The conference of the Rabbinical Council of America, an Orthodox group, today voiced an appeal “to all governors and state legislator a” to liberalize the rigors of Sunday laws and to take measures to this effect during the 1964 legislative sessions.
The appeal was made by Rabbi Paul Levovitz, chairman of the conference, at the closing session of the parley. He asked the governors and their legislatures to make it possible for “the Jewish Sabbath to be observed as a day of spiritual observance for Jews, in the same manner that Sunday is a day set aside for the rights of Christians to practice their faith.”
“Sabbath observers,” he declared, “are being subjected to ever greater pressures, hardships and abuses in their varied economic enterprises. It is eminently unjust and unfair to require Orthodox Jews to cease operating their commercial undertakings for two days, thereby lessening their opportunities in the economic field and unduly burdening their prospects for an adequate livelihood.”
Rabbi Dr. Kalman Kahane, Deputy Minister of Education in the Israel Government, speaking at the conference, said: “The continued spiritual existence of the Jewish communities in America and elsewhere hinges upon the existence of Israel as the spiritual, cultural and religious center of world Jewry. It is, therefore, important that closer links be established between the exiled Jewish communities and that of Israel which will ensure a continuous flow of exchange of students and educators between the two centers.”
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.
