U.S. Jewish Leaders Report Soviet Accord : Agreement Would Allow 11,000 Refuseniks to Emigrate and Broaden Religious Freedom

NEW YORK â€”  Top Soviet officials have promised to allow 11,000 Soviet refuseniks and their families to leave the Soviet Union within a year, leaders of the American Jewish community said Monday.

The historic agreement, concluded after three days of intense private talks between leaders of major U.S. Jewish organizations and Russian diplomats, would open the way for a significant broadening of rights for 3 million Jews living in the Soviet Union, Morris B. Abram, chairman of the U.S. National Conference on Soviet Jewry, said.

It would include establishment of flights through Romania for Jews to emigrate to Israel, the opening of new synagogues in the Soviet Union, freedom to import prayer books and even the possibility of starting of a kosher restaurant in Moscow, he said.

Terms of Agreement

Under the agreement, a formal appeals process would be established in the Soviet Union to decide disputed emigration cases, and Russian Jews seeking to train to become rabbis would be allowed to study in the United States. The long-disputed issue of permitting the teaching of the Hebrew language in schools and synagogues in the Soviet Union also would receive fresh review, Abram said.

“Substantially all refuseniks (those denied emigration) and their families will be free to go to Israel within a year with the exception of cases in which national security claims may legitimately be made,� said Abram, who took part in talks with Soviet officials in Moscow over the weekend. Edgar M. Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, also participated in the talks.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze; Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the former Soviet ambassador to Washington who is now a key foreign policy adviser, and Yaakov Lev, former Soviet ambassador to Canada, were among the officials who met with Abram and Bronfman.

“I felt if what we discussed and what we believed was put into play, there would be a new era for the Jews of the Soviet Union and a giant step would have been taken in Western relations,� Abram said in an interview with The Times.

‘Expansion of Rights’

“I think it is fair to say that we have been reassured there will be direct flights through Romania to Israel. We have every reason to believe there will be a substantial increase of Soviet emigration and the expansion of Jewish rights in the Soviet Union,� he added.

Abram, who also is chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said of the sessions with Soviet officials:

“We discussed all aspects of the Soviet Jewish problem, including and not limited to emigration.�

He said that there is no precise timetable for each of the agreement’s provisions to take effect but that he expects action to begin “fairly soon.�

� . . . We now await Soviet performance on all these fronts. Only then are we prepared to say that glasnost is a real process and (that) it includes Jews,� he said. Glasnost is Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s policy of a new openness in Soviet society.

Waivers on U.S. Laws

Abram said that if Soviet officials carry out their part of the bargain, major American Jewish groups would be prepared to call for year-to-year waivers on U.S. laws denying the Soviet Union most-favored-nation status in U.S. trade and a repeal of the U.S. ceiling on export loans to the Soviet Union.

He said that the tone of the discussions was sometimes quite warm and business-like at other times. “In no case were they (the Soviet officials) perfunctory or ceremonial,� he said. “They were all serious discussions. One talk lasted two hours and the other lasted up to two hours or longer.�

In a large sense, the pledge from the top Soviet officials represents culmination of a successful diplomatic campaign by organized American Jewry. Jewish leaders presented a list of 11,000 refuseniks to President Reagan before he met with the Soviet leader in Iceland last October. During the talks, the President turned over the list to Gorbachev.

Visas Increased

Since the summit, the number of exit visas granted to Soviet Jews has increased markedly. In all of 1986, 914 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. This month, about 400 Jews have been allowed to emigrate. U.S. Jewish leaders estimate that 10% to 15% of the 3 million Jews in the Soviet Union want to leave.

Soviet Jewish emigration reached a high point in 1979 when 51,330 were allowed to leave, but it was reduced to a trickle in the early 1980s.

During their visit to Moscow, Abram and Bronfman met in an apartment with 65 refuseniks, some from distant cities. The gathering was highly emotional, Abram said.

“Every man you ever saw on a poster was there with his wife,� he recalled. “During the course of the meeting, there was an electrifying stir in the crowd when the news came through that Josef Berenstein was on the phone. He was a prisoner of conscience and he had just been released from prison. We had taken up his case with high government officials that afternoon. He was calling from outside the prison gates.�

After speaking with her husband, Berenstein’s wife gave Abram a picture of him. “She said we had saved his life.�

Assaulted in Prison

Berenstein, who other refuseniks said was nearly blind, was released from prison 18 months early before his four-year sentence was to end. He was sent to prison in 1984 on charges of resisting authorities after allegedly tearing a button off a policeman’s uniform. Other refuseniks said that he had lost 80% of his sight in prison, the result of assaults by fellow prisoners.

Abram said that he and Bronfman were convinced after their talks that the Soviet officials were serious, pledging to set up an appeals process for applications that are denied.

“The cases of refuseniks who were told they would never leave for security reasons will be reviewed in the Soviet appellate judicial system,� he said.

“We were told all Jewish religious books from any source may be imported into the Soviet Union. Bronfman and I were asked to submit lists. A kosher restaurant may be established in Moscow and ritual slaughtering will be permitted. Synagogues will be opened in all areas where there is a demonstrated need.�