Soviet Embassy in Canada Receives Rabbinical Delegation

A rabbinical delegation, representing the First All-Canadian Rabbinic Conference held in Ottawa in January, called on the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa today and was received by A. Popow, first counsellor of the USSR Embassy and M. Gregorovitch, second counsellor. The Rabbinical Conference was held under the auspices of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

There was a two-hour exchange of views on the position of the Jews in Russia in line with the concern expressed at the Rabbinical Conference that the Jews in Russia are denied the rights which are accorded to other religious groups and nationalities and are prevented from pursuing a collective Jewish life.

The delegation also discussed the appeal made at the conference to the Soviet authorities to allow Jews to practice their religion; to foster their tradition, culture and language; to allow the production of sacred books and articles; to permit communication between Soviet Jewry and their brethren elsewhere and to allow Jews to be reunited with their families in other lands from whom they have been separated as a result of the war holocaust.

The delegation pointed out that this would be in keeping with the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Soviet Constitution. The rabbinical delegation also expressed the desire to send a rabbinic mission to visit with rabbis in Russia and asked permission to send religious articles to Jews in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet officials referred to the official Soviet publication in Canada, “Soviet Union Today,” March issue, which contains an article entitled, “Rabbi Honored in Moscow,” dealing with the 35th anniversary of the Moscow Synagogue and Rabbi Natan Clevsky’s 90th birthday. The article points out that Olevsky’s son and grandson are both atheists. The magazine also contains an article “Soviet Jews Need No Foreign Protection” which attempts to retute the points made by the First Canadian Rabbinic Conference, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

The rabbinic delegation comprised Rabbi S.M. Zambrowsky of Montreal, chairman of the National Religious Welfare Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress; Rabbi Stuart Osenberg of Toronto; and Dr. Samuel Lewin of Montreal, secretary of the National Religious Welfare Committee.

Rabbi Zambrowsky, who headed the delegation, summed up the visit by stating: “We can only reiterate what we said at the Rabbinic Conference that we ask for no special privileges for the Jews in Russia. All we wish for is that they be treated no differently from other groups in Russia; so that they may form part of the Jewish people and its ancient religious and cultural tradition. We want no part in the cold war. Our concern is purely brotherly, our interest who.’ly human. It transcends all political considerations and is based exclusively on the universal concept of brotherhood of man and peace.”