Dear Rabbi Lamm, Many thanks for the $100 check for which I enclose this receipt. In the 2 weeks from the 26th of April to May 11th, we have pulled off three major achievements. The development of the organization within this time has been fantastic. By the end of the month we hope אי״ה to have achieved a broadly conceived fast near the Soviet museum, lasting a week with every college represented as well as some of the main ישיבות גדולות

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 …

Dear Mr. Birnbaum: The enclosed is the check I told you about. Please accept it with my most genuine respects for all your selfless efforts in a task which should be the common concern of each and every one of us. I certainly hope that this will not be the last opportunity I have to assist you. I am now pursuing the question of competent help for you on a part-time basis. The enclosed check is from Mr. Leonard Stern at the address mentioned on the check. Sincerely yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm

Western Union Telegram: Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry cordially invites your participation in Jericho March around Soviet Mission, Sunday, April 4th, 1:00 PM. Assembly: 67th and Lexington, 2:20. Procession to United Nations for rally: Hammarskjöld Plaza, East 47. May we expect you or representative and receive message? Jacob Birnbaum, 44 Whitehall, Room 205.

Telegram (Sent for deliverance 4/4/65): God speed on your sacred work in awakening conscience world to plight of soviet jewry.

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…

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Recent months have seen the growth of a new adult group with the same type of high devotion which distinguished the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry on the student level. A group of respected and responsible persons have come together to form the Center for Russian Jewry. Major responsibilities have been undertaken by men as varied as Elie Wiesel, the famous novelist and Mr. Melvin Stein, Legal Counsel to the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development for New York and New England. The Center is a response to the urgent need for putting the "war" for a quarter of our people on a systematic basis. We require a much intensified publicity campaign through the media, newsletters, literature, tapes, films, on the one hand and a fully set up community guidance and service organization on the other. A wide range of activities, including public advertisements, a newsletter, important conferences and speakers training seminars, is being rapidly developed and it is in regard to these that we wish to consult with you.Though we now have a number of committees, we have to constitute an authorative Board of Directors who will enunciate principles and articulate policy from time to time.It is for the purpose of asking you to join our Board that we are writing to you today. We are confident that our Center will become a major factor in the fight for Russian Jewry and we most earnestly hope that we may look forward to your cooperation along the linesjust indicatedThe first meeting will take place in our new offices on Wednesday, January 11th at 8 P.M.Hoping that we may hear from you at yourearly convenienceJacbb Birnbaum

Dear Rabbi Zuroff: A number of students just returned from the Soviet Union report remarkable experiences during last month's festivals. The sum total of their testimony suggests the dramatic conclusion that during the past year or so one of the most decisive expansions of Jewish feeling in history has taken place among young Soviet Jews. Many are making great sacrifices to affirm their Jewishness and to express their protest to the world. I would urge that this extraordinary phenomenon be communicated as soon as possible to your students, perhaps at a School Assembly. Among the eyewitnesses, there is one — a Brooklyn Yeshiva graduate — who is a particularly effective speaker. Listening to him will be a significant experience for staff and students alike.I am sure you will agree that such an encounter will inspire the students with renewed enthusiasm and commitment to the cause. Because the struggle is a long and complicated one, there is a special need to overcome an understandable weariness.For further details, please call Jacob Birnbaum, National Director of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, at 799-8900 afternoon. Arrangements should be made at an early time as the young man in question is being rapidly booked.Sincerely yours,RABBI NORMAN LAMM

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Thank you for the $1,000 check on behalf of the New York Conference, for which we enclose our receipt. Let us hope that the Conference will soon find itself in a position to provide a regular and enlarged financial underpinning to the SSSJ for its day-to-day work on behalf of Soviet Jewry. In the meantime, the $1,000 is appreciated here as a helpful start. Our thanks to David Geller for his help. Kindest regards. Very sincerely yours,Jacob BirnbaumNational Director