A delegation of three non-Jewish peasants representing a group of 1,500 peasants in Polesia, Poland, appeared today before the Warsaw Rabbinate and asked the Rabbinate to send them three religious Jews qualified to circumcize their children, in accordance with the Jewish ritual.
“Our group feels like Jews,” the delegation explained. “We pray three times each day. We do not eat treif. We observe all the Jewish laws.”
The Rabbinate promised the delegation to consider its request. The peculiar pro-Jewish religious movement among the peasants of Polesia, the Polish district adjoining the Soviet, has provoked great interest and puzzlement in government circles. The movement is termed by official as the “New Jews” movement. Its leader is Olga Krilitchuck, a peasant woman.
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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.
