Conservative and Reform rabbis Joined today with Orthodox spiritual leaders in protest against New York Post Office regulations which require new postal employes to work on Saturdays.
Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, president of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, which launched the fight on the Issue several months ago, and Rabbi Emanuel Holzer, met yesterday for 90 minutes with Postmaster Robert K. Christen berry, who issued the order. Both sides declined to comment on the talks, saying only that further talks were scheduled.
Particularly affected, according to the rabbinical group, are postal employes in Manhattan and the Bronx, where 13,000 of the 37,000 postal workers are Jewish. New appointees have been required to sign a memorandum agreeing to work on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays on request.
The effort of the Orthodox rabbis was endorsed by the New York Board of Rabbis, which includes Reform and Conservative, as well as Orthodox members. The board said the action of the local post office was “tantamount to setting up a religious qualification for obtaining a position” in the post office system.
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