(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Rabbi Zirelson, the aged leader of Bessarabian Jews, was summoned by General Skerishoriana, Military Commandant of the city of Kishineff, to explain his address in the Kishineff municipal council which caused the protest of the Roumanian councillors. The Roumanian members demanded that Rabbi Zirelson be excluded from the council because of his address, which was construed to be disloyal to the Roumanian state.
The conversation between the General and the Rabbi lasted for an hour. Rabbi Zirelson, it is understood, repeated his address to the General. He explained that the Kishincff municipal executive appointed 28 commissions without consulting the members and that the executive decided on a system of high taxation at a time when Bessarabia is living through a severe crisis. The action of the municipality was anti-constitutional and it was for this reason that he exclaimed in his address: “Down with dictatorship, down with absolutism,” the Rabbi said.
At the conclusion of the interview. General Skerishorianu declared that he was satisfied with the explanation of Rabbi Zirelson. The speech having referred to local matters, there is no reason to see in it any insult to the Roumanian state, the General stated.
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.
