The Jewish theater and the Jewish press are both dead. In Russia today only a few rabbis serve the more than 3 million Jews living there. and in Moscow only three synagogues exist to serve some 500.000 Jews in that city. Even more unconscionable. however. is the Soviet Unions refusal to let most of these persecuted people emigrate to places where they can live in freedom. This right to emigrate is a precious right recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the United Nations Charter. and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discriminationall of which have been ratified b3 the USSR. The Soviet refusal to recognize this right also flies in the face of a commitment made in 1966 by Premier Aleksei Kosygin to permit Russian families separated by the ravages of war to be reunited with relatives outside Soviet borders. Since that 1966 commitment more than 50.000 applications for family reunions outside of Soviet borders. many of them from Soviet Jews. have not been acted upon. At this time it is estimated that more than 100.000 applications for permission to emigrate are before the Soviet authorities and one of the few fortunate Soviet Jews who have been granted such permission. Mr. Leonid Rigerman. estimates that some 500.000 Soviet Jews would leave the countrymany going to Israelif they were permitted to do so.
Keywords matched
emigrate