The Soviet news agency Tass today disseminated from Moscow the text of a “message of thanks” by Rabbi David Hollander, leader of a delegation sent by the Rabbinical Council of America to the Soviet Union to study conditions of Jewish life there. The message was addressed to Moscow’s Chief Rabbi Solomon Shliefer. It reads, in the Tass transmission, as follows:
“A thousand thanks to Your Honor for the great friendship, assistance and understanding which you displayed toward us during our visit to your country. We ask you to convey to the leaders of the government of the splendid land of the USSR our gratitude for the opportunity to visit rabbis, communities and other brother Jews.
“We were very touched by the feeling of friendship and brotherhood displayed toward us by all USSR citizens, irrespective of their religion and nationality. We were glad to see that many of the older generation are faithful to the Torah, and we ask God that, before long, many young Jews would come nearer to our Torah. We hope that our visit will have a favorable effect on mutual understanding between peoples and the triumph of peace throughout the world.”
(In New York, in an, article published today in the Journal-American by Rabbi Hollander and Rabbi Gilbert Klaperman, another member of the delegation, the two rabbis declare: “Anti-Semitism could be dealt a mortal blow if Bulganin and khrushchev would commit themselves against it and communicate their views to the man in the street and to lower echelons of bureaucratic administrations. Significantly, the average Russian citizen has heard nothing on the subject directly from the lips of his leaders.”)
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