Rabbis Seek Soviet “clarification” on Anti-jewish Acts in Russia

The New York Board of Rabbis today announced that it was seeking “clarification” from the Soviet Ambassador in Washington with regard to reported continued suppression of Judaism in the Soviet Union.

The rabbis were especially interested in a report stating that the synagogue in Chernigov, in the Ukraine, was closed last month and its Scrolls confiscated. This action followed the arrest last fall of several Jews in Chernowitz: also in the Ukraine, on charges of participation in “Zionist propaganda.” According to the report, the charge was based on the participation of the defendants, who included synagogue officials, in the traditional Passover toast: “Next year in Jerusalem.” The report also said that in Minsk, eight Jewish students were jailed last December on charges they organized “a Zionist cell,” and that several Jews were arrested in Kishinev for baking matzoh in violation of a Government decree last Passover.