According to a document published online by The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, after the 1967 Six Day War, the mood of Soviet Jewry changed markedly. Thousands and then tens of thousands of Russian Jews began to study Jewish history and texts. Many applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. By the early 1970s, many were receiving such permission. However, the Russian government wanting to discourage large-scale Soviet-Jewish migration. The government often imprisoned leaders of the Jewish movement in Russia. By the late 1980s, the Soviet-Jewish protest movement had achieved far more than its founders had expected and the large majority of Soviet Jews applying to emigrate were being permitted to do so. Beginning in 1988, hundreds of thousands of Jews started asking for permission to leave Russia. By 1990, more than ten thousand Russian-born Jews were leaving Russia each month (Telushkin).
According to an article by Erin E. Arvedlund published by The New York Times International, Jews have stopped leaving Russia in large numbers. From a high point of 189,000 in 1990, the number of Jews leaving for Israel has now dropped to about 10,000 a year. In addition, a relatively small number of Jews who left in Soviet times have in recent years begun trickling back, motivated by the booming, oil-driven economy and the demand for educated labor, as well as the violence of recent years in Israel (Arvedlund).
Arvedlund, Erin. "A Russian Rabbi Teaches Jews, First Off,
to Be Jews." The New York Times 18 Dec 2004 28 Apr 2008 Telushkin, Joseph. "Soviet Jewry Movement." Jewish Virtual Library. 1991. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 29 Apr 2008 ...