Chief Rabbi Rene Sirat of France has received a formal invitation to visit the Soviet Union and plans to go next spring — if he gets a visa.
The invitation, which said it was extended by “rabbis in the Soviet Union,” was delivered to Sirat by a Soviet diplomat Sunday. The diplomat told reporters Sunday that the Soviet authorities would do everything they can to facilitate his trip and his stay in the USSR.
Sirat was invited to the Soviet Union by the Chief Rabbi of Moscow in 1981, shortly after his election as Chief Rabbi of France. Sirat told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time that he planned to visit Moscow “as soon as circumstances permit,” meaning as soon as he received visas for himself and his party. He applied several times during the last three years for a Soviet visa, without success.
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.
