A drama replete with pathos was enacted in the municipal court here today as Sonia Mason, a 19-year-old girl, was disowned by her pious father, Bilba Magarchack, beadle in a local synagogue, for her Communistic activities. The sensation became even greater when in reply to a question from the district attorney he admitted he was also a rabbi.
Wearing a skull cap, he took the oath and admitted that the girl was his daughter Haia. When she was arrested she told the police that her parents were dead and gave no hint of her family connections. Her tear-filled eyes were glued to the floor as her aged father, with tears welling up in his eyes, broke his daughter’s defiant attitude.
“She is no longer my daughter,” he declared. “I had a daughter named Haia but she is Sonia Mason.” The father was a surprise witness for the prosecution. When she was arrested for inciting to riot the newspapers featured her as the daughter of a rabbi. Her radical tendencies are said to have created a conflict in her family.
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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.
