A National Interreligious Consultation on Soviet Jewry-the first such gathering by Jewish. Protestant, Catholic and Greek Orthodox leaders–will be held here March 19-20 at the Center for Continuing Education of the University of Chicago. The sponsor is the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, whose honorary national chairman is R. Sargent Shover, the former Peace Corps director and former ambassador to France. Shefver said the conference would be “of great importance,” since “through it we share in shaping the future rather than merely reacting to history.”
According to co-chairman Rabbi Mare H. Tanenbaum, Interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee, the meeting will be concerned in part with drafting an ecumenical statement on Soviet Jewry for President Nixon before be visits Moscow in May. Mrs. Rita Hanser, US representative on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, will represent the administration at the two-day conference. She and Mayor Charles Evers of Fayette, Miss., will deliver the keynote speeches.
Rabbi Tanenbaum said Mrs. Hauser plans to deliver a policy statement by the administration “on behalf of human rights of Jews and all those in the Soviet Union.” He added that the conference’s sponsors believe “a prestigious statement (by the consultation) will demonstrate symbolically the emergence of a national concensus on this issue.” At a press conference called to announce the meeting, Rabbi Tanenbaum said there are two principal concerns to be discussed–the restrictions on Jews who desire to leave the Soviet Union, and the limitations the USSR imposes on Jewish religious practices.
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