A sharply-worded reply by Isaac Glickmann of New York, president of the United Rumanian Jews of America, to a recent communication from Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen of Bucharest was broadcast here today in a special Rumanian-language program by Radio Free Europe. RFE is an anti-Communist radio station sponsored by private American backers.
Not long ago, a circular letter, bearing the signatures of 36 rabbis in addition to Dr. Rosen, was published in the Soviet satellite press, and also sent to Jewish personalities in other countries. Obviously intended to counteract world-wide indignation aroused by the persecution of Zionist and other Jewish leaders in Rumania, the letter claimed that Jews enjoy equal rights and religious freedom under the Communist regime. Dr. Rosen, the chief signatory, has lent himself to such Communist propaganda in the past.
One of the recipients of Rabbi Rosen’s latest communication was Dr. Glickmann. Believing that his retort to Dr. Rosen would be held up in the mails by censorship, Dr. Glickmann entrusted its text to Radio Free Europe for transmission to Rumania over the air.
In his open letter, Dr. Glickmann reviews the harassments inflicted upon Rumanian Jewry in consequence of the hostile attitude of the authorities and refers to the many innocent people rotting in jail without trial, simply because they believe in traditional Jewish ideals, and calls upon Dr. Rosen as a spiritual leader to share openly the sufferings of his brethren, even at the cost of great sacrifice.
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