About 400 persons demonstrated across from the Soviet Embassy here today to mark the 35th birthday of Anatoly Shcharansky, the Soviet Jewish activist who has been imprisoned since March, 1977.
The event, sponsored by the Washington Board of Rabbis, was part of the daily vigil maintained outside the Embassy for Soviet Jews and also part of a fast in solidarity with Shcharansky. He has been on a hunger strike since September to protest the denial to him of visits by members of his family and mail.
According to Samuel Sislen, of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, the number of participants in the vigil today is believed to be the largest since they were started The Rev. Robert Drinan, head of the International Committee for Shcharansky, agreed. He noted that each time he participates in a vigil, the number of people seems to get larger. “That’s beautiful,” he said.
Rabbi Joshua Haberman, president of the Washington Board of Rabbis, Marcia Weinberg, head of the Soviet Jewry Committee of the Greater Washington JCC, Joan Dodek, head of the Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry and Drinan tried unsuccessfully to present a petition to the Embassy. However, Sislen noted that Embassy personnel took leaflets that were being handed out to passers-by, indicating that the group’s message did get the Embassy’s attention.
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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.
