More than 5,000 persons filled Manhattan Center today and police estimated that some 8,000 persons gathered outside the huge meeting hall to hold a prayer rally for Soviet Jewry, The Police Department had to close off the street to vehicular traffic to accommodate the overflow crowd. The peaceful demonstration, sponsored by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of America and Canada and Moetzis Gedolei Hatorah, included both the Orthodox and non-Orthodox, The only banner in evidence hug above the podium and read: “God will save us. The King will answer the day we call to Him.” Rabbi Nathan Bulman of Young Israel of Far Rockaway (N. Y.) declared: “We lift our voices in prayer for the sake of our brethren in Russia… We pray that God raise the Iron Curtain and save our brothers and sisters.” A message to Soviet Jewry by the leaders of the rally said in part: “May the God of our fathers strengthen you in your hour of crisis, You are not alone, We are with you.” At one point there was a cry of “Never again!,” the slogan of the Jewish Defense League, by a man who was quickly silenced by others. Among those groups participating were Agudath Israel of America and Torah Umesorah. (In London, 90 more members of both houses of Parliament have endorsed the appeal for Soviet Jewry issued by the Board of Jewish Deputies, bringing the total to 210.)
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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.
