The official sanction by Peter Smidovitch of October 14 as “collectivization day” has placed the Jewish colonists in a difficult position because the Day of Atonement falls on that day.
The announcement of “collectivization day” for October 14 is not connected with the anti-religious campaign of the Communists. It was set for all peasants to work towards the growth of Soviet collectivization. The Jewish colonists are disturbed because they fear the Jewish Communists will employ this as a patriotic excuse to compel the Jewish colonists to work in the fields on Yom Kippur.
The Jewish Communists’ campaign against attendance at synagogue on the High Holidays is becoming more acute. In various towns the tendency is developing to confiscate the synagogues before the festivals in order that the Jews will not be able to go to them on the holidays. Such demands were received from Leningrad and various towns in White Russia. In the meantime, pious Jews are preparing other places where they intend to pray should the Communist campaign succeed.
Communists of Minsk approached the local Soviet asking that electricity in the synagogues be cut off during the festivals, and are calling upon teachers to persuade their pupils to attend classes on the holidays as on other days.
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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.
