As a participant in the Congressional Call to Conscience. I would like to bring to my colleagues attention the plight of a young refusnik that I have adopted. PavelAstrakhan was born in 1955 and first applied to emigrate in 1978. He was refused permission to do so on the grounds that he "choose to emigrate without his elderly parents. thus breaking up a family." Although Pavel is an English teacher/ translator by profession. he is unable to find work. Thus. he devotes a great deal of his time to studying the Torah and helping other Jews process their applications for emigration. Pavel is also involved in reli. gious seminars which take place unofficial. ly and are attended by refusniks and nonrefusniks. As many as 100 people have at. tended these seminars at one time. howev. er. a tourist has reported that attendance has begun to drop off because of KGB raids on the homes where seminars are held. Pavel lives in Leningrad with his wife Sonya and their twoyearold daughter Ruth. In 1984. the family received an invi. tation and began the long procedure of resubmitting their emigration papers once again. Unfortunately. on July 12. of this year. Pavel received notice that they had once again been refused the right to emigrate. Mr. Speaker. every day 2 to 3 million Jews residing in the Soviet Union are denied the basic freedom of religious expression and experience routine discrimination in education. social life. and employment.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration