A fervent plea for freedom for Soviet Jews has been issued by a group of prominent Christian leaders who called on all New Yorkers to speak out against the growing repression of Jews in the USSR. The clergymen, representing hundreds of thousands of Christians, urged people of all faiths to express their support of beleaguered Soviet Jews by participating in “Solidarity Day” to be sponsored on Sunday, April 28 in Manhattan by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry. They made their comments Friday at a news conference held at the Institute of Human Relations, Manhattan.
Participating in the news session were the Rev. Dr. Bryant Kirkland, senior minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Dr. M.L. Wilson, chairman of the National Committee of Black Churchmen, the Rev. Edward Flannery, executive secretary of the Secretariat for Catholic Jewish Relations of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum. co-chairman of the American Jewish Committee’s department of Interreligious affairs.
The clergymen emphasized that stepped-up persecution of Soviet Jews and tighter restrictions against emigration imposed by the Soviet government in recent months underscore the fact that the plight of Jews in the USSR is a “moral issue that transcends all religious boundaries.”
It was pointed out that more than 40 prominent clergymen–priests, ministers and rabbis–will “represent” Soviet Jewish “prisoners of conscience” in the “Solidarity Day” freedom march and rally. The clergymen, who will lead the march, each will carry a large photograph of a Soviet Jewish prisoner who has been incarcerated in a Russian labor camp. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the only “crime” committed by these Soviet Jewish prisoners was a desire to emigrate from the USSR.
“Solidarity Day” will get underway at 12 noon. The freedom march will take place on Fifth Avenue. It will culminate with a massive rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.) author of the “Jackson Amendment” to bar trade concessions to the Soviet Union until it drops all barriers to free emigration, will be the main speaker at the rally. Stanley H. Lowell, chairman of the Greater New York Conference, will chair the program.
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