Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry

The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) was a national, grassroots student organization formed in 1964 to oppose the persecution of Soviet Jews and promote their right to emigrate from the Soviet Union. The group became a major force in the movement on behalf of the Jewish community of the USSR. 

Founded by Jacob Birnbaum, the SSSJ’s work combined imaginative demonstrations, information dissemination and Congressional lobbying to generate public pressure in support of emigration for Soviet Jews and the release of Prisoners of Conscience. As part of the North American grassroots efforts, SSSJ became a unifying factor among various parts of the Jewish community and continually challenged Jewish establishment organizations and leaders to act with greater vigor.

The SSSJ’s first public demonstration in 1964 brought over 1,000 students to the Soviet Union’s Mission to the United Nations. Within months, SSSJ drew political figures to its rallies. “Am Yisrael Chai” composed by singer Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach for the SSSJ, became the signature song of the Soviet Jewry freedom movement both in the West and in the Soviet Union.

With their headquarters in New York City, the SSSJ had, at various times, eight affiliate chapters in North America. SSSJ differed from many other Soviet Jewry advocacy groups in that its leadership drew from young activists including high school and college students, rabbinic students and young rabbis. An adult organizational arm, the Center for Russian Jewry, was founded in 1966.

Highlights of the SSSJ’s work between 1964 and 1991 include:

• A series of campaigns beginning in the 1960’s to ignite interest in the issue and to apply pressure on Establishment Jewish organizations to act. Early protests, street activities, and educational materials evolved to marches drawing 20,000 people by the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
• A focus on increasing the stream of information about refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience to those in the West.
  • Building and maintaining lists of these Soviet Jews. 
  • Encouraging communication via mail and phone.
  • Facilitating personal visits by individuals in the West to the USSR including members of government. 
• Congressional lobbying, along with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, to first pass and then maintain the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in order to link trade credits to the USSR with freedom of emigration. Further pressure was kept on Establishment Jewish bodies to support and not abandon the Amendment.
• In the 1980’s an increase in support for the Jewish awakening in the USSR under the banner of “Let My People Know.” This included support for and protection of self-education groups throughout the USSR, coupled with work in the U.S. with all Jewish denominational groups, Christian groups, and the State Department.