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J. D. B. News Letter

July 17, 1929
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Jews of three countries in the Middle East are debarred from playing a part in Palestine reconstruction owing to restrictions imposed on Zionists, or non-recognition of the Zionist movement, it is learned here in connection with the election of delegates to the approaching Zurich Congress.

The governments declining so far to recognize Zionism are those of Turkey and Persia, while the recent quarrel among the Jews of Bagdad over the Chief Rabbi has had a somewhat paralyzing effect on the activities of Zionists in Iraq.

“MODESTY CAMPAIGN” IN JERUSALEM

A “modesty campaign” reminiscent of the last century in Jerusalem is being waged by a delegation from Hungary which has come to Palestine to investigate the tangled affairs of the Hungarian Jewish Congregation in Jerusalem.

The students of the “Chatam Sefer” Yeshiva (Religious College) applied for a share of the Chalukka moneys collected abroad, provoking the deputation’s reply that to qualify for any assistance the Yeshiva student must prove that his wife’s head is clean shaven. The new “ukaz” clearly lays down that “no man can have a share or place in the Yeshiva if there is even one hair on his wife’s head.” Of seventy husbands, forty are reported to have agreed to this edict, an obdurate minority of thirty remaining firm, however, in the hope of mobilizing the sympathy of the more enlightened supporters who may be less adamant on the question of the shorn locks.

In the meantime, it is reported that the delegation which had finished the investigation and was about to return to Hungary, was detained following the alleged disclosure that important papers bearing upon the results of the investigation had been purloined.

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