stints as the economic administrator of the kibbutz. In 1965, Levanon was appointed to serve at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., as a representative of Bar. There, he worked with American Jewish organizations to lobby public officials over the issue of Soviet Jews. He also met with officials at the U.S. State Department and with members of the U.S. Congress to keep them apprised of recent events. In December 1968, Levanon received an emotional letter written by Moscovite engineering student Yasha Kazakov, originally directed to the Supreme Soviet. In the letter, Kazakov expressed pride in his Judaism and a belief that he had a right to live in the land of the Jewish people. Levanon leaked this letter to The Washington Post, spurring wide coverage in the West. Public pressure mounted on the Soviet government, and eventually they granted Kazakov an exit visa. He immigrated to Israel under the Hebraicized name Yaakov Kedmi, later becoming director of Nativ from 1992 to 1999. Director of Nativ In January 1970, Prime Minister Golda Meir appointed Levanon to serve as the head of Nativ. Levanon's appointment came at a pivotal time in the cause of Soviet Jewry: public campaigns were being organized across the Jewish world in protest of the Soviet government's treatment of several dozen Zionist activists who were accused of planning a hijacking. Levanon and Nativ responded by organizing the first World Conference of Jewish Communities for Soviet Jewry in Belgium the following year. The conference included 800 people from 38 countries and attracted attention when the Soviet government mounted a public campaign against the participants and host government. Prominent attendees included Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel, Albert Shanker, and Gershom Scholem. Levanon intentionally downplayed Israel's involvement with the conference so as to leave the impression that other, more powerful countries (particularly the United States) were especially interested in the issue. The conference was marred by the arrival of controversial rabbi Meir Kahane, who the day before had been convicted in New York of disorderly conduct for his actions at a 1969 protest. After he was denied the opportunity to address the delegates, Kahane denounced the conference as undemocratic and timid. His arrest by Belgian police and dramatic press conference upon his return to the U.S. somewhat overshadowed the gathering in Brussels. (Levanon had a tense relationship with "grass roots" activists like Kahane. He once referred to these activists as "active,