Yesterday. “Small Yem Kippur” in the Jewish calendar, was observed as a day of fast and prayer by the joint action of all Orthodox Rabbinical organizations in the United States and Canada.
The synagogues were largely attended for the morning and afternoon prayers, the day having been declared as a “legal day of fast.” Contributions to the Palestine Emergency Fund were made. Only the aged and sick were exempt, according to the rabbinical decree.
Characteristic of the feelings obtaining in many Orthodox Jewish circles in connection with the Palestine events are the following paragraphs from the proclamation issued by the Knesseth Ha’ Rabbanim, Federation of Orthodox Rabbis, over the signature of Rabbi Gabriel Zev Margolies, Rabbi of Adath Israel Congregation, New York, and president of the Federation.
“As we Jews are too helpless to rely upon our own strength and as we are far from being able to rely on the protection of other peoples, there should be no misconception that ‘Assyria’ or anybody else, even those of the most civilized nations in the world, will take up the cudgels for us.
“Therefore, we have reached the conclusion, the conviction and the consciousness that ‘We have no one to depend upon but Our Father in Heaven.’ We have, first of all, to resort to our old and long tried method of proclaiming a fast, to summon all Jews to the synagogue, to fast, to cry and to mourn, to shed our tears before Our Father in Heaven.”
The fast was also proclaimed by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis in the United States and Canada.
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.
