Yet it denies them the right to leave to fulfill these rights. It is a state that under the leadership of Andropov intensified the forced cultural assimilation. expanded its antiZionist propaganda campaign. and attempted to sever the Soviet Jewish community from any contact with its brethren abroad. Finally. it is a state that has as its goal an end to emigration. The Soviet Union allowed 1.314 Jews to emigrate in 1983. the lowest number of any year in the last 20. a mere onehalf of the 2.688 emigrants who were permitted to leave in 1982. according to statistics compiled by the Soviet Jewry Research Bureau. The closing of synagogues. the banning of Hebrew language instruction. the pervasive discrimination in education. employment. and social life. and the confiscation of prayer books are all a part of a state policy to destroy systematically the Jewish culture. Most of us here today are familiar with the plights of Anatoly Shcharansky. Andrei Sakharov. and Ida Nudel. Their indomitable spirits and unwavering defiance in the face of persecution have made them symbols of the shared fate among Soviet Jews seeking emigration. Unfortunately for them. as for all others. once the desire to emigrate is translated into an application for a risa. their lives are irretrievably changed. The applicant first loses his or her Job. Then receives personal threats as well as threats against the family.
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emigrate emigration emigrants