Mendelevich Iosif Mozusovich (1947)

Mendelevich Iosif Mozusovich (born 1947, Riga) — *prisiner of Zion, public and religious figure, one of the leaders of the Zionist movement of Soviet Jewry, rabbi, and publicist.

Iosif Mendelevich was born into a family that observed Jewish traditions. From a young age, he participated in underground Zionist activity in Riga. In 1965, he entered the Riga Polytechnic Institute. In 1966, he became one of the organizers of a youth Zionist organization whose main goal was to disseminate information about Israel.

In 1968, together with his family, he applied for permission to emigrate to Israel but was refused. In 1969, he left the institute, believing that continued studies could hinder his chances of obtaining permission to emigrate. That same year, he took part in the creation of the All-Union Coordinating Committee (VKK) of Zionist organizations and became a co-editor of its samizdat publication, “Iton.”

On June 15, 1970, he was arrested in Leningrad together with other participants in an attempt to hijack an airplane in order to draw international attention to the problem of Soviet Jews’ right to emigrate (the first Leningrad “airplane” trial). He insisted on the use of weapons and authored the “Appeal to the Jewish People.” He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in strict-regime labor camps; on December 30, 1970, the Supreme Court of the RSFSR reduced the sentence to 12 years.

He served his sentence in Camp No. 17 in Mordovia and Camp No. 36 in the Urals. While imprisoned, he organized an underground religious-national community (“kibbutz”) and taught Hebrew and Torah in a clandestine ulpan. In 1977, he was again convicted for performing religious rites and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in Vladimir Prison.

In 1981, he carried out a 56-day hunger strike in protest against the confiscation of books published in Israel; as a result, some of the books were returned. On February 18, 1981, following international intervention and a meeting between Edgar Bronfman, President of the World Jewish Congress, and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR stripped him of Soviet citizenship. He was taken directly from prison to Sheremetyevo Airport (Moscow) and deported to Israel via Vienna.

In Israel, in 1983, he became one of the founders of the Center for Information on Soviet Jewry. From 1983 to 1990, he served as a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces, including service in Hebron. He participated in numerous international actions aimed at defending the right of Jews to leave the USSR and was arrested by police in Geneva (1986) and Reykjavik (1987).

He earned a second academic degree in Jewish history at Touro College. In 1987, he took part in founding the “Machanaim” Center for Spiritual Absorption. From 1987 to 1992, he served as an adviser to Israel’s Ministry of Religious Affairs. In 1990, he passed the rabbinical examinations and received semikhah le-rabbanut (rabbinical ordination) from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, as well as an honorary doctorate in philosophy.

From 1993, he served as editor of the weekly newspaper “Nedelya.” He currently teaches Talmud and Jewish philosophy at the Meir Institute in Jerusalem. He is the father of seven children and lives in Jerusalem.

Works:

Operation “Wedding”. Jerusalem, 1987.

Literature:

Anti-Jewish Trials in the Soviet Union (1969–1971), edited and annotated by A. Rozhansky. Jerusalem, 1979. Vol. 2.

Sourse: http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/soviet_jews_exodus/POZ_s/POZ-70-2.shtml