Speech #990153722

Synagogoues remain closed. the teaching of Hebrew and Jewish studies is a criminal offense. few trained rabbis work in the Soviet Union. and the state of Israel is described in the staterun press as the successor to Nazi Germany. Mr. Speaker. if the release of Anatoly Shcharansky leads to a lessening of Western pressure on the Soviet Union to allow Jews to emigrate and to practice Judaism openly and freely in the Soviet Union. then the Soviet leaders will have won the battle even as they let Shcharansky go free. If Western leaders are content with the freeing of Shcharansky. then the conditions of those still wanting to leave Russia will not improve. Moreover. I believe that the Russian leaders would welcome a slackening of efforts to secure the release of other Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate. For these reasons. the release of Shcharansky compels us to redouble our efforts for securing the release of the thousands of other Jews who want to emigrate from the Soviet Union and for remembering those living there who want to maintain their centuriesold Jewish traditions and culture. No one can rest from this effort and sit back on their laurels just because one person has been freed. We dare not forget those still languishing in the jails and psychiatric hospitals of the Soviet Union. and must keep the pressure on the Soviet Union.