Born in 1955 in Lozovaja in the Ukraine, he organized an underground group of Jewish students to study Jewish history, the history of Zionism and the state of Israel while being an university student. In 1973 he applied for the exit visa, but was refused and expelled from the university. Refusing to be drafted into the Soviet Army, he gave as his reason that the natural place of the service for him was the Israel Defense Forces. He did not stop fighting for his right to emigrate to Israel and in 1974. he was arrested, charged with Zionist anti-Soviet activity and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. He spent his time in the Moscow Lefortovo Prison and in a Kharkov prison. Released in 1977, he left for Israel in the same year.
