Speech #970235895

I rise today to join with my distinguished colleague from New York. Mr. LENT. in remembering the plight of those citizens in the Soviet Union seeking immigration to Israel. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. LENT for organizing and leading this years vigil and for his many efforts on behalf of those Soviet Jews who are not allowed to immigrate to Israel. I would now like to address the issue of the fate of a Mrs. Galda Nuhimovna Levina. a woman who has continually applied for an exit visa for the last 12 years. only to be refused after each subsequent request. The pain and disappointment this woman has experienced must be indescribable. Unfortunately though. her situation is not at all unique. Over the decades. many people have applied for visas only to be repeatedly refused. becoming virtual prisoners in a country which will not grant them their humble request. In the specific case of Mrs. Levina. she is a 67yearold widow who is suffering from cancer. and her prognosis for the future is dim. She survives on a minimal pension provided for her by the government. who also prescribed for her a communal apartment which she shares with two women who are strangers to her. Mrs. Levinas only son was granted an exit visa in 1978. and although he did not wish to leave his mother. he did so at her insistence. Since that time. he has married and is now living in my district in Massachusetts. At this point in her life. it would seem normal for Mrs.