The Jewish community in Riga, Latvia, part of the Soviet Union, has started baking matzoh in an oven in the courtyard of the synagogue in that city, according to information received here today from the USSR. The quantities being baked at Riga, the report stated, are very limited because of technical difficulties and a delay in permission being granted by the authorities.
Many Jews in Riga, according to the report, will be without matzoh as a result of the delay. The report said that the delay was caused by repeated refusals of the local authorities, but the permission was finally granted after a forceful intervention from Moscow. The baking of matzoh in Odessa started on the eve of Purim, after many interventions of the local Jewish community with the authorities, the report also stated.
One of the main problems, even in the limited number of places where permission for matzoh baking has been given, the report noted, resulted from a false impression created by the authorities during the last month. The authorities had informed Jews in charge of synagogues in Moscow and in other cities that they were going to allocate large quantities of flour for the baking of matzoh. However, this promise has not been fulfilled, and only Jews who bring their own flour are able to get matzoh.
This procedure, it was reported, has imposed difficulties on Russian Jews, since they have to acquire their own flour at very high prices on the free market. The report emphasized that the granting of final permission for matzoh baking was due to pressures exerted upon Soviet Government authorities from sources outside the USSR.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
