Letter to R. Weinbach about MTA Hosting Student Speaker Who Visited Soviet Jews (1969)
Dear Rabbi Weinbach: 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 any afternoon. Arrangements should be made at an early time as the young man in question is being rapidly booked.Sincerely yours,RABBI NORMAN LAMMNL/e