Sca Says All Soviet Jews Should Be Aided Regardless of Their Destination

The Synagogue Council of American (SCA), the national coordinating body for the three branches of American Judaism, has adopted a resolution reaffirming the obligation of the Jewish community to assist all Jews who emigrate from the Soviet Union regardless of their final destination, Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein, SCA president, said the group’s board adopted the resolution on the recommendation of its Task Force on Soviet Jewry headed by Rabbi Wolfe Kelman.

The SCA resolution said “it is a sacred obligation of world Jewry to encourage and facilitate the migration of Jews in the Soviet Union who seek to live in freedom.” It called on “all appropriate agencies (including the Jewish Agency. HIAS, the Joint Distribution Committee and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry) to take every measure” to encourage Jews with exit permits to Israel to go to Israel and to help Jews seeking to go to the U.S. and other countries to get exit permits.