American Rabbi Reports Moscow Synagogue’s New Rabbi Coming to U.S. on Official Visit

A leading American Orthodox rabbi, returning from a visit to the Soviet Union, said here today that Jacob Fishman, the new rabbi of Moscow’s Choral Synagogue, is coming to the United States in November for a short tour of the country. Rabbi Tibor Stern of Miami, a member of the Executive of the Rabbinical Council of America, said Rabbi Fishman was coming as a guest of the Rabbinical Council and of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. Rabbi Stern said the tentative date for Rabbi Fishman’s arrival in the US is Nov. 10.

Rabbi Stern said Rabbi Fishman will be accompanied on his US tour by representatives of the Greek Orthodox and Baptist faiths in the Soviet Union. The visit of the three clergymen had been planned by the Soviet government prior to the extension by Rabbi Stern of the official invitation to Rabbi Fishman but Rabbi Stern added that the Soviet government was also aware of the plans of the two American Orthodox rabbinical groups to extend the invitation to Rabbi Fishman.

Rabbi Stern, who was in the Soviet Union as the official representative of the two Orthodox groups, called Rabbi Fishman a “sincere, simple man, who needs encouragement from world Jewry.” Rabbi Stern said that he had addressed the Choral Synagogue at a Sabbath morning service and had then read the rabbinical groups’ formal invitation to the Moscow rabbi. Rabbi Stern also said that he delivered two lectures at the synagogue on the request of Ephraim Kaplun, the government appointed president of the synagogue.

Rabbi Stern reported that Rabbi Fishman was “disturbed that some said he was not qualified for his position. Rabbi Fishman said, ‘I don’t claim to be a Talmudic scholar, but I’m functioning.” Rabbi Stern urged that the world community support Rabbi Fishman. He himself, he said, gave Rabbi Fishman lessons in practical rabbinics. “There will be no other rabbi,” Rabbi Stern predicted.

Rabbi Stern said that “harassment of Jews and Zionism is evident among the religious functionaries of the Soviet Union.” He said that he met scores of young people who are teaching themselves Hebrew. The young people are also using the area outside the Choral Synagogue as an “open-air matchmaking bureau” to insure that they marry other Jews, he declared.

Jewish activists are of the opinion that if the United States stopped the sale of wheat to the Soviet Union, the latest law requiring Jewish academics to pay high exit fees to immigrate to Israel would be abolished, Rabbi Stern asserted. He also said that the Jewish activists were proud that the government placed a value on their skills.

Rabbi Stern said he visited the Ferkowich collection of Hebrew manuscripts in the Leningrad Public Library. According to him, Prof, Isaac Winikoff, head of the Oriental department of the library, is willing to exchange microfilms of the manuscripts with Jewish institutions of learning. The Ferkowich collection, Rabbi Stern explained, is a collection of valuable Talmudic commentaries, some of which date back 800 years.

The two American Orthodox groups are now making arrangements for Rabbi Fishman’s visit, Rabbi Stern said. No schedule for the three clergymen’s activities in the US has as yet been released, according to him, so the Orthodox groups have not been able to complete their itinerary for the Moscow rabbi.