The office of Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nassim reported today it had received a New Year’s message from Chief Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin of Moscow. The message, which was typewritten in Hebrew, contained a prayer for peace. In reply, Rabbi Nissim extended greetings to the Jewish community in the Soviet Union.
Israel’s hundreds of synagogues were crowded on Rosh Hashanah, including the 700 houses of worship in Tel Aviv. All 1,1600 seats in the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv, the largest in Israel, were filled.
President Zalman Shazar received members of the diplomatic corps who came to extend New Year’s greetings. Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Bodrov, the dean of the corps, conveyed the diplomats’ greetings. Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, was present.
Virtually Israel’s entire population appeared to be on the move as Jews used every available means of transport to visit friends and relatives over the High Holy Day weekend. In many towns, and villages, public auditoriums and school halls were converted into temporary synagogues.
The Chaplains Corps of the armed forces provided all camps and other military installations with ritual articles. The Corps also prepared special consignments of Lulav and Estrog sets to be sent to Israeli missions abroad and to Jewish personnel of United States forces serving in bases outside the United States for the Succoth holiday. The provisions to American Jewish servicemen were made by special arrangement with the National Jewish Welfare Board of the United States.
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