It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our dear friend and Advisory Council member, Enid Wurtman z”l, passed away in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur night.
Enid was a connector in the truest sense. She linked refuseniks behind the Iron Curtain with the activists who refused to let the world forget them, and she never stopped, even when she was ill and the world had moved on.
“Enid was a giant in this movement. A woman of great courage,” writes SJMEP Board member Zev Yaroslavsky.
A social worker from Philadelphia, Enid first visited the Soviet Union in 1973 and returned to meet refuseniks again and again. With her husband, Stuart z”l, she became a leader of the grassroots Soviet Jewry movement in the United States. In 1977 they made aliyah. In Israel she turned to the next chapter of the story: welcoming former refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion, helping them rebuild their lives, and raising the funds to support those who needed it most. Through the Wurtman Foundation’s Emergency Aid for Refuseniks fund, she kept that promise for decades.
At her funeral in Jerusalem, Natan Sharansky and Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich were among those who paid tribute to her. You can watch Enid’s funeral here.
We extend our deepest sympathy to her children, Hillie, Elie and Carmi, her grandchildren, and her many friends and colleagues around the world. May they find comfort among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Enid’s memory is a blessing, and her example is a call to action. We are honored to carry her story forward.
In deepest respect and admiration for our dear colleague and friend.
Simon Klarfeld
SJMEP Executive Director
You can read more about Enid’s extraordinary life and the impact she made here, and watch a short video about her first trip to the Soviet Union in 1973 here.
