I am honored to participate in the Second Annual Congressional Fast and Prayer Vigil for Soviet Jewry. Fourteen years ago the eyes of the world were abruptly turned to 11 Soviet men who where arrested at the Smolnii Airport in Leningrad. Unable to withstand continuous denials of their legal right to emigrate by the Soviet authorites. these men were forced to take desperate measures to flee their oppression. While only 2 of the original 11 remain imprisoned. they have been joined by scores of Soviet Jews who are trapped in the enigmatic life of the refusenik. These men and women simply wish to live out the cultural lives of their forefathers. I would like to address my remarks to the case of Josef Begun. a prisoner of conscience who in the face of the oppressive curtain imposed by Soviet authorities. has devoted his life to bringing the light of Jewish culture and tradition to his fellow Soviet Jews. Josef Begun has been subjected to continuously more arduous abuse from the Soviets since 1971 when he applied for an exit visa. Following his application. Begun lost his hob as a mathematician and began teaching Hebrew.
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