The annual conference of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of American expressed today “dismay and condemnation” over “desecration of the Sabbath” in Jewish Centers and Y’s.
The action was taken in one of a series of resolutions adopted by the 500 rabbis attending the conference at its closing session. The rabbis declared that Jewish Centers were founded to strengthen Jewish life and observance of Jewish Law “and not for weakening Jewish consciousness and disregard of our laws and traditions.”
The delegates, in another resolution “strongly urged” the United States Government to take “necessary steps” to strengthen the security of Israel, “especially in view of the accelerated arms race in the Middle East.” They also appealed to the four major powers, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union, to concentrate joint efforts toward ensuring peace in the Middle East by inducing Israel’s neighbors to acquiesce in “the universal peace goals of mankind.”
In another resolution, the rabbis called on Soviet authorities to provide “free and unqualified” religious freedom to the 3,000,000 Jewish inhabitants in the Soviet Union.
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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.