Letter to Sekretar Obakoma Advocating for Dr. Schapira's Emigration from Soviet Russia (1973)

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Letter Advocating for Dr. Schapira's Emigration from Soviet Russia (1972)

Dear David: I’d like to invite you to join me in a dvar mitzvah – and one that is urgent and pikuach nefesh. The enclosed letter is one I received from a Russian Jew who spent 27 years in Siberia, and is now trying to get his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter out of Russia. The letter is self-explanatory. We have to help, and I’d like it to be done as soon as humanly possible if we’re to be of any assistance. First, call Western Union or RCA and send off the following telegram (a night-letter os cheapest) to: 1. Ambassador Dobrynin, USSR Embassy, Washington DC; and 2. Minister of Interior, Moscow, USSR JUSTICE AND DECENCY DEMAND PERMISSION FOR DR. BENJAMIN SCHAPIRA AND FAMILY OF BELGOROD OBLASTNOI TO BE REUNITED WITH THEIR FAMILY IN ISRAEL. URGENTLY IMPLORE YOUR INTERCESSION. PROF. NORMAN LAMM Ask the telegram people to send you copies of the cables as soon as possible.

Soviet Jewry

Letter to Chairman Kosygin Advocating for Dr. Schapira's Emigration from Soviet Russia (1972)

Dear Mr. Kosygin: I take the privilege of sending you enclosed a copy of a telegram that I recently sent to President Nixon and Secretary General Waldheim on behalf of a large number of colleagues and friends. We are all of us concerned about the fate of Dr. Benjamin Schapira of Belgorod. I implore you in the name of decency and compassion, as well as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which your country is a signatory, to allow Dr. Schapira and his family to emigrate to Israel and be reunited with his old and sick parents. Certainly a great power like the U.S.S.R. will not suffer if it will allow one family to be reunited and allow an old and sick father and mother to have their one great dream fulfilled, that of seeing their children once again.Respectfully yours,Rabbi Norman LammNL:cwEnc.

Soviet Jewry

Letter to Sekretar Gorispolkoma Advocating for Dr. Schapira's Emigration from Soviet Russia (1973)

Dear Sekretar Goriapolkoma: I have, for the past several months, written and complained to Messrs. Brezhnev and Kosygin, as well as to the local authorities in Belgorod, petitioning for permission for Dr. Beniamin Schapira of Belgorod, Oblastnoi and his family to emigrate to Israel. His aged parents live there and long desperately to see their son and his family again. I have never received a single response to all my letters, either from the authorities in the Soviet Union or from Ambassador Dobrynin.What I am requesting, Sekretar Gorispolkoma, is totally non-political. It is a petition for human sympathy, warmth, and generosity.Do be kind enough to let me know that you will consider my request, and those distinguished members of my committee who join me in pleading for the emigration permit to the Schapira family.Sincerely,Professor Norman LammNL:cw

Soviet Jewry