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Art imitates life
Russian girl finds ‘Route to Freedom’
by Carl Alpert
HAIFA—It has been said that
life is a game; some play it well,
some have luck, and some don't.
This is the story of a game—that
was really life.
It began in Moscow in July,
1974, when 14-year-old Shoshana
Ramm, her 12-year-old brother
Aryeh, and their mother, Bella,
were placed under house arrest.
Their father, Demetrios, a
mathematics scientist, had just
been thrown into prison as one of
those who, along with Prof.
Voronel, had sought to hold an
international conference of
scientists. The Soviet authorities
moved promptly to halt this
dangerous activity.
What does one do during house
arrest? Guards are placed at the
door to make sure no one leaves.
Time hangs heavy. The children
grew bored with the monotony.
Shoshana, artistically inclined,
sought to entertain her younger
brother and devised a game to keep
him occupied. It was one of those
typical games where a throw of
dice permits a player to begin at
“Go," to move so many spaces
along the board suffering setbacks
or benefitting from luck, and finally
reaching the finish line.
Shoshana's game was based on
her own life. The Jew in Russia
begins at Go. He starts the long
path which he hopes will lead him
to Israel. He gets his first paper and
submits it to the authorities, but
his employer refuses to give him
character references. He makes out
a new application, is fired from his
job, waits patiently to be called,
moves slowly through the
bureaucratic red tape, is set back
again....
The game is exciting, but
requires patience. Shoshana had
learned patience. Her mother,
Bella, also a mathematician, had
lost her job when she was
suspected of passing a copy of
Leon Uris’s “Exodus” and other
books to a friend. Her father was
already in prison. How would her
game end? She knew from friends
that with infinite patience it was
possible to overcome the
difficulties and the disappoint
ments and eventually, even after
last-minute handicaps, leave
Russia and at last get to Israel.
Shoshana's eyes shone as she sat
with her family in their
comfortable apartment in Haifa
and told me of her gdfcie. After the
house arrest had been lifted she
improved the game, touched up
her illustrations, and when an
American tourist came to visit, she
gave it to him. He took it back to
the U S. and arranged to have it
published, almost exactly as she
had drawn it.
Had there been any income, I
inquired. Shoshana shook her
head. She had made it clear at once
that she wanted no income.
Profits, if any, should be given to
help the Prisoners of Zion, or
similar causes. For her the game
had served its purposeishe and her
family had run the entire track,
endured all the hardships, and had
made it to the finish line.
Demetrios is today a scientist on
the staff of the IBM Science Center
at the Technion. Bella gives private
lessons in mathematics. Aryeh is a
pupil at Technion’s Technical
High School. And Shoshana, after
just completing high school, is now
proudly ready to enter the Israel
army. She has produced a Hebrew
version of the game which she
hopes to market in Israel. In the
meantime, the talented girl
continues to be artistically
creative. She sculpts unique clay
statuettes. In Russia her subjects
had been largely grotesque or
satiric types. One, depicting a
typical Russian official, but with
obviously porcine features, which
she had done at the age of 10,
almost got the family into
difficulties with the customs
authorities just before they took
off for Vienna in 1976. Luck was
with them, the dice fell right, and
their game ended well after all.
The game, “Route to Freedom,"
is marketed by the Board of Jewish
Education of Greater New York,
426 W. 58th St., New York City.
More than 1,500 copies have been
sold, and it is still available. French
and Spanish editions are being
prepared.
A word of warning for those
who try to play. Not every player
can win. It is a difficult game;
progress along the path is
tortuous, difficult, discouraging,
frustrating. But then, it accurately
reflects the real problems of the
Jew who tries to get out of the
Soviet Union.
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Page 21 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 16, 1979