An appeal to the Soviet Government to permit the baking of matzoth for this year’s Passover was voiced here today by Sir Barnett Janner, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Addressing the monthly meeting of the Board, and stressing the fact that the use of matzoth at Passover is a religious precept as well as a custom “cherished by Jews the world over,” Sir Barnett requested the Kremlin authorities to permit USSR Jews to have matzoth as a move toward the relaxation of international tensions.
The Board president pointed out that, until 1961, the sale of matzoth by Soviet state bakeries was legal and unhindered. He recalled that, last year, there were “unfortunate cases of arrest and trial and imprisonment of a number of Jews for privately baking and distributing matzoth.”
While he welcomed reports that the Soviet Union is permitting the import of matzoth parcels from abroad. Sir Barnett said this step could help only in individual cases, and would not “appreciably alleviate” the matzoh shortage. He expressed the hope that the USSR would extend the import permits to include shipments from abroad of matzoth in bulk, addressed to Jewish communities which in turn, would be allowed to distribute the Passover food to individuals.
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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.
