Individual Jewish members of the New York City police force have been authorized to exchange tours of duty with other policemen if they feel that they cannot work on Rosh Hashahan, it was learned here today.
The entire New York police force of more than 23,000 men has been ordered to cancel all days off, due to the security arrangements for guarding the large number of heads of government attending the General Assembly of the United Nations. There are 1,300 Jews on the force, many of them Orthodox. Some Orthodox members of the Shomrim Society, the organization of Jewish members of the police force, had threatened to resign from the force rather than violate their religious convictions by working on Rosh Hashanah.
The Rev. Isidor Frank, Jewish chaplain of the police force, discussed the dilemma with Chief Inspector Michael J. Murphy, and was informed there would be no objection on the part of the police command if Jewish members of the force made individual arrangements with their colleagues to absent themselves during the High Holy Days.
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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.
