The National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ), formerly the National Council for Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), is an organization in the United States which advocates for the freedoms and rights of
Jews in
Russia,
Ukraine,
Belarus, the
Baltic States
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
, and
Eurasia. Emerging from the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, now with a paid staff, it played an important role in the
Soviet Jewry movement, including such landmark legislation as
Jackson–Vanik amendment. Headquartered in
Washington, D.C., it is now an umbrella organization of about 50 national organizations and 300+ local federations, community councils and committees.
History
NCSEJ comes out of the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, which first met in October 1963. Among those present were
Saul Bellow,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
Herbert Lehman, Bishop
James Pike,
Walter Reuther,
Norman Thomas, and
Robert Penn Warren. This was followed in April 1964 by
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, also known by its acronym SSSJ, was founded in 1964 by Jacob Birnbaum to be a spearhead of the U.S. movement for rights of the Soviet Jewry. Small,
medium, and 6-digit-size demonstrations, at important loca ...
. The AJCSJ was formally established in 1971, with the name change to NCSJ was approved on December 13, 1971.
Jerry Goodman was the founding executive director of NCSJ and led the organization until 1988.
The organization helped link Jewish emigration to trade restrictions, leading to increase of immigration of Jews from Soviet Union to Israel in the 1970s. It organized a march for human rights for
Soviet Jews on December 6, 1987, the day before a meeting between
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, known as
Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews
Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews was the title of a national march and political rally that was held on December 6, 1987 in Washington, D.C. An estimated 250,000 participants gathered on the National Mall, calling for the General Secretary of the ...
. About 250,000 people were there, among them
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
,
Iosif Begun,
Yuli Edelstein,
Ida Nudel, and
Natan Sharansky.
The chairman of the organization is Stephen Greenberg, and the president
Alexander Smukler.
NCSJ Executive Committee
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References
External links
NCSEJ website
1988 Conference
a C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
video with speeches by George Shultz
George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fou ...
and Iosif Begun
Guide to the Papers of Jerry Goodman
at the American Jewish Historical Society
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Jewish organizations based in the United States
Jewish political organizations
Organizations established in 1971
Political advocacy groups in the United States
Soviet Jewry movement