Nehemiah Levanon
Nehemiah Levanon | |
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Nativ | |
Movement | Labor Zionism |
Nehemiah Levanon (
Early life
Niuma Levitan was born in 1915 in
They relocated in 1922 to
He became inspired by a member of
In 1937, Levitan began making his way to Palestine. He stopped briefly in Vienna to assist local Netzach leaders.
Aliyah
Levitan arrived in Palestine in February 1938 and joined the kibbutz
A contingent of the Anglo-Baltic group settled in the
After the war, he became an administrator of Kfar Blum and managed the kibbutz's economy.
Soviet Jewry campaign
Early work
The Soviets thought I was interested in raising potatoes. I was interested in raising Jews.
Nehemiah Levanon, 1970[4]
In 1953, Levitan accepted an invitation from
Levanon and his family then moved to Moscow, where he disguised his covert activities by working as an agricultural attaché in the Israeli embassy. He told friend Richard Perle in 1970, "The Soviets thought I was interested in raising potatoes. I was interested in raising Jews."[4] For two years, he met with Soviet Jews to pass along information, prayer books, and pictures of Israel.[2] In 1956, however, he and two other Israeli diplomats were declared persona non grata for their ties to the Soviet Jewish community.
Levanon continued his work from Israel by joining Nativ's Tel Aviv headquarters. He set up a unit called Bar, composed of Israeli diplomats in the delegations to the U.S., UK, and France. Bar was tasked specifically with encouraging the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel and even received funding from the
From 1956 to 1965, Levanon alternated his Bar activities with his administrative duties at Kfar Blum; he served three stints as the economic administrator of the kibbutz. In 1965, Levanon was appointed to serve at the Israeli embassy in
In December 1968, Levanon received an emotional letter written by Moscovite engineering student Yasha Kazakov, originally directed to the Supreme Soviet. In the letter, Kazakov expressed pride in his Judaism and a belief that he had a right to live in the land of the Jewish people. Levanon leaked this letter to The Washington Post, spurring wide coverage in the West. Public pressure mounted on the Soviet government, and eventually they granted Kazakov an exit visa.[9] He immigrated to Israel under the Hebraicized name Yaakov Kedmi,[10] later becoming director of Nativ from 1992 to 1999.
Director of Nativ
In January 1970, Prime Minister Golda Meir appointed Levanon to serve as the head of Nativ. Levanon's appointment came at a pivotal time in the cause of Soviet Jewry: public campaigns were being organized across the Jewish world in protest of the Soviet government's treatment of several dozen Zionist activists who were accused of planning a hijacking.[11]
Levanon and Nativ responded by organizing the first World Conference of Jewish Communities for Soviet Jewry in Belgium the following year.[2] The conference included 800 people from 38 countries and attracted attention when the Soviet government mounted a public campaign against the participants and host government. Prominent attendees included Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel, Albert Shanker, and Gershom Scholem.[12] Levanon intentionally downplayed Israel's involvement with the conference so as to leave the impression that other, more powerful countries (particularly the United States) were especially interested in the issue.[13][14] The conference was marred by the arrival of controversial rabbi Meir Kahane, who the day before had been convicted in New York of disorderly conduct for his actions at a 1969 protest. After he was denied the opportunity to address the delegates, Kahane denounced the conference as undemocratic and timid. His arrest by Belgian police and dramatic press conference upon his return to the U.S. somewhat overshadowed the gathering in Brussels.[12] (Levanon had a tense relationship with "grass roots" activists like Kahane. He once referred to these activists as "active, impatient, and temperamental ... these groups, while at times positive, were sometimes damaging to the cause.")[8]
Further attention to the issue of Soviet Jewry was spurred by the "
According to Levanon, there was an expectation among the political elite that his alignment with Israel's left-wing establishment would cost him his job under right-wing premier Menachem Begin, who was elected in 1977. Begin, however, asked Levanon to stay at his post.[17] Because Nativ's name was never released to the public, nor was any other official name, Soviet Jews had come to know the organization as "Nehemiah's Office."[18]
By the late 1970s, Israeli officials and American grassroots groups were clashing over the direction and purpose of the Soviet Jewry movement. A large number of Soviet emigrants were "dropping out"—abandoning their exit visas intended for Israel and seeking refuge in the United States instead. Levanon and the Israelis were alarmed by this trend and decided that urgent action needed to be taken to reverse it. Levanon, working with the
Final years
Levanon retired in 1982, returning to Kfar Blum. He wrote two memoirs: Code Name: Nativ, about the history of the organization, and The Road to the Banks of the Jordan, about his migration to Israel. He also traveled to Russia several times after the collapse of the USSR, including a 1995 meeting with the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.[20] Levanon died in Kfar Blum on September 2, 2003.
See also
References
- ^ "Nechemia Levanon – his life story". Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ a b c Hoffman, Charles (May 8, 1991). "Secret Effort to Aid Soviet Jews Officially Revealed After 40 Years". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Levanon, Nechemia (1999). הדרך אל חוף הירדן (in Hebrew). מערכת. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ ISBN 9789652295439.
- ^ "Announcement of Name Changes". Official Gazette (in Hebrew). Israel Genealogical Society. April 10, 1956. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ Haber, Perry. "Nechemia Levanon – An Interview". p. 7. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ISBN 081085581X.
- ^ ISBN 9780874519136. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ Golden, p. 196.
- ^ Melman, Yossi (August 2, 2007). "Inside Intel / A Zionist intruder at the gates". Haaretz. Israel. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
- ^ "Widespread Demonstrations in Israel Protesting Leningrad Trial and New Trials". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. December 22, 1970. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 9780618573097. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
- ^ Haber, pp. 42–43
- ^ Golden, p. 141.
- ^ Golden p. 259
- ^ Haber, pp. 48, 59
- ^ Haber, p. 63
- ISBN 9780295956855. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Schroeter, p. 412.
- ISBN 9789651310584. Retrieved 12 July 2012.