The Great Aliyah of Soviet Jewry

Mark Sokoll and Jonathan Davis in Tashkent

Forty-three years ago, I was an Aliyah emissary of the Jewish Agency for Israel, based in the office of the Consulate General in Boston. I was approached by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Nativ Organization to travel on a mission to the Former Soviet Union to visit Jewish activists and refuseniks. In 1979, of course, no diplomatic relations existed between Israel and the Soviet Union. My partner on this mission was Mark Sokoll, then the regional director of the American Zionist Youth foundation for New England campuses. Mark later served as the President and CEO of JCC Greater Boston. Our mission included visits to Moscow, Leningrad, Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand.

Our cover story was that we were university lecturers in the USA. We were briefed on how to behave during our few weeks as "tourists" in the Soviet Union. We were told, for example, not to bring written lists of the activists, but memorize them instead, not to talk about anything sensitive in the hotel rooms as they may be bugged and that our tour guide was probably working for and reporting to the Soviet Government. We were instructed to update the activists on current events in Israel, encourage them, and reassure them that we in Israel were fighting for their freedom. Strange as it may seem now, we were to provide them with duty free items from the local tourist shop called the Birioska, as gifts for their livelihood. At night we were to quietly reach out to the Jewish Activist destinations in the most subtle way possible. We were honored to participate in this Zionist mission. 

Yuli Kosharovsky and family at a Seder in Leningrad

Amongst many memorable experiences, was a Pesach seder in Leningrad. The seder was held in a small apartment, with at least 70 people squeezed in. We had brought matzot and wine from the USA, a real treat and delicacy for the locals. We led the Seder with great vigour including singing traditional songs, "Let My People Go" and "Next Year in Jerusalem". That was a Seder I will never forget. To my amazement the guest of honor at the Seder was Yuli Kosharovsky, the famous refusenik and Jewish Activist who had been released from jail just 24 hours earlier. I was honored to meet this Jewish hero. Yuli was an outstanding engineer in the Soviet Union, but his crime was to request the right to make Aliyah. As a result, he was persecuted and imprisoned. Together with other engineers he clandestinely taught himself Hebrew and prepared to make Aliyah. In every way, this hero exemplified the qualities of a modern-day Joseph Trumpeldor, embodying courage, tenacity, leadership and Zionist values. Years after our visit at the Seder, Yuli managed to receive his permit to come to Israel, where he succeeded in becoming an important advisor to the Jewish Agency and helped found a political party. Yuli, of blessed memory, passed away in 2014, but his Zionist values and spirit lives on with his family and grandchildren.

Jonathan Davis hosted by a family in Bukhara who served a meal with kosher wine. JD met them five years later in Israel.

In Moscow we had the opportunity to address 30-40 Jewish activists packed into a small apartment to help explain the events facing the State of Israel at the time in 1978. They were hungry for knowledge and carefully were taking notes. Each of them was teaching Hebrew to a few dozen activists and were going to repeat what they perceived to be our Zionist words of wisdom to their students. Years later, when visiting the Knesset, the late Member of Knesset Yuri Stern, a refusenik and Zionist activist in the Soviet Union came up to me and told me, "Jonathan, you were the first paratrooper I ever met in person". I felt proud that he remembered.

Ten years later, while working for the Jewish Agency for Israel, I was sent on a special mission to Italy. My assignment was to reach out to tens of thousands of Russian Jewish refugees in Ladispoli, Netuno, Santa Marinella and other locations in order to create an awareness of the importance of living in Israel.

To compete with the "easy life" in the USA, Canada, or Australia is a hard job. My mission was almost impossible. But in the end, together with a dedicated team, a few hundred families emigrated to Israel. They were mostly young couples with small children, and professionals in the fields such as medicine, music, art, and engineering. Their life choice to become Israelis has certainly enriched our country.

In 2000, I participated in a parachute jump into the sea, near the Dado Beach in Haifa. Lt. General Shaul Mofaz led this fundraising event for orphans of paratroopers. Each veteran paratrooper jumped with an "orphan buddy". Navy Seals in rubber dinghies waited to help us back to shore. A tall and handsome Navy Seal with a Russian accent assisted me. He was born in Novosibirsk and had been living in Israel for less than a decade. This Navy Seal, son of Russian immigrants, who chose to serve in one of the most elite units of the IDF, was lending me a hand. This brought me full circle in my appreciation and recognition of an immigration which changed the face of the State of Israel