In the 1970s, Val told me the Soviets won’t last. They are all old men. The Soviet Union collapsed sooner than everyone expected.
Betsy and me are privileged to know several people during our lives. Among them are Val, Tom Cassidy, and Bernie Dishler.
This article prompted me to write this:
The New York Times
The Ukrainians Stuck in Russia’s New Gulag
Even if a peace can be reached, it won’t be easy to solve the problem of Ukrainian civilians languishing in Russian jails. This is one prisoner’s story.
Nov. 29, 2025
Valeri is a dental technician. He had a profitable, illegal business making crown and bridge work in his home in Kiev. Val hid the gold he used under the floorboards.
A really tough guy. He was accepted by Russian gangsters known as Bratva. They allowed him to live because the Bratva & Val had a common enemy, the KGB.
He once punched a man. Someone said, “He’s KGB. Val jumped from the balcony of a four-story building to escape. He had a photo of the building. He landed in the bushes. Val walked away with only scratches.
I worked in a dental lab with Val. Some dental technicians hid their work from people watching. I taught him and anyone interested as much as I could about ceramic dental work. Val watched me as much as he could.
I went from artist to photographer to dental ceramics. I think my art background helped me to achieve in dental ceramics. Tom Cassidy & Pete Barnes made functional crown & bridge units. I made the people look good again. Bernie told me his patient cried when she saw the bridge I worked on. Lots of laughs from the guys at the lab. Bernie said she didn’t cover her mouth anymore.
Valeri and his wife were among the Jews that my dentist, who worked next door to our dental lab in Elkens Park, PA, brought from Russia (Ukraine was part of Russia at the time).
I discovered a thorough review of the efforts of Bernie and his wife, Lana, to bring Jews from Russia to the United States. An excerpt:
A.T.: Was your work in Philadelphia independent or a part of the NC?
B.D.: We had an interesting situation. When the Wurtmans were still in Philadelphia (they made aliyah sometime earlier on), they were part of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry (UCSJ). In l974 or l975, the United Jewish Federation, the UJF community in Philadelphia, suggested that we join forces. It had a small committee, but once a year they had a big Simhat Torah rally and march. It was great, but that was mainly what they did. If you wanted to go to the Soviet Union and meet people, they did not know how to set it up.
So we joined together, and we were one of the few cities in the country that belonged to both organizations. We paid dues to NC. We paid dues to UCSJ. What started happening was that UCSJ did not trust us.
Gradually we became more involved with NC. We still had contact with the UCSJ through Pam Cohen, its president. She would call me and ask whether we had someone going to the USSR and explain that she had something to send in, such as medicine, but that was our main contact.
A.T.: I understand that the Union of Councils were independent and were able to do whatever they wanted to do.
B.D.: Yes but we tried to listen to them. The two groups sometimes had a little difference in philosophy. UC supported dissidents and NC took their cues from Israel. Israel said to keep away from the dissidents. So we tried to do this. We used to go to Sharansky and say: ‘stop this’. He did not listen.
I.T.: It seems that you were the greater activists. Would that be right?
B.D.: Yes, I agree. I think that was because we did so much traveling. The more we traveled, the more people joined us.
A.T.: What sort of connections did you have with the Israeli Lishkat ha’Kesher (LK).
B.D.: We gave them information although they never gave us any. They were always very insistent on secrecy and were concerned that we used the telephone too much. Sometimes they would send people from Philadelphia, and we didn’t even know about it. Occasionally, when these people came back, they became involved with us. It seemed to us that their missions were a little crazy. They would take one small item that was very important to one person only and that would be their mission. They did not do anything else. Then they saw what our people did, how many people they met, and they felt a little cheated.
A.T.: What can you tell us about your wife and her background?
B.D.: Her grand-parents were born in Poland but her parents met and were married in Philadelphia. Her grand-father on her mother’s side died very young, so her mother did not have an easy life. Her father was the one who was very involved in Jewish organizations. He died very young, at the age of 50.
Lana was always involved. Of course, we had young children at the time. When we made our first trip in 1975, our daughter was 5 years old, and our son was 2 years old. In the early years, Lana had a major job to do but she was still involved. As her time became more available, she also became chairman of the Philadelphia group for 3 years, following my 3 year stint as chairman, which shows how involved she was. In fact, in 1987, I think that was the year of the March on Washington, she was the chair in Philadelphia to mobilize people. They did a very, very good job. We had maybe 200 busloads of people, from Philadelphia alone going to Washington DC.
A.T.: How religious a background did Lana have? Did her family background provide her with Jewish education?
B.D.: Her family was not as religious as my family. When we got married, she said she’d keep a kosher home. That was a requirement.
A.T.: And your children? Were they involved?
B.D.: During briefings, and so forth, the house was Soviet Jewry. We always had meetings in our house. We had briefings in our house. We had debriefings. When somebody came back, we would always have the whole committee, maybe 8 or 9 people would come to listen to those who came back. So the kids knew a lot about it. Maybe they knew too much. Maybe it invaded their lives too much. They are not active now.
I.T.: That is understandable.
A.T.: How many times in all did you visit the USSR?
B.D.: Three times.
A.T.: Did you have problems?
B.D.: Not really and certainly nothing serious. They inspected our luggage and looked at the books. We just gave the standard answers.
I.T.: Do you maintain any connections with former refuseniks whom you helped?
B.D.: Yes indeed. We see Oksana Chertin occasionally. We hear from her too. In the early years, we saw them more. We saw them here, in Israel, when they were in Ra’anana. We saw other people both here and in Toronto. We used to see them in the early years.
And Kosharovsky too. I stayed in touch with him for a long time. Sometimes when we came to Israel, in earlier years, we would try to get everybody together, and we would have meetings, and so forth. It doesn’t happen so much any more.
I also see Boris Kalendarov. He is a patient of mine. So, naturally, I see him.
I see Slepak’s son. He has just moved to California, but when he was in Evan’s Park, a suburb of Philadelphia, near me, I would see him.
A.T.: What do you think about the Soviet Jews who went to America rather than Israel?
B.D.: It’s very interesting, you know. This whole story of ‘neshira’ (not going to Israel) was a big issue for us because my first involvement was with a family which was in Philadelphia. We stayed involved with them. Actually, he did end up coming to Israel.
As our movement became stronger, it became more of an issue. Some people felt very strongly that absolutely everybody must come to Israel, with no alternative. It was a challenge for us. We hired, in Philadelphia, two organizational psychologists and we spent a whole weekend together, the entire committee. We went away for a week-end. The psychologists worked with us the whole time, trying to come up with a mission statement to clarify what our purpose was. We never resolved it completely, but it made it a little easier to work together.
For most of that time, I stayed away from the Soviet Jews in Philadelphia. They were there, but we had other things to do which were more important.
But then, in the 1990s, when there was nothing more to be done against the authorities to “rescue” people from the USSR, because freedom to emigrate freely had finally been granted, we started getting involved with the Jews who were still there for whatever reason. We felt strongly that, because they were still there, we should bring Judaism to them. It would have been all too easy to have left them to assimilate and forget their heritage.
A.T.: Don’t you think that it may have been a good thing for some of the Russian Jews to settle in America?
B.D.: I think it added a lot of Jews to the existing population. There are some who, like Boris, who have become very involved. He is religious. He is involved with Jewish organizations.
A.T.: I cannot understand which Soviet Jews chose to go to the USA.
B.D.: America, to a large extent, appealed to some of the well-educated, healthy ones. People who were not so healthy came to Israel, a lot of them, a lot of them because America was not interested in them. From the United States’ stand-point, the Jewish immigration was very helpful. A lot of good people in the sciences came there so I think it was a very good thing. It was helpful. As I say, I don’t know what percentage is involved in the Jewish community. Most are not but there is a percentage that is. In fact, the group in Philadelphia has adopted Kharkov. A number of them were from Kharkov. They raise money. They have a pharmacy in Kharkov where they help to pay for medication for poor people who cannot afford it.
They are doing something. They are involved a little bit. Most don’t help financially although some have done very well financially. But for some reason they are not donors.
A.T.: Who are the people in Philadelphia whom you know to have been involved in the Soviet Jewry movement?
B.D.: Of course, Connie&Joe Smuckler, Lorna Edelman. And, of course, the Wurtmans before they went on Aliyah. There were also Dan Siegel, Martha Aronship, Lou Gantman, Judy Shapalo, the Brodskys.
I.T.: I’ve heard that there is also somebody involved with dogs.
B.D.: Yes, Norman Leventhal. Do you now what he does here? He has a guide-dog center for the blind. Bobbi Morgenstern used to make certain kinds of necklaces; that was her specialty. Every woman who went into the Soviet Union from Philadelphia had one, even the Catholic nun Sister Gloria Did you, Ida and Aba, ever meet her?
A.T.:I am not sure. Do you remember any especially interesting cases?
B.D.: Of course, the Sharansky case was the biggest one.
I.T.: Did you know him before his arrest?
B.D.: We met him for the first time in 1975 when he took us to several refuseniks who didn’t speak English. Then, actually, in 1975, his wife Avital came to Philadelphia right after we came back and we saw her there.
Kosharovsky was also somebody with whom I was personally very involved. I met him during the first trip. He told me the story that he was out driving, and was arrested when he came back. That was during President Richard Nixon’s visit.
I am a driver. In those years I used to do a lot of racing, so I would wear his name on my shirt. Sometimes I would enter him in the race, and would try to get a story to the press that he was not allowed to attend. We sent him an invitation for the race, but they wouldn’t let him come. We always looked for ways to get this sort of publicity into the press, to make people aware of what was going on.
We were involved with a number of people, the Chertins, for example. Fortunately they got out quite early on.
A.T.: How did Soviet Jews assimilate into American society?.
B.D.: I don’t have to tell you. It is a difficult transition . Some people do better than others. Many found that, from the point of view of their professions, that the younger they were, the easier it was to adapt.
I am in contact with a family in Philadelphia. He was a physician with a PhD and worked at a high level in Kiev. His wife is a dentist. Neither of them works in their professions. He works transcribing medical information, a very lowly job. For a while, she worked for me as a dental assistant. I gave her a job because I wanted to, but it was not really a good idea. Many people are unable to find work in their own fields. Some of the people, in their 50s, came and were never able to do anything with their skills. On the one hand it was a tragedy but on the other hand, they and their children were free.
A.T.: What sort of activity exists today?
MORE AT:
Soviet-Jews-Exodus
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