Prof. Mikhail I. Zand of Moscow has acknowledged news that he has been cited by the California School of the Hebrew Union College for his scholarly achievements in Jewish studies and for upholding the rights of fellow Jews in the Soviet Union. A cable from Moscow expressing “my most cordial thanks for the great honor done to me” was received from him by Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, acting president of the college. Zand, 44, has been in trouble with the Soviet authorities because of his stand on the rights of Jews in Russia, and he was recently ousted from his post as a staff member of the Institute for Eastern Studies. His removal followed denunciation by fellow Russian educators as a “traitor” and 15 days in prison on a charge of hooliganism for leading a peaceful demonstration of 40 people in the office of the State Prosecutor in Moscow. The Jewish scholar recently requested permission for his family to emigrate to Israel, and Dr. Gottschalk said he hoped that the request would soon be granted. If so, the citation, the first of its kind ever issued by the college, would be presented to Zand at the college’s Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem.
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