Wherever There Is Jewish Pain

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bexplained in Yiddish that she was a relatively new arrival bfrom the Soviet Union. She then said:

b“I do not know very much about politics and I only came bthis evening because I heard that you were here. When I left bthe Soviet Union, my friends made me promise if I ever bsaw you to thank you in their name for all that you have bdone for us.”

bThere was a very long silence in the room. I could not say ba word, but that said more to me than all the foolish words of bthe Jewish groups and leaders and made up for some of the bmoments of frustration and disillusion. It did not even bmatter that, as I campaigned, Soviet immigrants seized my bhand, wept, kissed me—and then, in the election, voted for bthe other parties.

bIt really was not so terrible. In the end, it only proved that bthe immigrants from the Soviet Union really were Jews.