From Prisoner of Zion to Rabbi in Jerusalem

If you visit the Meir Institute in Jerusalem and join a Talmud class, you might meet Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich. His lessons are full of depth, and if you listen carefully, you might still hear a faint Russian accent. What you would never guess is that this gentle teacher once stood at the center of an act so daring it shook the Soviet Union and changed history for hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Until the age of twenty, Yosef Mendelevich had little sense of what being Jewish meant. He was born in Riga in 1947, under harsh Communist rule. Judaism was forbidden such as Jewish learning, Jewish community life, even remembering the murdered Jews of Europe was erased from public life. Mass graves like Babi Yar and Rumbula were left without memorials.

But young Jews in Riga quietly resisted. In 1962, they insisted on putting up a wooden plaque at the Rumbula Forest, where 25,000 Jews of Riga were murdered in just one week under the Nazis. The plaque read, “Here twenty-five thousand Jews were murdered by the Nazis.” The Soviet authorities tore it down, demanding that only “Soviet citizens” be remembered. Yet every year, young Jews returned to the site to hold memorial gatherings, refusing to let Jewish memory be erased.

In 1967, Yosef joined such a gathering, and it changed his life. In his memoir he wrote: “At that moment, I heard the voice of Hashem calling me. It was time to take upon myself the mitzvot (commandments) of the people of Israel.” Guided by friends like Mendel Gordin, he began teaching himself Hebrew and learning Torah.

Yosef started quietly teaching Hebrew and Jewish basics to other young Jews. He and his friends applied to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel), but were repeatedly refused. These refusals became unbearable, and eventually they decided on a shocking plan: to hijack a Soviet plane.

At that time, even the smallest act of rebellion could mean years of exile in Siberia. Hijacking a plane was unthinkable—suicidal. But these Jewish activists felt life without freedom and faith was no life at all. They called the plan “Operation Wedding,” disguising it as a trip to a friend’s wedding.

One of them, Mark Dymshitz, was a pilot. They even sent an encrypted message for help through an Israeli tourist. Golda Meir, Israel’s Prime Minister, feared the consequences and sent back a coded refusal: “The chief professor does not recommend using the medicine.” But Dymshitz hid this from the group so they wouldn’t lose hope.

On June 15, 1970, twelve group members bought tickets at Smolnaya Airport near Leningrad for a short internal flight. Their plan was to take over the cockpit and fly to Sweden. But the KGB had been watching. The moment they boarded, they were arrested.

The trials that followed, known as the “First Leningrad Trial”, made headlines around the world. For the first time, the suffering of Soviet Jews became front-page news. The organizers were sentenced to death, others to long years of hard labor. Yosef received 15 years in Siberia.

From Israel, Golda Meir gave a fiery response: “The Soviet regime continues the tradition of killing innocent Jews, inherited from Tsarist Russia. But the cry of the Jewish people will break through the Iron Curtain.”

In prison, Yosef refused to abandon his Jewish observance. He fought for kosher food, even enduring a two-month hunger strike. He demanded tefillin, a siddur, and the right to daven (pray). For this he was punished with three years under strict conditions. He, and others like him, became known worldwide as “Prisoners of Zion.”

The world did not forget them. International pressure mounted, and the Soviets, unable to explain why Jews were being blocked from Israel, began to relent. In the decade that followed, more than 300,000 Jews were granted exit permits compared to only 3,000 in the decade before. Nearly all of the “Operation Wedding” group eventually made aliyah.

Yosef himself was freed, came to Israel, and never stopped serving Am Yisrael (the Jewish people). He earned degrees, became a rabbi, received an honorary doctorate, and most of all dedicated himself to teaching Torah and inspiring others. The man who once risked everything to live as a Jew in the Soviet Union now spends his days helping others discover the beauty of Torah.