Discussion on the proposed government bill to change the religious law which threatens the cohesion of Jewish communities in the country and which has the vigorous opposition of all Jewish parties, was begun today in the Senate.
Chief Rabbi Niemerower, member of the Senate, in his speech against the bill, proposed the calling of an all-Roumanian Jewish conference and urged that the government respect the decisions of such a conference with regard to the law as it would affect the Jewish community. The Minister of Religions, replying to Chief Rabbi Niemerower, rejected this proposal. However, the government would agree that under the new law only Orthodox Sephardic groups would be entitled to establish separate Kehillahs, he said. The Jewish leaders rejected this proposal.
In the meantime Jewish leaders and organizations are marshalling their forces to oppose the bill. A conference of all the Jewish parties held here decided to arrange protest meetings and street demonstrations in case the government refuses to recall the measure. In Kishineff, Czernowitz and Clausenburg mass meetings are already being held.
A rabbinical delegation submitted to Prime Minister Maniu an energetic protest against the bill. Deputies of the German and Hungarian minorities will join the Jewish representatives in fighting the bill when the debate comes up in Parliament. It is also said that individual government party deputies, especially those from Bessarabia, are not satisfied with the measure. It is probable that the Bessarabian parliament bloc will oppose it.
The Roumanian press is aiding the Jewish campaign against the bill. Dr. William Filderman, in a second interview, rejected the modification proposed by the Senate Committee because it would enable individual groups (Continued on Page 4)
A solution to the difficult situation created by the government’s projected measure political problem which came up with the discovery by the police of the plot to overthrow the government.
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