“The Matzah of Hope,” a special prayer prepared by the Synagogue Council of America to be recited at the Seder table during the celebration of Passover next month, is being distributed by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Greater New York Conference, it was announced today. The pamphlet containing the prayer, in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, urges Jewish families to recite it at the Seder “so that the Jews of the Soviet Union may know they have not been forgotten.”
Richard Maass, chairman of the NCSJ, said this was the second year in which the Synagogue Council prepared a special Passover prayer for the NCSJ. He said the addition to the traditional Passover ritual was most appropriate because Russian Jews, “oppressed as Jews, are a tragic living reminder that in every generation Jews must recall that they came out of Egyptian bondage to freedom.”
Stanley Lowell, chairman of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, said that “In Jewish households on Passover throughout the New York area there will be four matzot. The three traditional ones plus one which will not be eaten but will serve as a reminder of the plight of our brethren in the Soviet Union. The “Matzah of Hope” prayer begins with the words. “This matzah which we set aside as a symbol of hope for the Jews of the Soviet Union reminds us of the indestructible Iinks that exist between us.”
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