Besides for the thousands of religious leaders brutally murdered during the Red Terror and the Great Purge, numerous laws were passed to quash the observance and transmission of religion.

[4] On the same day as his address, a meeting was convened with the attendance of what would become Shuvu's leadership, namely Max Knopf, Sheldon Beren, and Avraham (Abe) Biderman.

[6] Shortly after the convention, Rabbi Pam wrote: ...For the past seventy years there could be no expectations that Soviet Jews would provide their children with a Torah education.

Now, however, that as many as a million Soviet Jews can be expected in Eretz Yisroel, what is to prevent them from enrolling their children in a Torah school?

During their trip, the group visited Orthodox rabbis and activists throughout the country who had already started reaching out to the immigrants but who didn't have the necessary funds to do anything drastic.

Three quarters of those polled were completely secular (hiloni) and nine percent identified as traditional (masorti); altogether 90% didn't observe Shabbat.

The poll revealed that 58% of non-religious parents wanted more Jewish studies than secular or an equal amount.