(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Jewish citizens in Poland who do not desire to belong to the Jewish communities and pay taxes toward the maintenance of the institutions of the communities, may declare themselves as being outside of the Jewish communities, without being compelled to accept another faith, according to a ruling of the Polish Ministry of the Interior.
The ruling was handed down in the case of a member of Jewish community in Warsaw who asked for permission to leave the Jewish community and to be freed from the payment of taxes toward the maintenance of the Jewish community’s institutions.
A difference of opinion on this subject prevailed for a long time between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education and Religions.
The Ministry of Education and Religions maintained that as long as Poland has not recognized the existence of a freethinkers’ community and has not made provision for the existence of a group of “Confesionlose” (people who have no religion) Jewish freethinkers cannot Jewish the Jewish communities.
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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.
