Jewish Religion Still Alive in Moscow; No Trace of Jewish Culture

Jewish religion is still alive in Moscow but there is no trace of Jewish cultural institutions, Sydney Silverman, left-wing Laborite member of the British Parliament, declared here this week-end following his return from the Moscow Economic Conference.

“I think it is a pity that in the Soviet Union, which always took a great and justifiable pride in its encouragement of languages and cultures of so many minorities and nationalities, the Jewish community seems to be an exception,” Mr. Silverman said in an interview with the London Jewish Chronicle. He added that he was unable to check on information his wife brought back from Russia last year that Itzik Feffer, noted Soviet Yiddish poet who “disappeared” from Moscow, is now living in Riga.

Mr. Silverman visited the Moscow synagogue on the eve of Passover and reported that he found it packed, with many young people present. He emphasized that in his opinion there is no element of anti-Semitism connected with the liquidation of the Jewish cultural institutions. He expressed the belief that the settlement of Jews in Biro-Bidjan has not been abandoned by the Soviet Government, but added that it was his impression that the project had not succeeded very well “probably because of the limited interest on the part of the Jews themselves.”

Reporting on sentiment in Moscow toward Israel, Mr. Silverman said: “The Soviet attitude to the problem of contact between Soviet Jewish citizens and Israel can most easily be understood by considering what the attitude of the United States would have been to this matter if the Jewish State had joined the Russian bloc.”