A tax on all religious articles entering Jewish homes, the income of which is to be used to defray the maintenance costs of the Yeshivoth and Talmud Torahs in New York, was decided upon at a joint meeting called by the Federations of Yeshivoth and Talmud Torahs on Sunday at the Central Jewish Institute.
The tax is to take the form of a Torah Stamp and will be applied, first of all to matzoth designed for Passover use.
The conference decided to bake its own matzoth to be sold in competition with the product of the larger concerns. The baking of matzoth is to be entrusted to a joint committee and was undertaken, Isaac Allen, president of the Federation of Talmud Torahs explained, because the large matzoth bakers refused to co-operate.
A one cent tax is proposed on every pound of matzoth sold. Mr. Allen estimated that 8,000,000 pounds of matzoth are consumed by New York Jewry during Passover, which would net an income of $80,000 annually, if the tax were permitted.
The Joint Matzoth Committee consists of Jacob Goodman, chairman; Jacob Dunn, vice-chairman; Jacob L. Andron, secretary; C. Joshua Epstein, treasurer; Philip Jezzer, Joshua Goldman, Joseph Goldberg, Louis Gross, Leon Grill, David Werblovsky and Abraham Geritzman.
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