Union of Councils for Soviet Jews

The American Soviet Jewry Movement was initiated in the early 1960s, when the first public protests were made by American Jews against the suppression of Jewish religion and Jewish national culture in the Soviet Union. Though random and spontaneous, those actions started to attract attention of the mainstream Jewish community and led to creation of the first organizations devoted specifically to the support of the Soviet Jews, namely the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry (AJCSJ) and Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) in 1964. The former, due to the conflicts in tactics and strategy proved to be dysfunctional and failed to effectively pursue the goals set at its creation. It placed emphasis on the work using the official channels, but lost dynamism and was considered by many as rather a think tank than a defense organization (It was replaced by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry in 1971). The latter organization, SSSJ, limited itself to work mostly within the college students' ranks and among youth volunteers. Thus a need was felt in a more broadly determined and more community-oriented organization.

The widely publicized Leningrad Trial incident, in which 34 men and women were accused of hijacking a plane at the Leningrad airport in order to emigrate, prompted many American Jews to protest against the injustice of the Soviet regime, and multiplied grass roots organizations.

A broad-based grassroots network was created in 1970 by, most notably, Louis Rosenblum of the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, Si Frumkin of the Union of Council for Soviet Jews, Zev Yaroslavsky of the California Students for Soviet Jews and Harold Light of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews. Founded as a confederation of six grass-roots organizations, UCSJ was unwilling to work with the inefficiency surrounding the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry and established their own programs. UCSJ pioneered the first person-to-person programs with Soviet Jews through mail and phone contacts and began using the help of Americans who were visiting the Soviet Union. UCSJ representatives were involved with locating and contacting Refuseniks and researching and coordinating relief for their cases. UCSJ shared its information and contacts with a wider American Jewish community, and later these methods were adopted by organizations like the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.

Among the programs developed were "Adopt a Refusenik Family" (matching American and Soviet Jewish families), "Adopt a Prisoner" (sending packages and monitoring the conditions of imprisonment for prisoners of Zion), Bar/Bat Mitzvah Twinning (matching Bar/ Bat Mitzvahs in America with those in the USSR), and Tarbut (sending literature on Jewish culture and religion to the USSR). Through its publications, UCSJ reported on its activities: Alert (1974-1989) and Quarterly Report (1982-1990), and later Refusenik Update, Congressional Handbook for Soviet Jewry, and Antisemitism in the USSR-Status Report .

The Union of Councils became a communications hub, maintaining extensive contacts, chiefly by telephone, and tracking the status Soviet Refuseniks and prisoners of Zion. Often UCSJ was the first among the Soviet Jewry Movement organizations to receive important news from Soviet Jewish activists and it provided regular updated information for the media and officials and representatives in Congress and Senate. From 1971 to 1991 a Congressional Vigil was held, largely with UCSJ' efforts, and was headed by House Representatives Tom Lantos (Calif.-D) and John Porter (Ill.-R). With the successful advocacy of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1973, UCSJ received broad recognition for its efficiency and pioneering methods in defending the Soviet Jews. In 1976 President Jimmy Carter pledged via telegram to UCSJ to support the "full religious and cultural opportunities for Soviet Jews," as well as their right to emigrate. He declared that "he would not hesitate to use trade to effectuate that purpose." 1 UCSJ was instrumental in initializing national and international campaigns for support of the imprisoned Refuseniks, like Anatoly Sharansky, Vladimir Slepak, Ida Nudel, Vladimir Begun, making them known to the rank and file members of the Jewish community as well as to many non-Jewish Americans, and providing material and moral support for their families and relatives. In 1987 the UCSJ president Pamela B. Cohen of Chicago made an unannounced visit to the Soviet Union where she met with hundreds of Refuseniks.

In dissent with the views of some member organizations in the Soviet Jewry Movement and the Israeli government, which was also involved in the campaign for facilitating Jewish emigration from the USSR, the leaders and activists of the UCSJ advocated the right for Soviet Jews to emigrate and choose any place for immigration, rather then exclusively to make aliya and settle in Israel. This position was especially disheartening for the Soviet authorities, who were inclined to treat Jewish emigration as repatriation (which had been allowed in the Soviet Union for other ethnic groups) rather than a human rights issue.

By 1991, at the end of the Soviet era, UCSJ had 50 local councils and 100,000 members throughout the United States. It had grown to become a formidable force, supporting and protecting Soviet Jews by gathering and disseminating news on their condition and treatment; distributing publications; providing educational programs, rallies and demonstrations; and advocating to the U.S. Government, and national and international agencies and forums.

Two affiliated organizations, the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center (SJLAC) and the Medical Mobilization for Soviet Jewry provided efficient analytical, logistical and technical support for the activities of the UCSJ.

UCSJ remained active after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and mass Jewish emigration began to Israel, the U.S. and other Western countries. UCSJ local representation committees were established in most of the states of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Currently, UCSJ monitors anti-Semitic activities in FSU, provides programs like Yad L'Yad, which links U.S. synagogues to FSU Jewish communities, and publishes Monitor, a weekly digest of news and analysis from the states of the FSU. Most of the communication and research between UCSJ and Jews in FSU can now be conducted through the World Wide Web. The organization is now officially called Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union.