More than 18, 000 Jews packed Madison Square Garden tonight in a massive act of protest against the continuing suppression by the Soviet Union of the cultural and religious freedom of the 3, 000, 000 Jews of Russia.
The “Rally for Soviet Jewry” adopted a resolution appealing to Soviet authorities to extend to Jewish citizens the full measure of equality guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution, including religious and cultural rights, the right to affiliate with co-religionists in religious groups within the Soviet Union and to allow religious and cultural bonds with Jewish communities abroad.
President Johnson, in a message addressed to the rally, said: “I have more than once expressed my deep concern and that of this Administration regarding the plight of the Jewish community in the Soviet Union. All Americans sympathetically concerned with injustice cannot but deplore the difficulties faced by that community and the restrictions which hamper its religious and cultural life. We believe that in the interests of all humanity, the spiritual and cultural heritage of these people should be nurtured and preserved.
“In a spirit of peace and reason, we express our earnest hope that the Soviet leadership will ameliorate the situation of its Jewish minority. Doing so would go a long way toward removing a moral and emotional barrier between us and contribute to a relaxation of tensions. And we all earnestly hope for this,” President Johnson stated. His message was read to the rally by Dr. Joachim Prinz, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
MAYOR WAGNER, SENATORS KENNEDY AND JAVITS ADDRESS AUDIENCE
Senator Jacob K. Javits, addressing the audience, said: “It is indeed tragic that twice within the short span of a generation, we find ourselves now participating in this rally protesting anti-Jewish acts in Europe. The measure of success these protests have received, although small, must give new strength to our expressions of concern.”
Senator Robert F. Kennedy told the mass-gathering: “Today, three million Jews in Russia need help but they do not march alone. The conscience of the world cries out in their behalf.” He added that to champion freedom in any part of the world was very much in the American tradition, citing the guarantees in the American constitution of freedom of religion and assembly and the right to petition for redress of grievances.
Mayor Wagner, who was one of the speakers, proclaimed the day as “Conference on Soviet Jewry Day in New York City.” He declared that “deprivation of human rights cannot be condoned” and added that “we earnestly pray for the end of these discriminations.” Gov. Nelson Rockefeller proclaimed the day as “A Day of Protest in New York Against Anti-Semitism.” He said that “this discrimination is abhorrent and it is fitting that we publicly manifest our protest of these procedures by the Soviets.”
PETITION WITH 1, 000, 000 PROTEST SIGNATURES TO BE SENT TO U. N.
Dr. Max Nussbaum, chairman of the American Zionist Council, told the rally that petitions being circulated for 1, 000, 000 protest signatures would be sent to President Johnson and the United Nations Human Rights Commission, urging them to use their influence with Soviet leaders to extend to Soviet Jewry the right to religious and cultural expression granted to other Soviet minorities. He emphasized that the gathering was not an anti-Soviet rally. “What we demand is that the Soviet authorities accord their Jewish community the same freedom to live their lives as is extended to the Armenians, the Germans and the Gypsies,” he said.
Rabbi Emantiel Rackman, past president of the New York Board of Rabbis, paraphrased Lincoln’s dictum that a government cannot endure permanently “half-slave and half-free” and urged the Soviet leadership to abolish “the last vestiges of slavery” and to restore justice and equality to the Jews as well as to other minorities in Russia.
Other speakers included Dr. Buell G. Gallagher, president of the City College of New York, Socialist leader Norman Thomas, labor leader A. Philip Randolph and Morris B. Abram, United States delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission and American Jewish Committee president.
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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.
