Soviet Envoy Sent Complaint by Jewish Writer Arrested for ‘littering’ Embassy

A member of the Jews for Urban Justice has sent a letter to Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin protesting his arrest on July 24 on charges of “depositing trash” at the Soviet Embassy. Arthur Waskow, who is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies here, said that he had placed material protesting Soviet mistreatment of Russian Jews “carefully on the floor inside your door because your officials had refused to discuss the matter with us.”

Mr. Waskow said in his letter that the material he had left at the Embassy consisted of criticism by American radical groups of the Soviet Union for its treatment of Russian Jews. He said in his letter that he intended to continue his efforts “for radical transformations of both Soviet and American societies, in such ways as to liberate the Jewish people to be themselves.”

In a related development, Jews for Urban Justice was criticized by Rabbi Harry J. Kaufman, president of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of Washington for a demonstration on the steps of the capitol, described by the organization as a Tisha B’av service. Citing an account of the demonstration in the Jewish Week of Washington which mentioned guitar and oboe accompaniment. Rabbi Kaufman said the demonstration was “sadly and regretfully reminiscent of the Jewish leftist depredations of 50 years ago, in sponsoring mock Yom Kippur Balls on Kol Nidre night.”

Rabbi Kaufman also said, in a formal statement, that Tisha B’av “is most decidedly not a tool for political dilettantism and hackneyed gimmickry” and he urged avoidance of “sensational posturing and self-deluding exploitation of our hallowed traditions by the pretentiousness of Civil Rights Seder circuses and Tisha B’av tune-ins.” He asserted that “the true meaningfulness” of the Holy Days was “ill-served by those who would tamper with its transcendent character to serve any one public issue, no matter how well intentioned or motivated.”