(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
While the Yiddish Communist press reports that anti-religious meetings were held throughout the country prior and during Yom Kippur, the synagogues in Soviet Russia’s capital were filled to capacity on the Day of Atonement.
Hundreds of Jews stood on the steps and in the street surrounding the Main Synagogue in Moscow, unable to gain admittance to the overcrowded synagogue. Young men and women were much in evidence among the worshippers. The Communist press complains that in many towns the Jewish sections of the Communist party were inactive and some members of the section even attended synagogue.
In Lubavitch, for instance, the papers report, a cantor arranged for a concert of religious songs which was attended by many, including the secretary of the local Communist party, a non-Jew.
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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.