Israel’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu led a prayer rally for Soviet Jewry here today. The rally, sponsored by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry (GNYCSJ), was held on the street where the Soviet Mission to the United Nations is located. A few hundred people, mostly students of Hebrew schools in the metropolitan area attended.
“We came here to protest the terrible oppression of Russian Jews,” Shapira declared. He charged that the Soviet authorities “want to liquidate the entire Jewish culture” in the Soviet Union by banning the teaching of the Hebrew language and the Jewish religion.
“There was never such a cruel attempt in history to cut an entire nation from its culture and roots,” said Shapira, whose address in Hebrew was translated to the audience. He called on world Jewry to continue its struggle on behalf of Soviet Jews. “And to our brothers and sisters in the Soviet Union I have to say this: Be brave because we are with you.”
Eliyahu, also addressing the rally in Hebrew, said that the more the Soviet Jews are oppressed the more they remain alive and determined to remain Jewish. He called on the Soviet Union to let the Jews come to Israel. “The Soviet Union and all other nations who cannot tolerate their Jews, send them to us, to Israel, we will accept them with love.”
EFFORTS TO AID SOVIET JEWS MUST CONTINUE
Herbert Kronish, chairman of the GNYCSJ told the gathering: “The Soviets have once again targeted a captain of Jewish culture in hopes of stifling the Jewish spirit. The 12-year sentence imposed on emigration activist losif Begun is an affront to those of us who share the belief in basic human rights. And now we are witnessing the provocation against Prisoner of Conscience Lev Elbert.” He said that in the face of the crisis situation facing Soviet Jewry, efforts on their behalf must be increased.
Many at the rally carried placards calling for the release of Begun, Ida Nudel and Anatoly Shcharansky. The rally was concluded with a delivery of a letter from the Chief Rabbis, addressed to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov. The letter, which urged the release of Begun, Shcharansky and Elbert, was not accepted at the door of the Soviet Mission and was left on the doorsteps of the Mission.
Shapira and Eliyahu are currently on a 10-day-visit to the United States. They arrived here last Thursday to meet with leaders of Orthodox Judaism in America.
In a reception on their behalf given by the Rabbinical Council of America at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, the two Chief Rabbis said they intended to discuss with their American counterparts issues of “high importance,” such as conversion and matters of personal status like marriage and divorce. The Chief Rabbis were honored last night at a reception tendered by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.
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