A bill permitting limited exemption for Seventh Day Sabbatarians from the state Sunday closing law was signed into law yesterday by Governor Endicot Peabody. It permits a person who is solely in control of a business to do business on Sundays if he cannot perform any labor on Saturdays because of his religion.
The issue, in which Massachusetts Jewry appeared before many legislative hearings, has been a controversial one for several years. A similar measure was approved previously in the lower House of the Legislature last year but failed in the State Senate.
Governor Peabody was quoted as saying “I am very happy that I am signing this bill on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover.” Rabbi Dr. Samuel J. Fox, President of the Massachusetts Council of Rabbis, called the act “a most significant historic occasion which continues the tradition of freedom in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
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