A plea to include this prayer in the Passover Seder was made by the presidents of the 12 major Jewish religious and secular organizations who announced last Sunday that they were ready to send a plane-load of matzoth to the Jews in the Soviet Union, if permission were granted by Soviet Premier Khrushchev. (See Monday’s JTA Bulletin). Their cabled appeal to Moscow was ignored by the Soviet Premier. The special prayer read:
“When we recite in the Haggadah the age-hallowed ‘Ho lachmo anyo–This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the Land of Egypt,’ let us be mindful of our fellow Jews in Soviet Russia who truly eat the bread of affliction and to whom is denied the right of free men to worship their God and to perform His precepts. Let every one of us pledge himself before his Maker not to forget in his plenty those in need; and in his freedom, those in servitude. And when we say ‘This year in bondage; the year to come, free men,’ let this be a prayer before the Throne of Justice for those with whom we are united by a common faith and a common hope for ultimate redemption.”
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.
