This lesson for middle school and high school students addresses the role of the women who stood up in defense of Soviet Jews and those women who were denied the right to leave the USSR.

Original lesson plan and video can be seen here.

Women of the Refuseniks video
Computer/projector to play the video

DISCUSSION

After watching the video linked above, choose a discussion topic below and lead a discussion with your students.  

1. The following is an excerpt from a letter that Elie Wiesel wrote to Raisa Gorbachev, wife of Soviet leader Mikhael Gorbachev, on behalf of Ida Nudel:

   “This plea is addressed to Mrs. Gorbachev with the hope that it will have a greater effect than those that many of us have addressed many times to your husband. It is made on behalf of a remarkable woman whose plight has moved millions of people from one corner of the world to the other. She needs your intervention; she deserves it. Please, put in a good word for her. Ida Nudel and I have never met, but we have been friends for about 18 years. I admire her courage, her idealism, and her moral commitment… Born Jewish, all she wants is to be able to live as a Jew. This, she thinks, is possible for her only in the land of Israel…. I will not rest until we meet. Please, Mrs. Gorbachev. Do speak to your husband about my unhappy yet proud friend Ida Nudel.”

   Why do you think Elie Wiesel appealed to Gorbachev’s wife, specifically? What do you think this letter, coming from a Holocaust survivor, might have meant to Mrs. Gorbachev?

2. Famous American actress Jane Fonda committed herself to Nudel’s cause. She even flew to Israel to be at Ben Gurion airport when Nudel arrived there as a free woman. Why might Nudel’s story have touched her, a non-Jewish American woman, so deeply?
3. A group of Refuseniks planned “Operation Wedding,” in which they intended to hijack a plane and land it outside of the USSR, though they were caught before they could put the plan into action. Were the Refuseniks justified in hatching such a plan, which would at once bring about their freedom and possibly endanger others? Explain. What distinguishes a freedom fighter from a terrorist?
4. Golda Meir is another woman who was very involved in the plight of Soviet Jewry. When Meir, who served as the first Israeli ambassador to Russia, visited Moscow on Rosh Hashanah in 1948, 50,000 Jews turned up to see her. What do you think her visit meant to Russian Jews at that time? Why do you think Meir described this as one of the most intense experiences of her life?
5. When learning about Israel, people often reduce Israel to the Arab-Israeli conflict. What are the reasons educators often do that, and why do you think there is value in learning about the other aspects of Israeli history and society?

REFLECTION

Then, reflect with students using the prompts below. 

1. Avital Sharansky is known as a private woman who prefers a quiet life yet assumed a very public and active role in fighting for her husband’s freedom. How might she have mustered the courage to fill this role when it went against her nature? Was there a time when you had to step up in a way that was challenging for you or be in the limelight against your wishes?

2. The KGB mocked the “Let My People Go” movement for being comprised of mere “students and housewives.” But it was ultimately these “students and housewives” who brought about significant change and results. Why do you think these groups specifically were so successful? As a student and/or a young woman, do you take pride in your accomplishments? How can you become involved in a cause today?
3. Jews around the world were united in this shared cause of freeing Soviet Jews. Can you think of a time when you experienced a strong sense of Jewish unity? Do you find that Jews unite only in times of crisis, or when things are going well, too?
4. Look through these pictures. Write down a journal entry for each point of the year you see in these pictures. What emotions are you experiencing? What questions do you have? What are you hoping for?
5. Watch the episode focusing on the story of the Refuseniks. Why do you think the producers chose to do a separate story on the women of the Refusenik movement?