Jews in countries behind the Iron Curtain observed Yom Kippur at synagogue services, according to reports reaching here from Moscow, Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest.
The Great Synagogue in Moscow was crowded on Yom Kippur eve with worshippers, including many young people. Jewish members of a number of foreign embassies, as well as the staff of the Israel embassy attended the services. A number of Jewish tourists from the United States and Britain were also seen during the Kol Nidri prayer in the Moscow synagogue.
The Moscow radio, on the other hand, chose Yom Kippur eve to broadcast a bitter attack on world Jewry by the Grand Mufti of the Syrian region of the United Arab Republic. The broadcast, transmitted in Arabic to Arab nations, said that “the Jews are kindling evil among nations.” It claimed that “the Jews are pushing the followers of Jesus into a terrible war” and accused Israel of “stealing the country from other people whom she has turned into refugees.”
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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.