Israel’s minister for religious affairs, Zevulun Hammer, is on his way to establish religious ties with Soviet Jewry.
Hammer, a leader of the National Religious Party, left on a one-week visit to the Soviet Union on Monday. He will sign an agreement for cooperation between the Moscow Choral Synagogue and the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem.
He is also scheduled to meet his Soviet counterpart, Yuri Mamilavnov, and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He will visit the Jewish communities in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities and will be guest of honor at a conference that will bring together representatives of 102 Jewish communities in the Soviet Union.
According to a ministerial aide, Hammer will offer Israeli material assistance to Soviet Jewish communities. In the past, this has included books, religious articles, supplies of kosher food and help to pay teachers of religious and Jewish subjects.
The Israeli minister is scheduled to lead a lesson at the Moscow yeshiva headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
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