More than 10,000 Jews marched, sang and prayed in chilling rain storms yesterday in Washington, Long Island and Toronto to express solidarity with Soviet Jews on the occasion of Simchat Torah. The largest group, estimated at over 6,000 gathered on the soggy turf in front of the Washington Monument with five Torah scrolls saved from the Nazi holocaust to appeal to the Nixon administration to intercede on behalf of Jews who want to leave the Soviet Union. Afterwards the crowd marched three quarters of a mile up Constitution Ave. to the Lincoln Memorial with lulovs (palm fronds) esrogs and placards demanding freedom for Soviet Jews. The rally and march were sponsored by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington which said it was the largest such gathering to date despite the wet weather.
At Glen Cove, L.I.. some 2, 500 Jews carrying 100 Torahs protected from the rain by plastic covers marched to the Soviet United Nations Mission’s residence where they held a two hour rally of prayers, dancing and singing to demand freedom for Russian Jews. The program was sponsored by the Long Island Council for Soviet Jewry. In Toronto, about 1,500 people, young and old, staged a Simchat Torah rally for Soviet Jews in Nathan Phillips Civic Square, arranged by the Canadian Jewish Congress. Dancing and singing continued until midnight despite the rain.
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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.
