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Son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Celebrates Bar Mitzvah 71

Robert Meeropol was only six years old when, in 1953, his parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by the US government as spies for the Soviet Union. Yesterday at age 71, he took part in an ancient Jewish ritual when he put on Tefillin for the first time, something that Jewish boys usually do when they turn 13 at their bar mitzvah.

The celebratory ritual, which was was followed by singing and dancing with Chabad Rabbis and over 1,200 fellow Jews, took place at the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) annual retreat in Providence, Rhode Island, where Mr. Meeropol was speaking about his experiences growing up as the “Cold War’s most famous orphans” and his crusade to clear his mother’s name.

Robert told retreat attendees that he believes he’s uncovered strong evidence showing that his mother, Ethel Rosenberg, was not involved in espionage at all and was unfairly convicted and executed. He also discussed the role of antisemitism in his parents’ conviction and sentencing, and the campaign to have his mother pardoned by President Obama.

After his presentation, Rabbi Efraim Mintz, director of JLI, asked Robert if he had ever worn Tefillin. When he said he hadn’t, the Rabbi brought out a set of Tefillin and helped him affix them to his head and arm. “It was a very emotional moment for both Robert and myself,” said Rabbi Mintz “it was extraordinary seeing someone who’s been through such a difficult childhood experience being finally able to perform this important mitzvah.”

Robert Meeropol was one of the fascinating speakers at the JLI retreat. Others included Eve Weiner and Hans Fisher, two passengers on the MS St Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.

The ship was denied entry by the US and Cuba and sent back to Europe. A quarter of the passengers died in the Holocaust. Eve and Hans spoke about the lessons that both the US Government and Jewish organizations should learn from the tragedy. A State Department representative read an apology on behalf of the US Government.

Refusenik Yosef Mendelevich also told the crowd about his attempt to hijack a Soviet plan to escape to the West, and Yair Rosenberg spoke about trolling Neo-Nazis on the Internet and gave tips for fighting antisemitism online.

These sessions were only a few of 150 at the JLI retreat from July 31 – August 5. The packed program features tens of speakers and covers a wide array of topics including in-depth Jewish medical ethics, history, philosophy and identity.

JLI, Chabad’s adult education arm, is the largest adult Jewish education network in the world with 300,000 students taking courses at JLI’s 1,000 locations over the past 19 years. Its annual retreat regularly attracts over 1,200 participants, including many adults who have taken part in weekly classes. The retreat is also open to Jewish university students who are members of the Sinai Scholars Society, a campus-based educational program run by JLI and Chabad on Campus international.

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8 Comments

  • The headline?

    Maybe the headline should focus on other parts of this beautiful event.

    Julius Rosenberg (and some cohorts) caused the Soviets to get their hands on nuclear weapons years sooner than anticipated. He committed a despicable unforgiveable crime that ended up costing thousands of lives, and certainly many Jews among them. He sold secrets from a Medina shel chessed to the evil murderous Soviets.

    There is plenty of evidence that the mother did not deserve the death penalty, but that she also certainly knew what was going on.

    Either way, the son is 100% innocent and it’s beautiful that he put on tefillin for the first time, though this probably shouldn’t be the headline.

  • Milhouse

    Ethel was guilty as sin, and deserved her sentence. The only real question is why her brother was not executed too.

    • Rat

      Because the brother ratted them out and made a deal with the feds. That’s why.

  • Andrea Schonberger

    I recently saw a documentary that presented evidence that the authorities knew right from the start that Ethel Rosenberg was innocent–it’s still debatable if she knew what her husband was doing. What the authorities were counting on was that if she was pressured enough she might rat on her husband to save her life and go back home to her children. If she had anything on her husband she refused to divulge it. She called their bluff and in doing so got the death penalty.

    • Milhouse

      This so-called “documentary” you saw is just the son’s communist propaganda and lies. Don’t believe a word of it. Ethel was guilty and deserved to die.

  • Probably prolonged suffering

    Had the Soviet Union not had the bomb, I would think that the US would have succeeded much earlier in pressuring them about the plight of Soviet Jewry. So, whoever divulged the atomic secrets are also guilty of prolonging the suffering and destruction of much of Soviet Jewry.