A Soviet invitation extended to Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Itzhak Nissim to attend the 75th birthday celebration of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Levin of Moscow’s Central Synagogue next Sunday was apparently a propaganda ploy. There seems to be no intention on the part of Soviet authorities to admit Rabbi Nissim to the Soviet Union. A spokesman for the Chief Rabbi said that a Soviet visa had still not been granted by today. As a result. Rabbi Nissim’s reservations on a flight to Moscow today was cancelled. The flight was to have landed him in the Soviet capital before the Sabbath. The visa was sought from the Soviet Embassy at Nicosia, Cyprus, where an emissary of the Chief Rabbi went yesterday but returned today empty-handed.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
