Chief Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin of Moscow was eulogized today by Israeli religious leaders. Most of them contended that he had done his best to preserve Jewish identity in Russia in the face of overwhelming official hostility. Dr. Zerach Warhaftig, Minister of Religious Affairs, cabled condolences to Moscow’s Jewish community. Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Issar Yehuda Unterman called Rabbi Levin “a man in a trap.” Rabbi Mordechai Hankin, former secretary of the Moscow Jewish community, labelled Rabbi Levin a tragic figure, recalling that after the 1956 Sinai campaign Rabbi Levin was forced to read a sermon excoriating Israeli Premier David Ben-Gurion and “the one-eyed devil”–Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Dayan. Rabbi Levin read the sermon, Rabbi Hankin said, but with tears in his eyes.
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