This year we are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War and the reunification of Jerusalem. Not coincidentally, we are also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the launching of the Soviet Jewry movement and the 20th anniversary of the historic "Let My People Go" rally in Washington.

There is a connection between these events, in that Israel's victory in the Six-Day War ignited a sense of Jewish nationalism and pride among Soviet Jews, then suffering through 50 years of communist oppression.

Because of our advocacy to governments and opinion molders, led by the hundreds of groups traveling abroad showing their solidarity with their Soviet coreligionists and joined by civil rights allies, we succeeded in opening up the gates for well over one-and-a-half million Jews from the former Soviet Union, most of whom went to Israel. This historic exodus has changed forever the demography of the State of Israel and helped enrich Diaspora communities, particularly in the United States.

There are many heroes in this drama, including those who advocated in MetroWest for this liberation via the greater MetroWest Council on Soviet Jewry and the National Mobilization Committee for the Washington Rally headed by Jackie Levine. They were joined by literally dozens of synagogues, community organizations, our Community Relations Committee, and defense organizations.

One person who deserves special recognition is Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Lautenberg helped facilitate the "MetroWest Express Train," which brought thousands of our citizens to the 1987 Washington rally, a turning point in the movement.

Of greater importance was the senator's sponsorship of the historic Lautenberg Amendment in 1989. This amendment "reinstated the long-standing presumption that Soviet Jews, evangelical Christians, and certain Vietnamese have a well-founded fear of persecution entitling them to refugee status." From 1989 to 2005, this amendment facilitated the resettlement of more than 303,000 Jews and an additional 172,000 individuals of different faiths from the former Soviet Union to our shores. Sen. Lautenberg continues to be the champion of the Lautenberg Amendment in the Senate, having inserted it again this year into the State Department/foreign operations appropriations bill for 2008.

Of course, we all know the tremendous contributions that many of these refugees have made to our society. Toward that end, it was a privilege for the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ to have Sen. Lautenberg address several hundred refugees — whom the federation and its agencies helped resettle in their new communities — at their naturalization ceremony, held in 1997 on the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany. He and the other assembled guests witnessed real people who started their lives anew as Americans and as Jews because of the Lautenberg Amendment. He would not allow America's gates to be closed to refugees, unlike the America of 1943, which, at the height of the Holocaust, allowed fewer immigrants to enter the United States than any year since 1862.

As national general campaign chair of the United Jewish Appeal, and campaign chair for MetroWest UJA, Sen. Lautenberg also contributed and helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Israel and Diaspora communities.

For me, helping to address the plight of refugees is not only the fulfillment of the mitzva of pidyon shvuyim, redeeming the captives, but also a very personal commitment. My parents came to this country as refugees from a displaced persons' camp in Germany, thanks to President Harry Truman. Despite opposition from much of Congress, and what appeared to be the popular opinion of American citizens, Truman ensured the passage of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which allowed survivors of the Holocaust to settle in the United States. Of course, his recognition of Israel assured a homeland for hundreds of thousands of other refugees.

At a press conference held a number of years ago, Sen. Lautenberg noted that he loved serving in the Senate at the same desk that Harry Truman used when he was a senator. Like the former senator from Missouri, Sen. Lautenberg will be remembered as a lawmaker who did more for refugees than anyone else of this era.

As we commemorate these special anniversaries, we give thanks to those who helped make it happen at home and abroad. It was the power of Jewish peoplehood, joined by concerned citizens of all faiths, that made this miracle possible.