He once said that: The nobility of our calling will always be rooted In two commitments difficult to observe: Refusal to lie about what we know. and resistance to oppression. By this yardstick. refuseniks. Soviet Jews who apply for an emigration visa and are refused. represent just that kind of commitment. Despite an everincreasing amount of Soviet sponsored antiSemitism. these brave Jews refuse to lie about their faith by assimilating. by denying their belief in God. or by refusing to repress their convictions. Soviet Jews are. in general. oppressed. Traditional Russian/Soviet antiSemitism has become increasingly vicious in recent months. recent articles in Pravda. the Communist Partys official daily paper. have stepped up their attacks on Israel and have tried to link Zionism with nazism. By applying for an emigration visa. Jews become the targets of increased oppression. Yet by going ahead and applying. knowing that they are courting more oppression than if they did not apply. these Jews are simultaneously demonstrating their resistance to oppression. Two refuseniks whom I have adopted. Boris Chernobilsky and Simon Shnirman. have demonstrated their commitments to Camus notion of nobility. Boris Chernobilsky and his family first applied for an emigration visa in 1975. After his request was denied in 1976. Boris lost his job.
Identified stereotypes
Soviet Jews are brave and refuse to lie about their faith.