Soviet authorities have provided religious Jews in the U.S.S.R. with matzohs and will assist them in observing Passover, Samuel Chobrutsky, chairman of the Moscow Jewish community, said here today.
In Moscow, Chobrutsky revealed, matzohs are sold in the state food stores at reasonable prices. The unleavened bread is baked under the supervision of Rabbi I. Shliffer. Besides government bakeries a number of private matzoh baking factories are supplying the Jews, and Chobrutsky estimated that a sufficient quantity would be baked to supply all the Jews in the city.
He also reported that in many cities, including Odessa, Riga, Kharkov, Kiev, Tashkent, and Kuibyshew, matzoh baking has already been completed. Reports to the Jewish community here from Jewish religious communities throughout the Ukraine and Belorussia tell of assistance rendered the Jews by local Soviet authorities.
The reports also cite aid received in rebuilding synagogues and re-establishing religious life in Kiev, Zhitomir, Odessa, Riga and other towns. The writers point out that life is becoming more normal for the Jews, and that, together with their non-Jewish neighbors, they are participating in rehabilitation of the towns, in various industries and in scientific institutions.
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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.