More than 2,000 persons participated today in a “Passover Exodus-Freedom Rally for Soviet Jewry,” at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the United Nations. A Soviet Jewry freedom flag, dominated by a red six-pointed Jewish star above the word “Swobode” (Russian for “freedom”), was displayed here for the first time. The flag, according to the sponsors of the rally, was especially designed for this occasion. Addressing the gathering, Rabbi Gilber Klaperman, chairman of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, which sponsored the event said: “At this most holy season, when mankind rededicates itself to spiritual rebirth, we pray for the redemption of our Soviet brethren and appeal to the Soviet Union to ‘Let our people go.'” He continued, “This rally focuses particularly on those brave Jewish youth in the Soviet Union who are daily risking their lives in asserting their identity as Jews.” During the almost two-hour rally, letters from Ruth Aleksandrovitch, a 23-year-old nurse from Riga now awaiting trial in the Soviet Union, addressed to her mother and fiance were read. At the same time, 20,000 postcards demanding her release were distributed to the crowd to be sent to the Soviet Prosecutor-General Roman A. Rudenko, Meanwhile, the ten day vigil and fast of 50 persons, including students on a rotating basis that began last Wednesday continued into its fifth day at the Isaiah Wall near the UN.
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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.
