Those of you old enough to remember the 1970s – 80s may well recall the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union, whose pride in their religion and homeland was awakened after the 6 Day War and who applied to emigrate to Israel.
Their request was refused ( hence their name Refusenicks) and they immediately lost their jobs ad were never able to get comparable employment. They were lucky if they were able to find some menial work,to avoid being labeled a ‘parasite’ by the government and imprisoned or sent to Siberia.
Jobless and incomeless their condition was desperate and much of the money which was sent from abroad to try and help them was confiscated before it ever reached them.
Those of us who grew up in Britain and the USA during those years remember the organisations which were formed to try and help Soviet Jewry and the demonstrations and hunger strikes outside the Soviet Embassies around the world.
1974 New York Rally outside the Soviet Mission to the United Nations
I couldn’t help thinking of this as I watched the video below of the IDF Band, performing in Red Square in Moscow, underneath a large flag of Israel.
Thank G’d times have changed – and in some ways for the better.
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