Lindsay Extends Chanukah Greetings

Wishing New Yorkers “a most happy and healthy Chanukah,” Mayor John V. Lindsay issued a statement today comparing the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union and in Arab lands to oppression inflicted upon Jews during the time of the Maccabees. He said the spirit of the Maccabees is very much alive, however, both amongst Jews in the Soviet Union and in Israel where “their modern Maccabees stand ready to defend and safeguard their land against those who would destroy it.”

Meanwhile, Jewish communities around the country are preparing special events for the eight-day holiday. In New York, Madison Square Garden will be the site next Monday night of a rally on behalf of Soviet Jewry. The evening’s program, “Freedom Lights For Soviet Jewry” will mark the first anniversary of the show trials in Leningrad which resulted in death sentences for two Soviet Jewish activists, later commuted, and lengthy prison terms for nine others. Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J, Goldberg has been named chairman of the event by its sponsors, the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Center for Soviet Jewry.

The Long Island Railroad will run five specially decorated “Freedom Trains for Soviet Jewry” from stations in Queens and Long Island to Penn Station, next door to the Garden, the night of the gathering.

In Los Angeles, the first annual Chanukah torch-run will be held next Monday under the sponsorship of the Jewish Youth and Young Adults Council of the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles, the Israel Consulate and the Israel Students Organization. Patterned after the famed Modin-to-Jerusalem torch-run, the Los Angeles event will begin at the city’s International Airport. A specially designated torch from Israel will be carried to the Jewish Community Building. The run is expected to take two-and-a-half hours.

Jewish American servicemen and Peace Corpsmen and their families around the world will be celebrating Chanukah with special holiday packages that have been sent out since August by the National Jewish Welfare Board. The packages, which include dreidles (Chanukah tops) menorahs, holiday decorations, chocolate Chanukah money, kiddush cups and havdallah sets are among the items that will be distributed in the US and in foreign countries including Vietnam, the Philippines and Peru.