A Pittsburgh rabbi who was invited to attend the 75th birthday celebration of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin in Moscow has been denied a visa. Rabbi Bernard A. Poupko said today that an official of the Soviet consular service in Washington advised him that his application for a visa was rejected on orders from Moscow. Rabbi Poupko, who is vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, was designated by the Rabbinical Council of America as its official representative to the Moscow fete.
In London, Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits said that invitations to him and other rabbis to attend Rabbi Levin’s birthday celebration seemed to indicate a Russian desire “to repair some of the ruptures of the past.” He said, “naturally, we are very keen to respond.”
The birthday celebrations for the Chief Rabbi of Moscow’s Central Synagogue will also be attended by Rabbi Itzhak Nissim, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. He will be the first Israeli rabbi to visit the Soviet Union but no political significance is attached to his invitation, observers said. However, it was noted that the visit of the Israeli rabbi could have a significant effect on the spirits and morale of the Soviet Jewish community.
Another guest at the celebration will be Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, president of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning at Philadelphia, who spent some time in the Soviet Union microfilming the Russian Hebraic collection. Dr. Katsh disclosed today that he had received an invitation to attend the celebrations and would leave later this week.
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