The two-day emergency American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry concluded here tonight with an appeal to Soviet Government leaders to end official anti-Semitism and to grant the 3,000,000 Jews of the Soviet Union full equality with other religious and ethnic groups in the country. The 24 participating Jewish organizations which convened the conference adopted plans to enlist the help of Americans of all faiths in drawing world attention to the "oppression of Soviet Jewry."
The 500 delegates, addressing themselves to the authorities of the Soviet Union, adopted an 18-point resolution calling for the elimination of discrimination against Soviet Jews and restoration of their full cultural and religious rights. The conference expressed its "anguish and indignation at the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union."
At the same time, the conference called for a national day of prayer to be observed in every American synagogue, as a part of a national protest against "the calculated assault by which the destruction of the Jewish community within the Soviet Union is being pursued."
The conference received a message tonight from Albert Cardinal Meyer, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, who stated: "In the name of God, Who will not be mocked, and in the name of humanity made in the image and likeness of God, I join you in protest aganist any evil and all efforts to destroy the spiritual and cultural freedom and rights of men everywhere."
A delegation of conference leaders will meet with Secretary of State Dean Rusk at the State Department tomorrow morning to discuss the sentiments expressed at the conference.
PLAN BROACHED FOR TOP-LEVEL MEETING BETWEEN U.S. JEWS, SOVIET LEADERS
The possibility of a meeting between American Jewish leaders and Soviet authorities "on the highest level" was raised at the conference by Louis H. Weinstein, of Boston, chairman of the National Community Relations Advisory Council, and Morris B. Abram, president of the American Jewish Committee. Mr. Weinstein said he hoped that Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg, and U.S. Senators Jacob K. Javits and Abraham A. Ribicoff would be in the group, if and when such a delegation is invited to Russia.
The conference delegates were told that "if Soviet authorities invite us to a discussion of the status of Soviet Jewry in terms that signify the earnest desire of the Soviet Government for good-faith exploration of the issue, we will be prepared to form a delegation to go to the USSR to meet with Soviet officials of the highest level."
RESOLUTION SETS FORTH BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTORING JUSTICE TO SOVIET JEWS
The 18-point resolution, protesting "the denial to Soviet Jews of the basic institutions and facilities granted to other religious and ethnic groups within the Soviet Union," informed the Soviet Government that "considerations of humanity and justice" required it to:
1) Eradicate anti-Semitism by a vigorous educational effort conducted by Government and Party; 2) Permit the free functioning of synagogues and private prayer meetings; 3) Remove hindrances to the observance of sacred rites such as religious burial and circumcision; 4) Permit production and distribution of religious articles and calendars; 5) Restore facilities and permission to produce and distribute matzoh and kosher food; 6) Grant the right to publish Hebrew Bibles, prayer books, and other religious texts; 7) Permit synagogues in the USSR to organize a nation-wide federation; 8) Sanction the association of such a federation with organizations of their co-religionists abroad; 9) Permit Jews to make religious pilgrimages to Israel.
Also to: 10) Allow all qualified applicants to attend Moscow Holy Places and rabbinical seminaries, and to permit rabbinical students to study at seminaries abroad; 11) Provide schools and other facilities for the study of the Yiddish and Hebrew languages, and Jewish history and culture; 12) Permit Jewish writers, artists and other intellectuals to create their own institutions for the encouragement of Jewish cultural and artistic life; 13) Reestablish a Yiddish publishing house to publish books in Yiddish by classical and contemporary Jewish writers; 15) Re-establish Yiddish state theaters and permit publication of a Yiddish-language newspaper with nation-side circulation; 15) Eliminate discrimination against Jews in all areas of Soviet public life; 16) End the anti-Semitic campaign in the press; 17) End the discriminatory application of the death penalty and other severe sentences imposed against Jews for economic crimes against the state; 18) Make it possible for Soviet Jews separated from their families as a result of Nazism to be reunited with their relatives, on humanitarian grounds.
PRINZ INSISTS ‘ONE VOICE’ MUST BE HEARD; ABRAM PROPOSES INTERNATIONAL COURT
Dr. Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress–one of the 24 participating groups–presented the resolution, which concluded with an appeal "for a redress of these and other wrongs and suffering, for the elimination of discrimination, and for the full restoration of Jewish rights in the USSR." "We do not wish," Dr. Prinz added, "to exacerbate the Cold War tensions, but we will not rest until the one voice with which we speak is heard and heeded."
A proposal for the formation of a voluntary international court to deal with Soviet anti-Semitism and with other human rights violations was made at the conference by Morris B. Abram, president of the American Jewish Committee, another of the major participating organizations. Mr. Abram, who is the United States member on the United Nations Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities–a subsidiary body of the U.N. Human Rights Commission–also urged all religious forces throughout the world to "cry out against the shame of Soviet anti-Semitism."
Senator Javits (New York Republican), addressing the conference this afternoon, described Soviet anti-Semitism as a threat "not only to Jews–though they are the first victims–but to all religious minorities in the USSR. " He urged that protest against the Soviet treatment of the Jewish population be "intensified in every way possible. " Declaring that silent diplomacy will not save Soviet Jews, he cited numerous situations during the last 100 years where the United States had condemned persecution of Jews in various countries and had intervened on their behalf.
Other speakers included Benjamin Tabachinsky, executive secretary of the Jewish Labor Committee; and Aaron Goldman, of Washington, vice-chairman of the National Community Relations Advisory Council.
APPEALS PLANNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT, INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN BODIES
Action plans mapped by the conference, in addition to calling for a special day of prayer, included the following steps: 1) Efforts to enlist the cooperation of President Johnson and that of both major political parties toward expressing "America’s official concern to the Soviet Government; 2) Urging other religious beliefs to include discussion of this matter "in their own deliberate channels," specifically mentioning in this context "international Christian forums such as World Council of Churches"; 3) Enlisting the support of civic, labor, education, and religious organizations, veterans’ and women’s groups and others to express their concern for the plight of Soviet Jews; and 4) A special drive to secure statements from religious leaders of prominence, winners of honors and awards in science and the humanities, outstanding intllectuals and others, "raising their voices" on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
At the same time, local American Jewish communities were urged to hold their own conferences on Soviet Jewry, on a pattern similar to that of the national conference held here; to help community-wide committees and enlist the support of local civic, religious, educational and other bodies; and to provide factual material about Soviet Jewish conditions to teachers, educators, editors, and other opinion-makers.
Rabbi Max Nussbaum of Los Angeles, speaking for the committee on national follow-up, told the conference: "We shall not rest or desist until we have awakened world opinion and brought its full weight and influence to bear upon this unconscionable wrong."
In addition to the message from Cardinal Meyer of Chicago, the conference received statements approving its major aims from other prominent, non-Jewish leaders in American life. There included Norman Thomas, veteran Socialist leader; the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, of the United Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Dr. Patrick O’Boyle, Archbishop of Washington; A. Philip Randolph, outstanding Negro leader, a vice-president of the AFL-CIO; Rufus Cornelsen, of the Lutheran Church of America; and Herman F. Reissig, of the Council for Christian Action of the United Church of Christ.
Last night, the Soviet Embassy in Washington sent to the conference a statement attributed to religious and secular Jewish leaders in the Soviet Union, protesting against the parley’s "slanderous attacks on our Soviet country, which has done so much for the Jewish people. " The statement bore the signatures of Rabbi Yedhuda Leib Levin, of the Moscow Central Synagogue; Rabbi Natan Olevsky, Marin Roscha Synagogue, Moscow; Avram Panich, Kiev Synagogue; Solomon Gerelik, chairman of the Minsk Jewish religious community; Nohem Paller, chairman of the community of Moscow’s Central Synagogue; and Gershun Lib, chairman of the community of Marina Roscha Synagogue, Moscow.
The two-day parley was concluded with a prayer by Rabbi Solomon J. Sharfman, one of the representatives of the Synagogue Council of America. Emphasizing the fact that the plight of Soviet Jewry today demands top priority attention from united American Jewry, he said that time was "running out" to prevent the "disappearance" of Soviet Jewry.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
