A salon in the S. S. Kosciuszko yesterday was consecrated as a synagogue by a group of orhodox rabbis who presented the liner with the Holy Sroll, Safer Hatorah. Ceremonies were simple and impressive.
The Kosciuszko was anchored off the Thirty-ninth street pier in Brooklyn and will sail for Gdynia, Poland, this morning. A majority of its passengers are Jewish.
AWAIT CAMERAMAN
Rabbi David Levine, of the Stockton talmud Torah, Brooklyn, opened the scroll and inscribed the first line of Genesis and the last line of Malachi, according to an old custom which ordains that the law be written in the house of prayer where it is to be used.
Surrounding Rabbi Levine during the ceremony were Rabbi Samuel A. Ruben, Rabbi Schmul Zwei Rosengarted, Rabbi Schmul Zwei rosengarten, Rabbi Meyer Suchman, Rabbi Moshe Jehude Kaplan, Rabbi Simcha Leib Schatz, Rabbi Zwei Wolf Greenberg and Rabbi Chaim JRuben. Rabbi Ruben officiated.
Chief Cantor Israel Breeg, of the rumanian American Congregation share Shomanyin, 54 St. Mark’s place, sang. Rabbi Samuel A. Bubin, managing director of the Talmudical encyclopedia Publishing Company, officiated.
Rabbi Enoch Stavatychki, who is spiritual adviser for Jewish pasengers on board the S. S. Kosciuszko, officially accepted the Torah and announced that Sabbath services will be held reguarly. In the past, he said, worshippers gathered on the promenade deck when weather permited. Henceforh, he said, the services will be designed for larger congregations and formal worship.
PROBLEM OF THREE FAITHS
There was some difficulty in deciding where the scroll was to be placed. The ship has no single room in which Jewish services can be held to the exclusion of all other activities. Captain Borkoski told The Bulletin that a great many Catholic passengers use the Kosciusko and they celebrate mass in the same room where on Saturday Jews congregated for their own worship. He admitted that it might be embarrassing to sing High Holy Mass in a room where the Holy torah was lodge.
But the captain said he remembered an army post where a similar situation confronted soldiers of three faiths, and the Roman Catholics were not amiss, he said, to hold communion in the room where Jews worshipped. The Catholic chaplain on board could not be reached for comment.
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