Accession Number
2015-11-5
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
2015-11-5
Material Format
graphic material
Physical Description
3 posters : col. ; 60 x 45 cm and smaller
Date
[198-]
Scope and Content
Accession consists of three posters: a North American Jewish Students' Network poster with the words, "Black Jews of Ethiopia, Why Not This Year in Jerusalem? Next Year May Be Too Late"; a Canadian committee for Soviet Jewry poster with an illustration by Selma Hurwitz; and a Toronto Action Committee for Soviet Jewry poster with the words, "Speak Out For Soviet Jewry, Let My People Go".
Subjects
Jews, Ethiopian
Jews--Soviet Union
Name Access
North American Jewish Students' Network
Source
Archival Accessions
Level
Item
ID
Item 6014
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
6014
Material Format
graphic material
Date
May 1990
Physical Description
1 photograph
Notes
Aquired May 1990.
Name Access
Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon
United Jewish Appeal
Subjects
Airports
Immigrants--Israel
Jews--Soviet Union
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Places
Israel
Accession Number
1991-9-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
ID
Item 6015
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
6015
Material Format
graphic material
Date
May 1990
Physical Description
1 photograph
Notes
Acquired May 1990.
Name Access
Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon
United Jewish Appeal
Subjects
Airports
Immigrants--Israel
Jews--Soviet Union
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Places
Israel
Accession Number
1991-9-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
ID
Item 6016
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
6016
Material Format
graphic material
Date
May 1990
Physical Description
1 photograph
Notes
Acquired May 1990.
Name Access
Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon
United Jewish Appeal
Subjects
Airports
Immigrants--Israel
Jews--Soviet Union
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Places
Israel
Accession Number
1991-9-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
ID
Item 6017
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
6017
Material Format
graphic material
Date
May 1990
Physical Description
1 photograph
Notes
Acquired May 1990.
Name Access
Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon
Subjects
Airports
Immigrants--Israel
Jews--Soviet Union
Places
Israel
Accession Number
1991-9-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
ID
Item 6018
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
6018
Material Format
graphic material
Date
May 1990
Physical Description
1 photograph
Notes
Acquired May 1990.
Name Access
Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon
United Jewish Appeal
Subjects
Airports
Immigrants--Israel
Jews--Soviet Union
Places
Israel
Accession Number
1991-9-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
National Council of Jewish Women of Canada fonds
Toronto Section series
Education Portfolio sub-series
Level
File
ID
Fonds 38; Series 7-6; File 10
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
National Council of Jewish Women of Canada fonds
Toronto Section series
Education Portfolio sub-series
Level
File
Fonds
38
Series
7-6
File
10
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
1974-1984
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
37 photographs : b&w and col. (16 negatives and 8 slides) ; 21 x 18 cm or smaller
Scope and Content
File consists of a graphic press cutting, photographs, negatives and slides related to the Soviet Jewry program. Some are of a separated refusenik family, and fundraisers in aid of Soviet Jewry. There is also an announcement of a Separated Family Week with Jim Peterson, M.P. Willowdale, as guest speaker.
Name Access
Peterson, David, 1943-
Subjects
Jews--Soviet Union
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
National Council of Jewish Women of Canada fonds
Toronto Section series
Toronto Section archival material sub-series
Level
File
ID
Fonds 38; Series 7-13; File 43
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
National Council of Jewish Women of Canada fonds
Toronto Section series
Toronto Section archival material sub-series
Level
File
Fonds
38
Series
7-13
File
43
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
1973-1994
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
21 photographs : b&w and col. ; 10 x 15 cm or smaller
Scope and Content
File consists of photographs, newsclippings, and literature pertaining to refuseniks and activists in Moldavia, and of the fundraising and support NCJW are providing.
Subjects
Jews--Soviet Union
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Joseph Baruch Salsberg fonds
Jewish community involvement series
Level
File
ID
Fonds 92; Series 4; File 8
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Joseph Baruch Salsberg fonds
Jewish community involvement series
Level
File
Fonds
92
Series
4
File
8
Material Format
textual record
Date
1986-1991
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
Admin History/Bio
In 1970 many Jewish groups in Ontario organized to help Refusniks who were being persecuted in the Soviet Union and to pressure local, national and international governments to address Soviet antisemitism. In early 1971, the Action Committee for Soviet Jewry (ACSJ) was formed by the (then) Central Region of the CJC to coordinate the activities of, and provide stable funding and administrative support for, these various ad hoc committees and action groups that had sprung up across Ontario.
The ACSJ originally reported to the CJC’s Steering Committee for Soviet Jewry (SCSJ), but by the mid-1970s the reporting of the two committees was reversed, with the steering committee reporting to the action committee. By 1977, the action committee and the steering committee were merged into the newly-renamed CJC Ontario Region’s Committee for Soviet Jewry (occasionally referred to as the Toronto Committee). J. B. Salsberg was the first SCSJ Chairman, serving in this capacity until 1976.
Scope and Content
File consists of records documenting J.B. Salsberg's involvement in the CJC's Committee for Soviet Jewry. Included are booklets, reports, agendas, correspondence, meeting minutes, conference material for the Regional Conference on Israel and Soviet Jewry, and newspaper clippings.
Subjects
Committees
Jews--Soviet Union
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
Committee for Soviet Jewry series
Level
Series
ID
Fonds 17; Series 3
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
Committee for Soviet Jewry series
Level
Series
Fonds
17
Series
3
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
1967-1992
Physical Description
4.5 m of textual records
1822 photographs : b&w ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
Admin History/Bio
The earliest impetus for the creation of a Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) committee to focus on the issue of Soviet Jews was in response to the infamous “Leningrad trials” of thirty-one dissident Soviet Jews in the winter of 1970. Concurrently, the Soviet government began to systematically persecute almost all Jews who applied for permission to emigrate. The issuing of exit visas was refused (the genesis of the term “refusenik”), usually on exaggerated claims of national security, after which the applicants were often dismissed from their jobs, recalled to military service, or similarly persecuted by state authorities. Those who publicly protested such treatment were subsequently arrested, detained for long periods, or tried as examples to others and sent to Siberian labour camps.
When information about the plight of Soviet Jews reached Canada, Toronto’s Jews responded immediately and decisively. Synagogue congregations, student groups, women’s organizations, professional organizations and community groups all established independent committees to aid Soviet Jews directly and to pressure local, national and international governments to address Soviet antisemitism. Very quickly these committees began organizing mass rallies, letter writing campaigns, petitions, targeted protests and direct aid involving large numbers of people and considerable fundraising efforts. From 1971 to the late 1980s the cause of Soviet Jewry remained, along with support for The State of Israel, the most significant issue to the Jewish community.
The Action Committee for Soviet Jewry (ACSJ) was formed by the (then) Central Region of the CJC in early 1971 in order to coordinate the activities of, and provide stable funding and administrative support for, the various ad hoc committees and action groups that had sprung up across Toronto and the rest of Ontario. Organizations coordinated by the Action Committee included university student groups, the Group of 35, Women for Soviet Jewry (WSJ), B’nai B’rith, and the Canadian Zionist Federation (CZF). The ACSJ originally reported to the CJC’s Steering Committee for Soviet Jewry (SCSJ), but by the mid-1970s the reporting of the two committees was reversed, with the Steering Committee reporting to the Action Committee. By 1977, the Action Committee and the Steering Committee were merged into the newly-renamed CJC Ontario Region’s Committee for Soviet Jewry (occasionally referred to as the Toronto Committee).
The first Chairman of the SCSJ was the prominent Toronto politician and activist Joseph B. Salsberg. Later chairs, including Sam Filer, Phyllis Sugar, Reg Adelman, author Jeanette Goldman, Joyce Eklove, and Judge Ted Matlow were also involved with affiliated local groups whose activities were coordinated by the SCSJ. Sam Filer, its first permanent Secretary, became in 1976 its second Chairman. He also served as Chairman of the Toronto Action Committee for Soviet Jewry and was an original co-founder of Lawyers and Jurists for Soviet Jewry. Similarly, Phyllis Sugar was a Co-chair of the ACSJ with Reg Adelman in the early to mid-1970s, while simultaneously serving as the Chair of WSJ. Genya Intrator, the first Chair of WSJ in the early 1970s, later served as first Chair of the Canadian Committee for Soviet Jewry. Despite having its first meeting in Winnipeg, the Canadian Committee had most of its leadership and activities in Toronto. Toronto residents Sydney Harris (later Judge Harris), David Satok, Genya Intrator and David Sadowski all chaired this committee as it developed a national agenda through contacts with affiliated organizations across the country, while coordinating internationally with groups such as the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews based in New York.
Towards the end of the 1980s, many of the restrictions regarding exit visas for refusniks were removed and increasingly Russian Jews began to immigrate to Israel, the United States and Canada. A large percentage of the latter settled in Toronto. By 1991, in response to the changes in Russia and the former Soviet republics, the CJC’s local and national Soviet Jewry Committees were wound up and their leadership began to focus on new issues, such as the integration of Soviet Jewish immigrants into Canada and the continuing struggle to fight antisemitism in the successor states of the former Soviet Union. To this end, the CJC formed a Political Liaison Committee in the early 1990s. Internationally, however, many Russian Jewish advocacy groups continued to operate on the foundation of activism and community organization established during the decades of solidarity built around the Soviet Jewry cause.
Custodial History
The records in this series were accumulated and maintained in the offices of the CJC under the jurisdiction of Samuel Resnick, in his role as the Director of the Community Action for Israel Committee, and as the main CJC staff employee for overseeing the Action Committee for Soviet Jewry and Steering Committee for Soviet Jewry, which eventually coalesced as simply the Committee for Soviet Jewry circa 1977. By 1980, Resnick’s title was Director of the Committee for Soviet Jewry, Central Region, making him the primary full-time staffer of the CJC involved in the Soviet Jewry cause.
Scope and Content
Series consists of extensive planning, administrative and operational records including meeting minutes, correspondence, budgets and membership lists. Records pertaining to activities include numerous event and protest photographs, articles, petitions, posters and other press materials. Records related to the gathering of information regarding Soviet Jewry include transcripts of telegrams and telephone conversations, background fact sheets and many individual case files.
This series has been arranged into six sub-series. Sub-series 1 consists of Ontario Region committee meeting agendas and minutes. Sub-series 2 consists of the correspondence files documenting various activities of that committee. Sub-series 3 consists of the agendas, minutes and general correspondence of the National Committee for Soviet Jewry. Sub-series 4 consists of records documenting affiliated Jewish organizations that collaborated with the CJC in protesting the persecution of Soviet Jews. Sub-series 5 consists of records documenting the various protest activities such as lobbying, letter writing, public rallies, marches and demonstrations. Sub-series 6 , Rufusnik Cases, consists of 3 sub-sub-series, containing individual case files, large published lists, and reference publications about Soviet Jews who were refused permission to emigrate (refusniks).
Notes
Physical extent note: although over 28 m of Soviet Jewry records were originally transferred to the OJA, more than 23 m of those records have been culled due to their origin (non-Canadian sources), format (outside periodicals and publications), because they were merely externally-created reference materials, or because they were part of the very large volumes of duplicates that made up the majority of the box contents. Records documenting the activities of other CJC Committees have also been removed for future processing within more appropriately-titled series within Fonds 17.
Subjects
Committees
Jews--Soviet Union
Arrangement
Because the Soviet Jewry records donated by the Canadian Jewish Congress had not been maintained in a discernable original order, they had to be reorganized into their current arrangement by the processing archivist.
Source
Archival Descriptions