"For Forty Years Was I Wearied with that Generation"
Rabbi Yosef Mendelowitz, Prisoner of Zion and "Our Land of Israel" representative, relates about the grand operation that he took part in, 40 years ago in the former Soviet Union
Forty years ago, on the 15th of June on the secular calendar, ten Jewish fellows, myself included, went out to the Leningrad Airport, to hijack a plane. We were armed, and our objective was to redeem the Jews of Russia and pave the way for aliyah. The Russian security service laid us a trap. When we got close to the plane that we planned to overtake, reconnaissance soldiers jumped out and caught us redhanded.
We underwent tough interrogation sessions, but the K.G.B. couldn′t crack us. We stood tall at the show trial, and declared our loyalty to the Jewish Land and Nation. The plane hijacking operation is known as "Operation Wedding". In Midrash Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) it says: "on the day of his wedding, and the day of his heart′s gladness."
As a result of the botched hijacking and ensuing arrests, there was a great awakening in the Jewish world. Hundreds of thousands of Jews marched in major world capitols holding signs reading "Let My People Free". The great love and power of unity of the Jews melted the Iron Curtain in the end, and a mass aliyah of Russian Jews began. Indeed, the words of the Prophet Yirmiyahu:" Behold, the days come… that brought up and that led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country" (Yirmiyahu, 23, 5-8).
I must give credit to Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY"D, who made a great and significant contribution to our struggle. Among other things, it brought about a revolution in the program of the Jewish Defense League. The JDL interfered with the United States governments′ relationship thaw with the Soviets at the expense of ignoring basic human rights of the Russian population, notably the Jewish population. |
