Newspaper Page Text
—Russia
Continued from page 14.
very kind," he says. They knew
that I was going to Israel, and I
believe they were sympathetic.”
Not wanting to make trouble for
his department, Alex voluntarily
quit his job soon after applying for
emigration. Of his relationship
with his friends at work, he says,
“That's one of the best things 1
remember from Russia. I miss
them.”
Although he has an excellent
command of the English language,
and even holds a teaching degree in
English, he smiles apologetically
and bluntly states, “My English is
lousy.” One of his former students
was Iosif Begun, now serving a
prison sentence for illegally
teaching Hebrew.
Because he did not have refusnik
status, Alex’s friends prevented
him from taking part in
demonstrations and other
dangerous activities. He explained
that being a refusnik used to
provide one with a kind of
immunity, and said, “If a refusnik
was caught and sent to jail, there
was an outcry in America, and the
Soviets weren’t happy about this.”
He regretfully adds that this type
of immunity no longer exists.
Despite the fact that he was not a
refusnik, Alex was nonetheless
very active in the aliyah
movement. He recalls that on
Saturday mornings, the synagogue
in Moscow became a type of club
for Zionist activities. He and his
friends organized seminars on
Jewish culture and history, and
studied .Hebrew together twioe a
week. He was also a member of an
informal Hebrew discussion
group, and from this group
remembers Anatoly Shcharansky
as being "a very good speaker—a
very inspired speaker.”
Alex is very content in his new
home in Israel. He was elated to
find that some of his closest Soviet
friends also received permission to
emigrate, and now live not far
from him. Of the Israelis, Alex
says, “They are very warm people.
They have big hearts.”
For Alex, immigrating to the
U S. was never an option. "When
you immigrate to Israel,” he says,
“there is some reason for your
existence. They need you. They act
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—A Gift of Distinction
Alex Gonorovsky (inset) and his parents.
like everyone is a relative, and you
get absorbed. In America, you ate
absolutely alone. You are not
absorbed into Jewish society, and
you remain in this very narrow,
small Russian ghetto.” He adds
that many Russian emigrants who
choose not to go to Israel are
misinformed, and that some
Jewish agencies actually
discourage them from going to
Israel.
Alex blames the American
government for the “low tide” in
Soviet emigration, and feels that
the administration is “not assertive
enough as to emigration
demands.” He says that there is
tremendous feedback from
American actions in the Soviet
Union, and that “all the keys are
with American Jewry.” He feels
that American Jews must work in
one direction massively and apply
concentrated pressure. When this
happens, he says, “all the efforts
that you are doing now will not be
in vain.”
When asked whether there will
again be a ‘‘high tide" in
emigration, he replied with an
emphatic “yes,” and added, “1 am
an optimist."
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PAGE 15 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 16, 1983