French Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan, today called on all Jewish parents not to send their children to school on the opening of the scholastic year, Sept. 15, which falls on Yom Kippur. In an official communique, the Chief Rabbi also deplored the government’s refusal to postpone the forthcoming school year by one day to enable Jewish children to attend.
The communique was released after Rabbi Kaplan and the president of the French Central Consistory, Baron Alain de Rothschild, appealed in vain to the Minister of Education and other top officials asking them to change the school opening day. The Ministry of Education, which fixes the start of the school year for all establishments in the country, refused to change the date but officially authorized Jewish students and teachers to start school one day late this year.
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