More than 1,000 Montreal Jews took part in a vigil today opposite the Soviet Consulate here to mark the World Day of Solidarity for Peace and Soviet Jewry.
The morning prayers started at 8 a.m. in front of the Consulate with the students of the Hebrew Academy, a day high school, and ended with the evening service at 3 p.m. led by Rabbi Joshua Schmidemann, the director of the Herzliya day high school. About 100 students from the two schools took part.
Also participating were some 20 Montreal personalities, Jewish and non-Jewish, including Herbert Marx, member of the Quebec Provincial Assembly; Dean Andrew Hutchinson and Rev. Alex Farquajr of the Dominion Douglas Church; Fred Smith, chairman of the Interfaith Task Force for Soviet Jewry of Montreal; Father Barry Jones, a representative of the Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal; Alan Rose, executive vice president of the Canadian Jewish Congress; Barry Levy, professor of Jewish studies at McGill University; and Rabbi Sidney Schoham of Beth Zion Synagogue.
All the speakers stressed the importance of solving the human rights in the Soviet Union, including the rights of emigration for Soviet Jews to Israel.
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