Mayor John V. Lindsay has issued a Shavuoth statement to “my fellow New Yorkers of the Jewish faith,” calling the occasion “a joyous and meaningful holiday.” He said Jewish “ethical precepts” represent the highest aspirations of man.” In another Shavuoth statement. Rabbi Joseph Karasick, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, said the holiday “symbolizes the eternal quest for human dignity and the sanctification of life.” Rabbi Zev Segal, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, said that in the spirit of Shavuoth, the United States government and “all freedom-loving people” should seek a “lasting peace” in the Middle East. Joseph Ratner, chairman of the American-Israeli Religious Cultural Society, said Israel was “a testimonial to the fact that Jewish religious law is most suitable for running a modern state in accordance with the latest findings of science, mathematics and public administration.” Shavuoth, celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan, begins tomorrow night this year. Also known as the Pentecost or the Feast of the Harvest, it comes 50 days after Passover and marks both the end of the seven-week grain-harvesting season and the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses.
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