DAVAI EVENTS: THIS SUNDAY SPEAKER SERIES!!!

[DAVAI Association]



	DAVAI! CONNECTIONS             PLANNING COMMITTEE                 Adam Brenner Maria Breyman Irene Dobrin Roman Drapatsky Alla Gerzon Beatrice Ginsburg Valery Khmelnitsky Michael Kogan Eugene Kushch Sally Minkovich Dmitriy Moverguz Ellen Pozner Ilya Rakhman Anna Rubinov Marianna Salz Dimitry Shchupak Ilya Shtulman Denis Sinelnikov Irina Traktovenko Alla Vilnyanskaya HELP US HELP OUR COMMUNITY	ANNOUNCEMENTS We would like to thank our special sponsors: Absolute Smile! We are able to bring you this newsletter and the following event with their generous help!!! Please see their flyer in the bottom of this newsletter. We are very happy to welcome Beatrice Ginsburg into our Organizing Committee. Thank you Beata for your help!!! This Sunday, meet one of the heroes of Soviet Refusniks who fought for our right to leave Soviet Union - Yosef Mendelevich. See info below... Coming Soon: Young Families with Children Poconos Camping Retreat, Shoreaton 2012, Campaton 2012. Stay tuned for more details... SPEAKER SERIES: Yosef Mendelevich                          SPONSORED BY: DAVAI Association Jewish Learning Academy and Uru Achim DATE: Sunday, July 10 DAVAI TIME: 2 PM BOOK AND GENERAL PRESENTATION: 3 PM LOCATION: Glazier Jewish Center                     25 N State Street                     Newtown, PA 18940 RSVP to Ilya: i...@davaiusa.org INFO call Ilya: 215-280-8046 COST: $25, FREE for DAVAI Members Please join DAVAI for a very special event where you can learn much of the history of Jewish Immigration from the USSR. The speaker – Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich – is among the first of the Soviet Dissidents who were instrumental in breaking through the Iron Curtain and prevailing upon the Soviet government to “Let My People Go” back to the Land of Israel, decades before the Berlin Wall came down. He and his associates literally risked their lives and spent many years in jail to enable a million of Jews to leave for Israel and the United States. Rabbi Mendelevich was part of pro-Aliyah movement in the USSR in the 1960s, editing the movement’s underground journal and organizing clandestine activities learning and teaching Torah, Hebrew, and Jewish history. He was a major leader of the “airplane hijacking” plot, attempting to flee to Israel. In 1970 he was accused, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years in gulag for “betraying the motherland,” with additional terms for “anti-soviet activities.” While in jail, he illegally taught Hebrew and Torah. The Rav will discussing his new book, “The Unbroken Spirit” about which Alan Dershowitz has written, “Yosef Mendelevich is a true hero of one of the most successful human right struggles in history: the rescue of Soviet refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion from antisemtic captivity…. This remarkable memoir must be read by all who love freedom and cherish the right to practice their religion.” Additionally, the present situation in Israel will be discussed. More information about this remarkable story of struggle and triumph is available on websites such as:angelfire and tabletmag                          INTERESTING EVENTS AROUND TOWN SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!!!