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Correspondence

April 1965

Letter from Jacob Birnbaum about Jericho March Outside the United Nations (1965)

Soviet Jewry
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Letter from Jacob Birnbaum about Plans for Soviet Jewry Activism (1964)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, It is now time I let you have a short report of what has been happening here since our Lower East Side Rally, which was our fifteenth “action” (Oct. 18). We have sponsored an all-New York campus course, two big campus rallies, given several lectures, are in the process of setting up an important spearhead in Boro Park, and are preparing for several more campus meetings in the next few weeks. Practically all the campus leaders have been trained by me. I am frequently asked for guidance and materials from all over the country. I have just spent a few days in an important region outside N.Y. where I outlined a systematic program for the coming months culminating in a community-wide effort at the beginning of May. My efforts were concentrated in three directions: the adult community, the universities, and the youth groups, for each of whom I shaped up programs.If I had the means and the time, I could do this in many other areas. But I am tied down by the most elementary chores. True, small monies are coming in, and by saving on an office and secretarial assistance, expenditure is covered with a little left over. This is a ridiculous situation considering our great potential as a movement of awakening, particularly among young people. Despite all the talk, the alienation of the campus from Judaism is very great, yet my experience around the world in recent years has proven to me that there is now present an underlying potential which can be roused, shaped, and crystallized.Both in the case of our young people and even more in regard to Russian Jewry, opportunities have now opened up before us which will leave us with a great burden of guilt if we pass them by.I wrote to Rabbi Tibor Stern of Florida asking him to become an Honorary Patron with a view to getting some help from his wealthy contacts at a later stage, but there was no reply. Perhaps you could talk to him. In a phone conversation a couple of weeks ago, you were good enough to promise to look …
Soviet Jewry

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Letter from Jacob Birnbaum about Operation Jericho in Washington, D.C. (1965)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Last week we completed a series of activities going under the name "Operation Jericho." This was "the Jericho Ride" to Washington from a number of areas, and a highly successful affair which received a great deal of publicity in Washington, and included the second of our visits to the State Department, a major discussion with the First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy, a circling Jericho march opposite that Embassy, the reading of a dramatic script of "Appeal to Conscience" in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House and the accidental meeting with President Johnson, in the course of which I presented him with one of our buttons!In the year since we came into existence we have achieved a surprising number of "firsts"—especially in the political field. This is due to the fact that in our constant and ardent will in the cause, our probing sometimes finds a door slightly ajar through which we push.The "Jericho Ride" was the beginning of a new series of operations, moving over largely to Washington, and focused on the idea of Geulah. The culminating point will be a number of Geulah waves sweeping into Washington from different cities late in the fall.The other side of the coin—not entirely unfamiliar to you—consists of a series of desperate shifts to find small monies to carry on even the most basic activities. People are under the impression that, with all our activities, we must have a powerful organisation behind us. They do not know of the pitiful waste of time and energies in just keeping our head above water. I have to say that our whole program of penetration of the summer camps is seriously jeopardized, never mind major, or even minor, plans for the fall.Early last year a group of your people evinced a real desire for the development of specifically Jewish youth service movements. Well, here it is and growing steadily. It would be a crying shame if so promising a development as we have under our hands after only one year should fold up like a pa…
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Letter to Mayor Lindsay about UN March for Soviet Jewry (1969)

Dear Mr. Lindsay: The New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, a coordinating committee of the local chapters of the major national Jewish organizations, will be conducting a demonstration for Soviet Jewry at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza of the United Nations on Thursday, October 2, at 6:30 p.m. The demonstration, which will be called a Simchat Torah Celebration, will be held to express solidarity with the young people in the Soviet Union who each year have congregated at the large synagogues in Moscow and Leningrad to dance on this joyous holiday as an expression of their Jewish identity. We would be most honored if you, as the Chief Executive of this great city and as one who has spoken out on this important issue in the past, could be with us and extend greetings to the thousands whom we expect will be there. We hope your schedule can be so arranged, and would appreciate it greatly if you could let us know as soon as possible, so that we can make the necessary arrangements for our publicity and invitations. Rabbi Norman Lamm, Chairman – David Geller, Coordinator – N.Y. Conference on Soviet Jewry.
Soviet Jewry