Exodus March to Dramatize Plight of Soviet Jewry Expected to Attract Thousands

Thousands of people from the metropolitan area are expected to participate in the Exodus March for Soviet Jewry on Sunday according to spokesmen for the sponsoring groups which include the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, the Center for Russian Jewry and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Rabbi Hershel Schacter, president of the AJCSJ, said the march will begin with a brief ceremony at the Soviet Mission and then proceed to the United Nations headquarters. In addition to signs demanding freedom for Soviet Jews to practice and teach their religion and culture, the marchers will carry placards containing the names of those Soviet Jews who have signed petitions and letters of protest to the Soviet government demanding the right to leave Russia and go to Israel. In a statement to the press, Rabbi Norman Lamm. Chairman of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, said;

“By carrying the placards, we pay tribute to our brethren who have placed their lives in jeopardy by publicly stating their names and addresses on their letters of protest to the Soviet government. In the shadow of the UN we shall read these names and arouse the moral conscience of the world.” At the conclusion of the ceremony, seven shofars will sound seven blasts (the symbolism of Biblical Jericho), signalling the commencement of the March down Lexington Avenue to the United Nations. The key speakers will be Senator Jacob K. Javits, Arthur Goldberg and Theodore C. Sorensen, who recently returned from the USSR. The SSSJ and its adult counterpart. The Center for Russian Jewry, in urging massive Jewish community support, said that “the March was the most direct way of showing that American Jews care.” This demonstration will coincide with many rallies throughout the United States and around the world.