text:  My father got arrested because someone ratted him out and told the government that my parents were keeping Shabbos. It was the 70s, and there were lots of civil rights violations against Jews living in the USSR. The prisons were filled with refuseniks, Jews who were denied permission to leave the country. You couldn't just pack your bags and get out. In the middle of great negotiations and embargoes between the Americans and the Soviets, a U.S. senator set out an amendment that rewarded the Soviet Union for letting some Russian Jews leave.