A French-Jewish periodical proposed yesterday that the traditional prayer for the Republic, recited in synagogues on the Sabbath and the High Holidays, be altered to reflect Jewish chagrin over the French Government’s anti-Israel stand. But Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan said he could not agree to any changes although he sympathized with the sentiments that prompted the suggestion. According to an editorial in La Tribune Juive, the text of the prayer should read, “May France enjoy lasting peace and resume her glorious position among the nations” instead of “maintain her glorious position.” The editorial also suggested that French politicians hostile to Israel should not be invited to attend patriotic and memorial services in synagogues. Rabbi Kaplan had no comment on that proposal. The Chief Rabbi attacked France’s arms embargo against Israel at memorial services in the Great Synagogue today for the victims of the Auschwitz death camp. He said “None of us should forget the painful truth that Israel is in perpetual danger and the embargo only hurts it more.”
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