I was very moved by Michael Levin’s “What the Refuseniks Taught Me About Jewish Pride” (February 13, 2025). As much as the decades-long battle for Soviet Jews helped bring their freedom, their bravery sparked countless American Jews to deeper Jewish identity.
Time marches on, and today there are numerous former Soviet Jewish refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion in Israel who need our assistance. Natan Sharansky originally chaired the organization Emergency Aid for Refuseniks. It’s now run by my longtime colleague, Enid Wurtman of Jerusalem. Inspired by the refuseniks and asirei tzion, she and her husband took their family on aliyah from Philadelphia.
Emergency Aid has no overhead and tax-deductible donations can be sent to: Wurtman Foundation, 60 Walnut St., 4th floor, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481, specifying that it’s for Emergency Aid to Refuseniks.
