Speaker. we observed Solidarity Sunday on May 2. For 11 years. the Greater Council on Soviet Jewry has sponsored this event. where thousands of Americans of all faiths march and rally in support of the Soviet Unions 3 million oppressed Jews. Again this year we are showing our solidarity with these people who. denied the freedom to observe their religion at home. are further denied the choice of emigration to a place of freedom. This year. our collective voice must be firmer and more insistent. for this year has seen fewer and fewer Jews granted permission to leave. From a 1979 peak of 51.320. the 1981 emigration total has slipped to only 9.447. February 1982 saw just 283 Jews allowed to leave the Soviet Union. as compared to 3.827 during the same month in 1979. And so. as we call upon the Government of the Soviet Union to honor its international commitmentsthe Helsinki Final Act and the universal declaration of human rightswe must do so with an added urgency on behalf of all those waiting for permission to leave. Sadly. emigration is not the only problem faced by the Soviet Jewish community. The heightened persecution. the growing incidence of officially sanctioned antiSemitism. the increase in arrests of Jewish citizensall of these demonstrate the absence of religious freedom of Jews within the Soviet Union. Schoolchildren are taunted. families are harassed.
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