21 Apr Fifty Years Ago on April 21, the Sea Parted
Front side of the exit visa from USSR issued on the March 26, 1976, by the Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Bena Avramovna Shklyanaya, born in 1945, for the purpose of permanent relocation to Israel. Valid to April 15, 1976 (the red stamp extends validity to April 22).
Exodus
The memory of the Moses-led Exodus has not been allowed to fade for over three thousand years. The memory of our exodus on April 21, 1976, should not be allowed to fade, not a single detail of it. Read the chronicle of that day: Chop, Lenin, and Miracle, Border Station “Chop”, and elsewhere on the site.
***The Iron Curtain parted for us like the Red Sea parted for our ancestors.
***The dearth of wheat that forced the Soviet Union to let us go was the modern version of the plagues sent upon Egypt.
***The Soviet government needed no justification for denying us permission to leave, just like the Pharaoh needed no justification for denying our ancestors permission to leave.
***The customs officer felt nothing but contempt for us, traitors to the motherland, who stooped to emigrating on the eve of Lenin’s birthday — the Pharaoh felt nothing but contempt toward his ungrateful Jewish slaves.
***HIAS held our hands every step of the way for the months it took to formalize our entrance to the United States — Moses shepherded his people for forty years to the Holy Land.
Here’s to the miracle in my life and in the lives of my descendants of all time!
The Shklyanoys in Rome, Italy. Year 1976.
No Comments