behalf of Soviet Jewry and Jews in the Former Soviet Union. Organized by Harold Light in San Francisco in 1967, the group worked to bring the Soviet Jewry issue to national and international attention. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, case files, publications, newspaper clippings, card files of Refuseniks, subject files, audio/visual materials, and information on other Soviet Jewry and interreligious organizations. Also included are materials relating to Soviet Jewish emigration, Cold War relations, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and human rights conditions in Russia and the former Soviet republics.

The collection contains the records of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Zionist organization with a stated goal to protect Jews from all forms of antisemitism. The materials document the origins of the JDL, the organization's mission statement and recruitment strategies and account for its most definitive actions. The collection also reflects the League's turbulent relationship with, and its criticism of the mainstream Jewish agencies, as well as examples of criticism of the League's controversial methods from various sources. The collection prominently covers the JDL's role as a pioneer of the American Soviet Jewry movement. Materials on the 1971 World Conference of Jewish Communities are also included. The documents include the Articles of the Organization, correspondence and press releases, membership and recruitment materials, newsletters, newspaper clippings and ephemera.

The collection documents the advocacy on behalf of the Soviet Jewry of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, a non-profit organization concerned with Jewish social justice and legislative activity in Washington, D.C.