Jews throughout the United States devoted their Sabbath services this weekend to prayers on behalf of the Jews in the Soviet Union. The special weekend of observances on behalf of Soviet Jewry was in response to a call for prayer issued by the Synagogue Council of America and was sponsored by 24 national Jewish organizations whose combined memberships embrace the overwhelming majority of America’s estimated five and a half million Jews.
The 24 national Jewish organizations had convened last month in Washington to protest the Soviet campaign of oppression against its Soviet citizens. Rabbis throughout the country appealed in sermons for equality of religious rights for Soviet Jews and assailed such anti-Semitic manifestations as the book published by the Ukrainian Academy of Science, “Judaism Without Embellishment.”
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.