Leonard Fein // Let My People Go… Where?
Originally Published in Volume 2, Issue 4 (1977)
It was too good to last. The stirring saga of Soviet Jewry—identity rediscovered, tyranny opposed, the world's conscience aroused, new lives begun in Israel and the United States—has become, finally, a kvetch.
Harsh? Consider: when the Russian Jews began to arrive in Israel in substantial number, many Israelis unwelcomed them, grumbled about the unfair advantages they were given. When the Russian Jews began to arrive in the United States in more than token numbers, American Jews were rather less than enthusiastic, disappointed that the Russians hadn't gone to Israel, confused by the often minimal Jewishness of the new immigrants, concerned by the financial burden they imposed. The satisfying sense of victory we felt as the Jackson-Vanick amendment wended its way to Congressional approval has long since turned sour,...