In an effort to study the problem firsthand. I visited the Soviet Union late last year. The conclusion I drew from my trip was that 1972 was a setback for Soviet Jews despite the recordhigh emigration to Israel. and 1973 doesnt look any better. In Russia. I spent an evening in the home of a Soviet Jewish activist. He was a highly trained industrial engineeruntil he applied for emigration to Israel 2 years ago. He immediately lost his job. So did his wife. They now live on the meager earnings of their 17yearold son. waiting and hoping that their exit visa will eventually be granted. I would like to talk today about another such activist. It can only be labeled the strange case of Avictor Levit. He was born in Russia. but emigrated to Israel. with his parents. as a child. In Israel. he became a Communist and decided to emigrate to the Soviet Union. He now calls this the immature act of a child rebeling against his parents. In the Soviet Union. he married a Russian Jewess. became a father and settled down to the life of a factory worker in Moscow. After a few years. he became disenchanted with the Soviet system and applied for a visa so that he could rejoin his ailing father in Haifa. His application for the visa cost him and his wife their jobs and he now supports himself by doing menial tasks and illegally teaching Hebrew at an underground school in Moscow. He has not heard about the status of his exit visa in over a year and has no way to find out. Avictor Levit lives in constant fear of being arrested by the KGB. He will not take foreign visitors to his apartment because he is sure it is bugged and that the transcripts of the conversations would be used against him in court.
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emigrate emigration emigrated visa