{"id":31523,"date":"2013-03-15T15:56:16","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T15:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=31523"},"modified":"2017-06-01T09:19:58","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T14:19:58","slug":"the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/","title":{"rendered":"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><a href=\"http:\/\/orthodox.http.internapcdn.net\/orthodox\/audio\/mendelevich_3-13-13.mp3\">Download the Audio<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>At age twenty-two, Yosef Mendelevich participated in an attempt to hijack a plane to the West an act designed to raise awareness about the desperate plight of Soviet Jews. He was arrested before the plane ever left the ground and served twelve years in the Soviet gulag. His is the story of one man&#8217;s resistance against tyranny and his daily struggle to retain his Jewishness and his humanity in a system built to extinguish both.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Mendelevich&#8217;s\u00a0book,\u00a0<em>Unbroken Spirit: A Heroic Story Of Faith, Courage and Survival, <\/em>can be purchased on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Unbroken-Spirit-Heroic-Courage-Survival\/dp\/9652295639\">amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A heroic story of faith, courage and survival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":31529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yosef Mendelevich&#039;s story is of resistance against tyranny &amp; his struggle to retain his Jewishness &amp; his humanity in a system built to extinguish both\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yosef Mendelevich&#039;s story is of resistance against tyranny &amp; his struggle to retain his Jewishness &amp; his humanity in a system built to extinguish both\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-15T15:56:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-01T14:19:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/\",\"name\":\"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-15T15:56:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-01T14:19:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\"},\"description\":\"Yosef Mendelevich's story is of resistance against tyranny & his struggle to retain his Jewishness & his humanity in a system built to extinguish both\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\",\"name\":\"OU Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"OU Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/oustaff-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life","description":"Yosef Mendelevich's story is of resistance against tyranny & his struggle to retain his Jewishness & his humanity in a system built to extinguish both","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life","og_description":"Yosef Mendelevich's story is of resistance against tyranny & his struggle to retain his Jewishness & his humanity in a system built to extinguish both","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2013-03-15T15:56:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-01T14:19:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"OU Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OU Staff"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/","name":"Yosef Mendelevich: The Man Who Took on the KGB - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg","datePublished":"2013-03-15T15:56:16+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-01T14:19:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65"},"description":"Yosef Mendelevich's story is of resistance against tyranny & his struggle to retain his Jewishness & his humanity in a system built to extinguish both","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/the-man-who-took-on-the-kgb\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/mendelevich_3-13-13-cov.jpg","width":640,"height":360},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65","name":"OU Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"OU Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/oustaff-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57784,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31523\/revisions\/57784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}