In an example of unusual and possible unique programing, a Jewish quartet called the Arbaah Kolot (“Voices Four”) rocked, rolled and hora-ed yesterday at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the largest Protestant house of worship in the world. The more than 400 young and old Jews and Christians who attended left $250 in contributions to Israeli university scholarships for Soviet Jewish immigrants. The money was collected by the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.
Spokesmen for the church said it was definitely the first Jewish concert ever staged on its premises. The program included peace songs in Hebrew and English and traditional Hebraic tunes, Marvin Rosen, a member of the quartet, said: “The words are in Hebrew, but the message is universal. This event this afternoon is a celebration of our common humanity.”
In the service preceding the concert the Rt. Rev. Horace W.B. Donegan, Bishop of New York, said: “We at the Cathedral are gratified to do something about the plight of our Russian Jewish brethren. It is our conviction that Soviet Jews–and, indeed, all others in the USSR–should have the right to emigrate to any country of their choosing…”
Bishop Donegan declared that “Christians, Jews and men of good will everywhere must join us in an outcry” so that the USSR will “come to know that the integrity of individual human beings is one thing which the world has an abiding concern for.”
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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.
