SJMAP News
Fifty Years Ago – Soviets Arrest American Students Who Visit Refuseniks
The Soviets had long been using tactics of harassment, arrest, and incarceration on Soviet Jews. By the early 1970’s Soviet officials were using intimidation tactics on Western tourists who visited refuseniks. In July 1974 an incident of such harassment involving U.S. college students Miriam Rosenblum and Sheldon Benjamin brought widespread attention and condemnation in the […]
Webinar: The Cleveland Pioneers Who Started it All
SOVIET JEWRY MOVEMENT ARCHIVES PROJECT inaugural webinar: SOVIET JEWRY MOVEMENT 60TH ANNIVERSARY: The Cleveland Pioneers Who Started it All RECORDED: SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2024 at 1:00pm (Eastern Time) Featuring: Dr. Shaul Kelner Associate Professor of Sociology & Jewish Studies Vanderbilt University Moderated by: Dr. Sean Martin, Curator for Jewish History – Western Reserve Historical Society SJMAP’S […]
How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews by Shaul Kelner A new book, documenting the grassroots Soviet Jewry movement in the U.S., is due for publication April 2024. Shaul Kelner’s A Cold War Exodus delves into the gripping narrative of how men and women, through ingenuity and determination, devised mass mobilization tactics during a three-decade-long campaign […]
Soviet Jewry Movement 60th Anniversary
A COMMEMORATION & DEDICATION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2023 • 12:00pm EDT Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, Founded October 1963 Dedication of Ohio History Marker Preserving & Sharing These Stories: Soviet Jewry Movement Archives Project Downloadable PDF with full details EVENT DESCRIPTION Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Soviet Jewry Movement. The Cleveland […]
60th Anniversary of the first Soviet Jewry advocacy organization to be marked October 2023
The 60th anniversary of the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism (CCSA) – the first independent group in North America, and beyond, formed to advocate for Soviet Jews will be celebrated on Sunday, October 22, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. The CCSA was founded by a group of young professionals at Beth Israel-The West Temple in Cleveland: […]
Historical Marker Designates First Soviet Jewry Organization in North America
North America’s first organization formed to advocate for Soviet Jews has been recognized with a historical marker in Cleveland, Ohio where the earliest efforts began. The marker, titled “A Modern-Day Exodus,” recognizes the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism (CCSA), started in 1963 and led by Louis Rosenblum, Herb Caron, and Rabbi Daniel Litt. The marker […]
It takes two women to portray refusenik Ida Nudel in new play
“You can stop my body but you can’t stop my soul.” Those are perhaps the most striking words out of director Tzedi Tzarfati’s latest musical production called Ida, portraying the life of famed refusenik Ida Nudel. Currently being staged at the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv, the show began in September and plans to keep going for […]