Jewish Group Ends 20 Years of Protests at Soviet Embassy

For the first time in 20 years, no one stood outside the Soviet Embassy on Monday demonstrating on behalf of Jews trying to emigrate from the Soviet Union.

The Kremlin’s relaxed policies led the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington to suspend, as of Sunday, the daily 15-minute protests that began in December, 1970, a year when only 28 Jews were given permission to emigrate to the United States.

Last year, 200,000 Jews left the country, most of them for Israel, said council member Jeffrey Wohlberg, senior rabbi of Adas Israel Congregation.

But that does not mean the council is convinced that no problems remain for Jews in the Soviet Union, said Samuel H. Sislen, director of international affairs for the group, which represents 190 synagogues and Jewish groups in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. “It is meant to say we have reached a point bilaterally where the venue for addressing our concerns has changed,” he said.

The protests were held every day at noon. Sometimes the gathering was large; often it was attended only by one or two people.

Instead of shouting at officials leaving and entering the embassy, council leaders now meet with them to discuss issues ranging from general Soviet policies affecting Jews to the cases of individuals awaiting permission to leave.

The meetings began two months ago. All previous requests for meetings had been ignored, Sislen said.

“We never, never got a response,” he said. “If I could stack up all of the formal communications that were rebuffed by the Soviet Embassy, we could soak up all the oil in the Persian Gulf. The fact that they accepted certainly was a positive change.”

About 110 people gathered for the last protest Sunday.