Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie of the British Commonwealth expressed the hope, in a statement issued by his office today, that British Jewry would join in a request to Soviet authorities to allow matzoh to be baked in the Soviet Union for this year’s Passover celebration.
Rabbi Brodie said that with the approach of the festival, he was giving serious thought “to the religious plight of our brethren in Soviet Russia who, according to reports recently received, find it increasingly difficult to celebrate this festival in the traditional manner.”
The statement noted that the eating of matzoh on Passover was an ‘essential minimum Biblical requirement’ for observance. He also said he would ask rabbis to turn the thoughts of their congregants to the plight of Russian Jewry during the morning of Shabbat Hagadol, April 14.
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