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He went on a speaking tour in the mid- to late-1980s for the Society, giving speeches entitled "Human Rights — Communist Style," "The Terror of Living in a Communist State," and "Glasnost and the Gulag." Mr. Shifrin documented his findings in The First Guidebook to Prisons and Concentration Camps of the Soviet Union, and his testimony before the U.S. Senate was later compiled and published as U.S.S.R. Labor Camps.
Upon returning from a tour in the Spring of 1983, and in anticipation for another JBS sponsored tour, Avraham and his wife Eleonora composed a heartfelt letter to the Society's members, excerpts from which follow below. No finer endorsement has been given about the Society in its decades of existence:
At home, in Israel, a few months after the first and on the eve of the second speaking tour at the invitation of the John Birch Society, we look back at our meetings with Birchers and hundreds of others who attended our lectures in over 30 engagements.… Our tour of May-June, 1983, embraced the North-Eastern States, concentrating on small towns and rural centres mostly. This was our first close touch with real America. Unlike the previous trips when we had met mainly politicians and political activists, this time we met average Americans — farmers, workers, small businessmen, teachers, housewives, students, schoolkids…. Arriving at the next city, in the lobby of the airport, in the crowd of thousands — we always unmistakably recognized Birchers who were there to meet us. They knew our faces by pictures, we did not; and still we would walk straight to them without any hesitations. Many of them were surprised and could not understand what made them so noticeable in the crowd. At first we did not realize it ourselves. And only after meeting dozens of Birchers and analyzing our impressions we realized that there is a 'trade-mark' borne by all of them — there is an expression of honesty, dignity and straightforwardness on their faces. One feels an invisible pivot in every one of them which makes them somewhat taller than the average crowd. We would spend just one busy day in every town; but when we were leaving early next morning — we were leaving behind more than cooperators, more than people sharing our views — we were parting with friends, and quite a few times we saw tears in their eyes and our eyes were wet too. In fact, this was the first time that we met an organization whose every member could be called a friend.
Here in Israel we have tried our best to let the public know about the true essence and goals of the JBS.... We have published a number of articles in Russian and Hebrew in our local press popularizing the JBS ideas and trying to counteract the leftist propaganda that reaches even here. An American film was shown here depicting the JBS and Ku-Klux-Klan as one and the same organization. We feel it is no less important here than in the U.S. to let the people know the truth. We were happy to meet among the JBS members numerous Jews. We were delighted to meet a Rabbi cooperating with the JBS and the author of a wonderful book showing clearly that the conspiracy is as anti-Semitic as anti-American — it is simply anti-national. But all this is not known to the Jews all over the world — all they hear is leftist propaganda saying (if anything about the JBS ) that it is anti-Semitic, and whoever is anti-communist is always anti-Semitic as well. This is why we feel there is a great importance in making the JBS true views known to the Jews in the USA and in Israel. The Jews must realize that the JBS is our natural comrade-in-arms in our fight against the common enemy — the communist conspiracy. The longer it takes us to realize this the easier it is for our enemies to defeat us. Our separateness is a great delight to them. Therefore, both here in Israel and in our trip in the USA we see one of our primary goals in bringing the Jews and the JBS closer together…. Today again the free people tend to forget that each and every one of us must fight against actively advancing evil. Therefore, we are once again leaving our quiet and happy life in our God-blessed Israel in order to share with you our own bitter experience and the knowledge of the present suffering of innocent people in the country of triumphant horror, the USSR. God save America from gaining her own experience of this kind. Looking forward to meeting you dear friends, whom we have met and still are to meet.
Avraham & Eleonora Shifrin
Israel
As we pause to honor the memory of Avraham, we can only say thank you; we miss you.
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