Norman Patz Papers

The papers are a collection documenting the congregational efforts of Temple Sholom of West Essex to help resettle Soviet Jews. Folder 1 includes a letter from Rabbi Patz that gives more detail about where photographs located in Folders 4 through 7 were taken, reasons for some of the correspondence, and his interest in helping Soviet Jews. The remainder of the folder includes a document giving specific guidelines for corresponding with Soviet Jews, instructions for placing phone calls to a Jewish family in the Soviet Union, letters discussing remarriage licenses for the emigres, and a discussion about circumcision for the male emigres.

Folders 4 through 7 contain photographs of trips taken to visit Jews in Ladispoli, Leningrad, and Moscow and other unidentified places, as well as photos of the Karaite Tombstones in Crimea. Folder 2 includes Rosh Hashanah service packets for Temple Sholom of West Essex, in honor of Soviet Jewry and Folder 3 has holiday programs for Hanukah and Passover.

Folder 12 contains a day calendar entitled, “Silent No More,” and gives a history of the effort to free Soviet Jews and notes important dates in this ongoing journey. Folder 13 includes a document detailing the important role that Steve Greenberg and his friends played in the shift of Soviet Jewish emigration from the U.S. to Israel, and an oral history telling the story of a family’s efforts to migrate from Kiev to Israel and all the obstacles they faced.

Folders 8 through 11 contain four detailed reports of trips to visit Soviet Jews in the Soviet Union. Norman and Naomi Patz visited Moscow and Leningrad in July, 1985. The trip report describes the people and places they visited in their time in Russia and the difficulties and hardships faced by the Soviet Jews. Shira Leibowitz’s trip report tells of her time spent in Moscow during Chanukah and she dedicates her journal to Marina Furman, a young Soviet Jewish writer, whose story is told as a prelude to a journal article. Steven and Marilyn Kushner and Jerry and Priscilla Stein visited Moscow, Leningrad and Riga (Latvia) in February 1987. A special feature of this trip report was that it included an American point of view regarding the details of daily occurrences in traveling, guided tours, hotel accommodations, shopping, etc. The trip report “Mission to Moscow” by Rabbi Joel E. Soffin, Sandy Soffin, and Susan L. and David Zuckerman took place in April 1987. This report lists contact information for the people they visited and also has four Appendixes: Appendix I, has helpful tips for visitors to the Soviet Union; Appendix II, lists Soviet Jewish families and items that people could donate to each family; Appendix III, key contacts and Appendix IV, letters the visitors brought out written by some of the Soviet Jews.