While the Soviet Union ban on the baking of Matzoth remains in force selected private parcel service firms in the United States, Canada and Israel were reported today to have been licensed by the Soviet Parcel Trading Organization to accept matzoh parcels for relatives in the Soviet Union on a commercial basis.
Soviet commercial attache in the United States, Eugene S. Shershev, today said that in the United States five firms are licensed to accept such parcels. He named those firms as the Central Parcel Service, Chicago; Globe Parcel Service, New York and Philadelphia; Package Express and Travel Agency, Brooklyn; Union Tours Parcel Service, New York; and Cosmos Parcels Express Corporation.
In Israel, the Peltours Company, which serves as the agency in Israel for the Soviet Intourist Corporation, said today that it had received a cable from Moscow permitting the sending of parcels of matzoth to relatives in the Soviet Union. The cable indicated that senders abroad may pay customs duties at the point of shipment so that recipients will not have to pay such charges.
Jack E. Levine, chairman of the social action committee of the Free Sons of Israel, charged today that a number of packages sent privately last year to Soviet Jews had “disappeared.” He said “a few” of the parcels did get through.
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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.
