Israel’s two Chief Rabbis, Avraham Shapiro (Ashkenazic) and Mordechai Eliahu (Sephardic) may become the first chief rabbis of the Jewish State to visit the Soviet Union. Shapiro told The Jerusalem Post today that they have already made tentative inquiries. He said he has discussed the proposed trip with the new Finnish Ambassador in Israel who represents Soviet interests here and plans to discuss it with other diplomats.
Many high-ranking clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church have visited Israel and have been received here at the highest levels. Chief Rabbi Adolf Shayevich of Moscow said on an Israel Television interview from Paris that he wanted to visit Israel and would if he was invited. According to Shayevich, Soviet Jews who want to leave the USSR only need patience. “In the end, all who want to come will come,” he said.
Shayevich was in Paris last week together with two long-time Soviet apologists, Gen. David Dragunsky and Samuel Zivs. All three are members of the so-called “Jewish Anti-Zionist Committee of the USSR.” The three had come to Paris to try to explain the official Soviet stand on Jewish issues in the aftermath of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Paris last fall and his meeting with President Reagan in Geneva last month.
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.
