One of Ukraine’s two chief rabbis joined prayers for victims of the Stalin-era Great Famine.
Bleich, however, refused to jointly conduct a prayer with other religious leaders in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Kiev.
“Christian and Muslim leaders jointly conducted the service and prayed but Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich refused, referring to the Shabbat,†Dr. Aleksandr Sagan, minister for nationalities and religions in Ukraine, told JTA.
Among other commemorations Saturday, religious leaders addressed 44 foreign delegations, including the presidents of Georgia, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as representatives of international organizations and religious leaders who attended an international forum.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko thanked the 13 countries that have recognized the Holodomor as an act of genocide, and a number of international organizations that have denounced the Holodomor as a crime against humankind.
Russia has refused to recognize Holodomor as genocide, while Israel is still considering Yushchenko’s call to recognize it as such.
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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.
