Israel’s Chief Rabbi Arrives in U.s.; Stresses Israel’s Peace Desire

Israel’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman expressed his hope here this evening that the religious ties between Israel and American Jewry might be strengthened. He made that statement upon his arrival from Israel for a two-week visit to the United States.

Addressing the press at the John F. Kennedy international airport, the Israeli rabbinical dignitary said also that he hoped his visit in this country would strengthen the ties between Israel and the U.S.A. This visit is the chief rabbi’s third to this country. His chief purpose for the visit, he said, is to speak, next Sunday night, at the annual national dinner of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.

Among those who met him at the airport were Michael Arnon, Israel’s Consul-General in New York, and Moses I. Feurstein, president of the Orthodox congregational body, and a number of leading American Orthodox rabbis. Mayor John V. Lindsay was represented in the greeting ceremonies by Bud Palmer, City Commissioner of Special Events. A reenforced police guard accompanied a large cavalcade which was formed to take the chief rabbi to New York.

In a statement at the airport, Chief Rabbi Unterman declared: “The main ideal of our people is to live in peace and in harmony, and in close friendship with all our neighbors. We cherish the hope that our neighbors will abandon their dreams of waging war against us, and will understand that we shall bring also great advantages to them when they respond to the hand that is outstretched to them in peace and in friendship.” In answer to a question as to whether conditions were better for the Jewish people in Russia than they were two years ago, Rabbi Unterman said: “Only slightly.”