David Waksberg, 1956-

The David Waksberg Papers represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be one of the most influential movements of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

David Jonathan Waksberg, born December 14, 1956 in New York City, was involved in the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry before moving to California, where in 1981 he began working for the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (BACSJ) as Assistant Director. In 1982 Waksberg became BACSJ's Executive Director, supervising all organizational activities, which included: public and political advocacy on behalf of Soviet Jews; research and monitoring of the living conditions of Soviet Jews; administration of financial, medical and legal aid to refuseniks and prisoners of conscience; demonstrations and vigils; preparing travelers for visits to refuseniks; and fundraising. By 1983 he was on the Board of Directors of BACSJ's umbrella organization, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ), and he then became National Vice-President of UCSJ in 1985.

In his work for the BACSJ and UCSJ, Waksberg made frequent trips to the Soviet Union and the Former Soviet states in the 1980s and 1990s. He led numerous protests outside the Soviet consulate in San Francisco. He supported the Soviet Jewry movement also in deeply personal ways; in 1983, for example, his marriage to Ellen Bob was a theatrical display of protest. They staged their traditional Jewish wedding in San Francisco's Union Square, standing under the chuppah as proxies for a refusenik couple, Yuri and Olga Tarnopolsky, who were not allowed by Soviet authorities to marry in a Jewish wedding ceremony.

In 1990, UCSJ established the US-USSR Center for Jewish Renewal and headquartered the programming arm of the Center in BACSJ’s office in San Francisco. Waksberg devoted three days a week of his BACSJ time to the new position of Director of the Center for Jewish Renewal (CJR). The initial mission of the CJR revolved around the promotion of renewal and development of Jewish life in the Soviet Union and later Former Soviet Union (FSU). However, the CJR’s mission shifted slightly from purely cultural, religious and educational initiatives to instead address the emigration rights, human rights and resettlement needs of Jews in the transitioning FSU. The CJR together with BACSJ and UCSJ supported the openings and operations of a network of human rights and emigration bureaus in major FSU cities.

When Waksberg stepped down as Executive Director of BACSJ in 1994, he became a member of the BACSJ's Board of Directors, and he also took on the role of Director of Development and Communication of the UCSJ.

Waksberg left the non-profit world in 1995, working at Descartes Systems Group for twelve years, until he accepted the position of Executive Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco in 2007.

References

Palevsky, Stacey. "Soviet Jewry activist chosen to head BJE." j. June 8, 2007. Accessed June 14, 2010 from: http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/32685/soviet-jewry-activist-chosen-to-head-bje/

Pine, Dan. "Soviet Jewry movement celebrates 40th anniversary." j. December 10, 2007. Accessed June 14, 2010 from: http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/33978/soviet-jewry-movement-celebrates-40th-anniversary/

From the guide to the David Waksberg Papers, 1970-1997 (bulk 1982-1995), (American Jewish Historical Society)