Involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement — by Louis Rosenblum
Coda
 

Coda

My involvement locally, nationally, and internationally continued until the end of 1978. My decision to leave the movement was conditioned by three considerations. First of all, I owed it to my wife, Evy, and our four children to return a distracted husband and father to the family. Then, it was essential that I devote more time to my NASA job; between 1975 and 1978, the number of R&D programs, within the division I headed, doubled. Lastly, my presence in the movement was redundant — there were talented and dedicated people at at the helm of the UCSJ and within local councils capable of sustaining the fight.

For the Jewish people, the struggle for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate freely stands as the great redemptive event of the latter half of the 20th century. By the close of the century, more than 1¼ million Jews had left the USSR or the former Soviet states. This modern day exodus was sparked by the efforts of scores of ordinary individuals in the U.S., Canada, England, Israel and the Soviet Union. I am proud and privileged to have been among them.

Rosenblum family, late 1970’s

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