From Exodus to Freedom: The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement [Paperback]

Stuart Altshuler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742549364 | ISBN-13: 978-0742549364 | Publication Date: November 1, 2005 | Edition: 1St Edition

Between 1967 and 1991, almost half of the entire Jewish population of the Soviet Union left for freedom to Israel, America, and other western countries. From Exodus to Freedom: The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement tells the story of the American Jewish community's involvement in this exodus, and is the first of its kind to explore how such a massive emigration occurred for a population virtually written-off by world Jewry as 'doomed' just two decades before. Using primary documents, letters, and first hand experience, From Exodus to Freedom puts into historical context what could become known as the one of the most uplifting and positive episodes in modern Jewish history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A provocative study of the epic struggle to free Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet empire. (Wertheimer, Jack )

From Exodus to Freedom provides an interesting and useful account of the endgame of the Soviet Jewry movement in America. It tells of one of the most successful human rights efforts in history. (Dershowitz, Alan M. )

This is a must-read for students of American and Soviet history, Jewish studies, and international relations. (Michael Oren )

This is a must-read, not only for the thousands of veterans of the movement during the 1980s and 1990s, but for everyone interested in understanding the power of ordinary citizens to promote human rights reform and freedom anywhere in the world. (Micah Naftalin )

Rabbi Altshuler's book is interesting, compelling, and very important. Now that these events can be viewed in a historical perspective, it is important to analyze and study this unprecedented victory and the role of one of the key players-the Union of Councils-in this dramatic struggle to free Soviet Jewry." (Natan Sharansky )

The political emphasis, along with tactics and insights on choices, makes for an important, revealing guide. (Midwest Book Review )

It is helpful for understanding the place of Soviet Jewish emigration in American-Soviet relations in the Gorbachev era. It illuminates the questions that American Jewish organizations had to decide in their desire to aid Soviet Jews. (Arkadi Zeltser The Russian Review )

Altshuler's indispensable history of the efforts of US Jews on behalf of Soviet Jewry focuses on 1985-91, when more than a million Soviet Jews left the USSR for new homes in the US, Israel, and elsewhere in the West. The author discusses the division between the Jewish establishment that pressured Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel and grassroots Jewish groups that argued the right of Soviet Jews to migrate to the country of their choosing....Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. (J. Fischel Choice )

This is a pathbreaking book on one of the greatest liberation movements of the twentieth century. (Sarna, Jonathan D. )

About the Author

Stuart Altshuler is an ordained rabbi and visiting professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Irvine. He was an activist/participant in the Soviet Jewry movement as Chairman of the Rabbinic Action Committee for Soviet Jewry.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 1St Edition edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742549364
• ISBN-13: 978-0742549364
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,723,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The political emphasis, along with tactics and insights on choices, makes for an important, revealing guide, June 23, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Exodus to Freedom: The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement (Paperback)

Over one and a half million Jews left the Soviet Union from 1987-92, when it ended: this account of their movement surveys the strategies of the Israeli and American Jewish establishments in moving these citizens to new places. FROM EXODUS TO FREEDOM: A HISTORY OF THE SOVIET JEWRY MOVEMENT surveys the movement before 1985 and in America as well as the Soviet Union, tracing its evolution, basic concepts, and political splits which caused it to change and face troubles. The political emphasis, along with tactics and insights on choices, makes for an important, revealing guide.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch