Orthodox Rabbi Raps U.S. Soviet Jewry Groups for the Way They Have Handled Soviet Matzoh Ban

A prominent American Orthodox rabbi was sharply critical today of the methods employed by American Jewish organizations active on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Rabbi Pinchas Teitz, of Elizabeth, N.J., claimed the methods were “wrong” that they “defeated the purpose” and “do a disservice to Russian Jews” resulting in such acts as the Soviet ban on the shipment of matzoh parcels to Jews from abroad.

Addressing a press conference at the Roosevelt Hotel here, Teitz named two organizations, Al-Tidom and the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry (GNYCSJ). He said the restrictions on matzoh parcels from abroad was the response by Soviet authorities to the political campaign that Jewish organizations in the West are waging on behalf of Soviet Jews.

“The matzohs became a political message,” he said, adding “We use a religious article and wrap it in a political wrapper.” He said he was opposed to using religious symbols in the struggle for Soviet Jews.

CLAIMS AMPLE SUPPLIES

Teitz indicated that most Soviet Jews would have ample supplies of matzohs for the Passover holiday. He said he spoke by telephone last night to Shalom Kleinman, president of the Moscow Synagogue, who informed him that the Soviet authorities increased the allotment of flour for baking matzohs this year and reduced the price for a package of matzohs from 2.5 to 2 rubles. He said that as of yesterday, Jews in Moscow had already baked over a quarter million pounds of matzohs and that the Jewish communities in Leningrad, Kiev, Riga, Vilna and Tashkent received increased allotments of matzoh flour.

He said, however, that Jews in smaller communities in the USSR might be denied matzohs because they have always relied on parcels from abroad. He said these Jews were not aware of the ban and so might not seek supplies from other Jewish communities in the Soviet Union.

Teitz disclosed that he himself sent 1000 pounds of matzohs to Soviet Jews and the parcels were received without interference. He said he would send another 1000 pounds in the next few days. Asked why the ban did not apply to his shipments, Teitz replied, “I sent it as a religious item and you can understand it as you want.” He appeared to be intimating that the Soviets were prepared to allow shipments that had no political strings.

ORGANIZATIONS RESPOND TO TEITZ

Responding to Teitz’s statement, Rabbi Walter Wurzburger, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, in conjunction with the GNYCSJ, said the Soviet ban on the importation of matzoh “cannot be seen in isolation” but “is part of a mounting campaign against the Jewish people in the Soviet Union launched in the last few months.” They referred to the recent allegations in the Soviet government newspaper Izvestia that Jewish activists were working for the CIA, the showing of anti-Semitic films in the USSR and the threat of “new show trials” of Soviet Jews.

They stated that “Soviet Jews ask us to maintain Western pressure against all these attacks and to continue to be forthright despite Soviet attempts to intimidate the Soviet Jews and their millions of friends around the world.”

With respect to matzoh baked in the Soviet Union, Wurzburger and the GNYCSJ said it had “no assurance” that they “would ever reach Jews in the many medium and small-sized cities and towns throughout the Soviet Union” or that “they will be made freely available to Jews living in cities where they are being baked.”

Rabbi Chayim Levin issued a similar statement on behalf of Al-Tidom. Rejecting “all allegations that matzos sent to the Soviet Union were or are being used as a political issue,” he cautioned, “Before we rejoice at the fact that the 1000 pounds of shmurah matzoh shipped by Rabbi Teitz reached the Soviet Union, we must and will ascertain whether or not these packages will actually be distributed gratis to 1000 Orthodox families or whether they will suffer the same fate as other religious articles shipped to the synagogue officials” in Moscow.