Rally round

Anniversaries are useful devices. Celebratory occasions, they’re also moments of introspection and stock-taking. Whether marking a domestic event or a public one, anniversaries clear the air.

This past week, the American Jewish community observed the 25th anniversary of the Rally for Soviet Jewry, which, on a wintry Sunday in December 1987, drew hundreds of thousands of American Jews of all ages to the Mall in support of human rights. A triumph of the spirit -- and of logistics -- the rally was hailed at the time and since as a turning point in American Jewish history.

Little wonder, then, that much has been made of it: Reminiscences, feature articles and online exhibitions about the rally and the Soviet Jewry movement more generally have burst forth just about everywhere. Writing in The Washington Post, for instance, Gal Beckerman focused on the rally’s rare show of internal Jewish unity, noting how, on December 6th, 1987, the “forces from the left and right came together.” On that day, one’s “Jewish identity as a member of a tribe and as a conscientious member of the human race were not in tension.”

Meanwhile, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has assembled a “Memory Wall,” in which rally participants shared their experiences. They, too, gave voice to an overpowering sense of unity. Some movingly recalled how DC’s Metro system seemed to be filled entirely with people bound for the rally; others remembered how, despite the intense cold, they felt warmed at the prospect of being a part of the Jewish people.

Not everyone, though, came away from the rally or, for that matter, its anniversary celebration, feeling “hopeful and empowered,” as one participant put it. Writing in The Forward, Rabbi Avi Weiss put a damper on the proceedings. “Today I write to set the record straight,” he related, pointing out that, behind the scenes, the rally actually reflected considerable internal discord rather than harmony. Where was the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, wondered Rabbi Weiss? Where was Shlomo Carlebach, whose Am Yisrael Chai was the rallying-cry of the Soviet Jewry movement at the grass roots?

Either way, whatever perspective you bring to bear on the 1987 rally, its anniversary can’t help but put you in mind of the importance of American Jewry’s commitment to activism.