Twenty-five Jews in Wilna, capital of Soviet Lithuania, have sent condolences to the Israeli Knesset on last week’s death of Speaker Reuben Barkatt, who was a Lithuanian Jew, Jewish sources reported today. “We mourn the death of a great son of the Jewish people, who dedicated his life to the Jewish State,” the 25 wrote. “From faraway Lithuania, from the city of Wilna, we send our condolences to the family, the Knesset and the Jewish people.”
Meanwhile, sources said, 25 Moscow Jews have appealed to American and European Jewish communities to help prevent future incidents like the recent harassments of Jews by the police outside the Moscow synagogue on the night of the first Passover seder this year. According to the sources, 400 Jewish boys and girls refused to leave the synagogue area and were dispersed by the police, only to reassemble near a martyrs’ monument.
They were then attacked by the officials, suffering injuries, and 30 of them were arrested and later released. On the second seder night, fewer Jews attended synagogue; all of them were told to go inside, and were dispersed after the services. The synagogue is now surrounded by mobile fences set up by the police to discourage crowds.
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