The Jewish War Veterans of the United States has mailed Russian-Hebrew Haggadot to nine Soviet Jewish refuseniks who are veterans of World War II.
At a press conference on the steps of the Capitol this week, Edwin Goldwasser, the JWV’s national commander, appealed to the Soviet government to allow delivery of the Haggadot in keeping with recent promises to allow dissemination of religious material.
Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R. NY) read an appeal to Soviet authorities, which noted that it was sending them one of the Haggadot. “We hope that reading it will assist you in understanding the great desire of Soviet Jews to practice their religious heritage and be repatriated to their historic homeland, Israel.”
The refuseniks who were send Haggadot are: Lev Ovsischer, Naum Rabinovitch, Benyamin Lifshitz, Arkady May, Leonid Menes, Solomon Inditsky, Semyon Yantovsky, Lev Elbert and Mark Belenkov.
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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.