The Rabbinical Council of America (Orthodox) has named Rabbi Bernard Poupko of Pittsburgh to represent it at a celebration in Moscow in honor of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin’s 75th birthday, Rabbi Israel Klaven, executive vice-president of the Orthodox rabbinical group, confirmed today. The celebration will be held at Rabbi Levin’s Central Synagogue in Moscow on Feb. 23. Other American rabbis planning to attend the celebration are Pinhas Teitz of Elizabeth, N.J. a member of the presidium of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, and Arthur Schneier of New York, both friends of Rabbi Levin. The invitation was extended to Rabbi Poupko in the form of a letter in Hebrew, signed by Menasha Michalowitz, chairman of the Committee of 20 which governs the Central Synagogue.
Rabbi Poupko, chairman of the Rabbinical Board of Greater Pittsburgh, told JTA that he believed that the celebration marked the first time in the history of the Soviet Union that an affair was being held in honor of a rabbi. He said that he understood that the organized Jewish community had extended the invitation to rabbis in a number of countries but that he had no information on such invitations. The Rev. C.J. McNaspy, editor of the Jesuit periodical, America, will also attend the celebration.
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.
