Born on November 4th, 1937 in Ukraine, he studied medicine. The Six-Day War in 1967 and anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union led him to become aware of his Jewishness and the ideal of Zionism As an activist in the underground Zionist movement in the Soviet Union, he organized ulpanim for the study of Hebrew and the history of Jewish people, shared his knowledge of Zionism and the state of Israel with other people and also sent letters of protest to the Soviet authorities. Arrested in 1970 on the charge of Zionist anti-Soviet activity, he was sentenced at the 2nd Leningrad trial, in May 1971, to 7 years imprisonment in the Gulag. He continued his Zionist activities even while in the Mordovian camps. Released in 1977, he left for Israel in the same year. Kosharovsky website