Nearly 2,000 singing, banner-waving college and high school students took part in a “Jericho March” here today, as part of an effort to bring down “the walls of hate and prejudice” which separate the Jewish people in Russia from their brethren the world over. The students members and associates of Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, marched in a two-block area around the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, then paraded to the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the UN. A detail of 200 policemen guarded the peaceful but colorful parade.
Two appeals were made by the group. The first, to be delivered in Washington through New York Congressman Leonard Farbstein, was an appeal to President Johnson to give the situation of Russian Jewry a prominent place in any dealings between the U. S. A. and the U. S. S. R. The other appeal was handed over to Stanley Lowell, chairman of the New York City Human Rights Commission.
Telegrams sympathizing with the marchers’ efforts were received from Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Connecticut Democrat; Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania Republican; Robert F. Kennedy, New York Democrat; and Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican. Senator Scott stated in his telegram: “If it saves one life, the United States should officially condemn Soviet persecution of persons of the Jewish faith.
Signs carried by the marchers read: “Why No Matzoh?” “I Am My Brother’s Keeper,” “Let My People Go,” and “Why No Jewish Theatre?” The marchers periodically blew rams’ horns and carried with them seven Torah scrolls loaned by several New York synagogues.
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.
