I am further pleased to note that the hopes I spoke of at last years vigil have begun to materialize with the release of Anatoly Shcharansky. But it is imperative that we remember that thl. is only a beginning. Hundreds of thousands bf Soviet Jews are still unable to emigrate freely and follow the heritage of their forefathers. I remind my colleagues that the number of Soviet Jews allowed to emigrate has been dismally low for years. Contained in Russia. they are subjected to constant harassment and unjustified arrests. I would like to acquaint you with the plight of one of these unfortunate individuals. He is a man deprived of family. vocation. religion. and purpose. Like his fellow reluseniks. this manZinovi Ostrovskyhas been refused the right to live his life as an observant member of the Jewish faith. In 1976. when his sister applied for an emigration visa to Israel. he was barred from an engineering career and demoted to a kitchen helper. where he remains today. The departure of his sister left him with no blood relatives in Russia. and no desire to stay. Since 1979 he has pleaded to be reunited with his elderly father before he dies. to resume his previous occupation. and to live in freedom. Year after year. Soviet authorities have refused his applications for a visa with the cold. callous reason that "his emigration is not in the interest of the state." Just what is in the interest of the Soviet state? The suppression of the individual will? The reduction of the human life to a condition of perpetual suffering?
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emigrate emigration visa