U. N. Body Told of Suppression of Jewish Religion; Asked to Act

The suppression of Jewish religion in a number of unnamed countries was cited today at a meeting of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities which is now in session here. The Subcommission, a United Nations unit, is currently debating a report dealing with religious rights and practices in countries which are UN members.

Attention was drawn to the suppression of Jewish religion in some countries by Dr. Maurice L,Perlzweig, speaking on behalf of the World Jewish Congress. Pointing out that the United Nations has specialized agencies which concern themselves specifically with guarantees against discrimination in labor, on one hand, and education, on the other. Dr.Perlzweig told the meeting that the UN itself must guard the equivalent rights in the field of religion.

The WJC spokesman told the subcommission that he personally, as a practicing rabbi, had experienced instances in synagogues “on three continents” where the Jewish religious services were conducted “as though they were clandestine.” That experience, he said, showed that all religions must be given the right to practice their faiths publicly as well as privately.

The WJC representative also asked the subcommission to establish among its basic rules a provision that parents must have the right to provide religious instruction for their children “in and through the religious community” of their own choice.

A third important freedom, said Dr. Perlzweig, must be the right of churches, synagogues and temples to have open contact with their religious community, nationally or internationally. “To deny facilities for cooperation in the service of common aims, ” he stated,”makes a mockery of freedom of religion.”