Katz Reports Kiev Jews Have No Matzoh; Raps Moscow Restrictions

The synagogue of Kiev, capital of the Ukraine, has been refused permission by the Soviet authorities in that city to bake matzoh for this year’s Passover, Label Katz, chairman of the steering committee of the American Conference on Soviet Jewry announced here today. The conference represents 24 major national Jewish civic, religious and Zionist organizations. In a report sent to the conference, Mr. Katz, who is also president of B’nai B’rith, said that these developments are “alarming and once again offer concern for the entire Jewish community.”

“I have just learned,” he said “that the local authorities of Kiev have rejected the request of the synagogue in that city for permission to bake matzoh.” “The ban on the baking of matzoh extends to the entire Ukraine, where some 37 percent of all Soviet Jews live.”

Mr. Katz said that the reported provisions for the baking of matzoh in Moscow and Leningrad, which was granted by the Soviet authorities to the Jewish communities there, “appears to be for fairly adequate quantities–through it is still too early to be certain of the latter.” He said that the American Jewish Conference “welcomed this relaxation of the virtually total ban of recent years. We consider this action the result of our consistent protests against this discrimination and our systematic efforts to reveal the true state of affairs.”

Mr. Katz, on the other hand, expressed alarm at what he termed the “confusing picture” on the baking of matzoh with which the Jewish community throughout the world is confronted.” “Approximately one month before the holiday,” he said, “we learn that restrictions in some parts of the country have once again been imposed by the Soviet authorities. This gives us little time and opportunity to provide direct supplies of matzoh and other Passover provisions to our fellow Jews for a holiday which begins April 16.” He said also that he was “deeply disturbed at the techniques used in granting permission for the baking of matzoh in Moscow and Leningrad.” He added that both of the cities are the centers for foreign correspondents and visitors.

To obtain matzohs in those cities, he said, “an individual must bring his own flour to the synagogue, stand in line, register his name for the order and then is informed when he may return to pick up the finished product.” He criticized the method of registering the names of individuals who desire to have matzoh basked as “subjecting them to the official observation of the authorities and the Soviet police.”

USSR SEEN RENEGING ON PROMISES; SPECIFIC SOVIET STEPS SUGGESTED

“According to our sources,” Mr. Katz said, “matzoh in Moscow cost between 75 cents and 85 cents, compared to between 35 cents and 45 cents in New York City. This in itself is, in the Soviet context, an inhibiting factor in the purchase of matzoh, since incomes and standards of living are far lower than those in our own country. Were the authorities to supply the flour and produce and sell the matzoh, the ultimate cost to the potential consumer would be much lower than it actually is.” He reminded the members of the American Conference on Soviet Jewry that the Soviet authorities “have not fulfilled earlier promises made to set aside sufficient quantities of flour for the baking of matzoh.”

Mr. Katz stated that he hoped it was not too late for the American Jewish Conference to “appeal to the Soviet authorities to rectify the situation as far as possible.” He said that the Soviet government should:

“1. Authorize every Jewish community throughout the country, especially in such a city as Kiev with substantial Jewish population, to bake matzoh freely;

“2. Make flour available directly to the synagogues and the bakeries, rather than to require each individual Jew to bring his own flour.

“3. Eliminate the practice of forcing individuals to list their names.

“4. Arrange for the production and sale of matzoh outside the framework of the synagogues, as was done prior to 1962–so that unaffiliated Jews who desire to observe the historic festival of Passover which symbolizes religious freedom, may do so without hindrance.”

Mr. Katz concluded that “if, at this late date.” the Soviet Government cannot provide matzoh for the 3,000,000 Jews in sufficient quantities, then it should communicate with the Jewish leaders in various parts of the world so that “we may have an ample opportunity to send emergency plane loads of Passover provisions.”