The World Hebrew Union is preparing Hebrew language textbooks that Israelis can send to friends and relatives in the Soviet Union who want to teach themselves Hebrew. According to Prof. Aryeh Tartakower, chairman of the Union which promotes Hebrew-speaking among Jews all over the world, more than 1500 texts have been sent to Russia by Israelis and at least half of them have been received by the addressees. Prof. Tartakower said he didn’t think any harm could come to the Jews who received the books. “We were acting on the word of the former Russian Ambassador to Israel, Dimitri Chubakhin who, just before Russia severed relations with Israel (in 1967), stated that there was no legal obstacle to Soviet citizens receiving Hebrew books.” That, said Tartakower, “was sort of a go-ahead” for the project. He claimed that a quarter of a million Russian Jews listen to Hebrew language courses broadcast by the Israel Radio’s overseas service. According to Tartakower and his deputy, Chaim Levanon, the report of the wide audience for the Hebrew broadcasts came from “trustworthy” sources.
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