Born in 1943 in the town of Cherepanovo, USSR, he was prompted by the anti-Semitism that prevailed in the Red Army and the universities of the Soviet Union, to become involved with the problems of the Jews, Zionism and the State of Israel. This, in its turn, led him and his friends to take an active part in Zionist propaganda, spreading Zionist literature and Israeli materials. He and his friends were arrested in 1970 on charges of Zionist activities, and in May 1971, at the Riga trial, he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment in the Gulag. Released in 1972, he left for Israel within a few weeks. Remember & Save website