Soviet Embassy Gives JTA Letter Reportedly Signed by Rabbis

In an obvious effort to minimize the effect of today’s “Eternal Light Vigil” which protested against anti-Jewish religious and cultural discriminations by Soviet authorities, the Soviet Embassy in Washington sent a letter to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here, this weekend, declaring that the Washington demonstration was unnecessary and was a “senseless” action “aimed at worsening relations between the USSR and the USA.”

The letter requested the JTA to forward the contents to the New York Times. The letter was termed as a reply to Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, who headed a delegation of nine American Orthodox rabbis who visited Moscow last July. Three of the rabbis were given the rare privilege of speaking at a Sabbath service from the pulpit of Moscow’s Central Synagogue, which is headed by Chief Rabbi Yehudah Leib Levin.

Signers of the letter, according to the USSR Embassy here, were Rabbi Levin; Rabbi Natan Clevsky, who heads a second Jewish house of worship in the Soviet capital; and Rabbi Avraam Haim Lubanov, of Leningrad.

Asking “who needs this demonstration?, ” and telling Rabbi Miller “you know perfectly well that our flocks do not need it at all,” the letter claimed: “Long before Rosh Hashanah–in August–Jews got religious calendars printed in the Moscow State printery. Preparations for publication of prayer books are completed. For this purpose, Soviet State organizations, meeting us half-way, allotted high quality paper. We are now getting ready for new enrollment to the yeshiva religious school. Matzoh is baked in all religious communities and not only in Moscow, as Rabbi Miller said. Thus everything you (Rabbi Miller) told American newspapermen about our affairs is absolutely ungrounded. In conclusion, we, on behalf of our flocks, would like to voice our resolute protest against the senseless demonstration aimed at worsening relations between the USSR and the USA.”