More than 500 people gathered today on a sloping hillside directly opposite Kenilsworth, the Soviet Compound, to participate in a “Ninth Day of Passover for Soviet Jews” rally. Sponsored by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) and the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry, the rally focused on the plight of Ruth Aleksandrovich, the Soviet Jew from Riga who is expected to go on trial shortly. Surrounded by more than 200 State, County and State Department policemen, the hillside was transformed into one swaying mass of people who were led in dancing and singing by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel, Jewish theologian, told his listeners to “try to feel the plight of Soviet Jewry as though it were our own.”
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.
