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Leningrad’s Synagogue
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So many disturbing reports
about religious freedom of the
Jews in the Soviet Union have
appeared in. the Anglo-Jewish
press in America that I wanted
to check personally the veracity
of such reports.
Riding in a taxi cab one day
in Leningrad a month ago, I dis
covered that my taxi driver was
a Jew. He was a veteran of the
war against Hitler, one of the
surviving defendants of Lenin
grad, a much decorated hero of
the terrible siege^ that lasted al-
mo*t. three yea*#/ ’ -
We had a long, conversation in
Russian and I told him that in
America we often read about the
Russian Jews being discriminat
ed against and that the virus of
anti-semitism was quite evident.
Even more than that, I said, we
read in our papers about Jews
in the Soviet Union being actual
ly persecuted for attending reli
gious services in a synagogue.
I asked the man to be abso
lutely. frank with me. Of course,
the cab driver knew that I was
a Jew who had come to Russia
from America for a visit.
“Don’t believe everything you
see in your newspapers," pro
tested the taxi driver. “Go to
our synagogue and see for your
self what’s going on there. I am
not a religious man, but I go to
shule on High Holidays and so
do thousands of Jews in Lenin
grad.”
Incidentally, he told me that
his salary was 1,000 rubles per
month (besides his tips) and
that his daily quota was 310
rubles per day. If he execeeded
his daily quota, which is not
hard to do in a city of 3,000,000
people, he receives a certain
bonus or a percentage. He was
rather surprised when I told that
in America anyone can travel
anywhere in the world without
hindrance and there was a wist
ful look in his eyes as he listen
ed to me, for it’S virtually im
possible to leave the Soviet
Union. One may occasionally
travel to the satellite countries,
that is the countries within the
Soviet bloc.
The man told me that there
in Leningrad was a large Jew
ish cemetery with a beautiful
chapel where the Jewish burial
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rites were performed. “It’s a
well kept cemetery," he contin
ued, “and you should go there
to see it while you are in Len
ingrad."
As we were riding to my
destination, he pointed out a
large apartment house in which
Leningrad’s^ rabbi lived and not
far from there he showed me an
other large apartment house
where he himself lived in one
room with his wife, a 6-year-old
daughter* and his old father. The
man told me that his relation
ship with his tftyn father was
rather sfrained; they just did not
see things eye to eye and it was
very unpleasant. I did not press
for Retails.
On Saturday, June 25, my
friend Professor Edgar Lehrman
(he teaches Russian at Emory
University) who was in Lenin
grad at the same time, and I
went to the Synagogue. It’s an
old pre-revolutionary Orthodox
place of worship located on
Lermontovsky street. It has not
changed much since I was a bpy
in old St. Petersburg, except
the building looked shabbier
and its once magnificent chan
deliers shone a bit dimmer than
of yore.
The Saturday morning serv
ices were in progress when Pro
fessor Lehrman and I entered.
The shamos saw us enter and
he immediately recognized for
eigners—our American clothes
gave us away. The shamos de
tached himself from the group
near the ^abbi and came out to
greet us with a firm handshake
and a “shalom" after which he
escorted us toward the front of
the synagogue near the pulpit
on which lay a very old, large
prayer book whose grimy pages
were dog-eared.
There was a cantor, a hand
some man in his early forties,
whose truly magnificent voice of
operatic calibre filled the large
synagogue with its timeless,
grief-laden liturgical appeal to
the Merciful One. A good sized
choir supplied the appropriate
choral background.
Seldom have I heard such
fervent prayers, such deeply re
ligious, devotional services as I
had in that old Leningrad syna
gogue. During a short intermis
sion some old men came up to
us to shake hands with the two
Jews from far-off America. The
people were openly curious
about us and I could not help
seeing and feeling their wonder
ing glances in our direction as
if we had just fallen from Mars.
There was a touching, a poig
nant moment when the rabbi
opened the Ark and brought out
the Torah. I am not a relgious
man, but the sight of the old
Jew pressing the precious, sacred
scrolls to his heart had caused
a lump to come up in my throat.
I watched the eyes of the old
mgn lovingly, caressingly hold
ing the Torah and (be expression
on the faces of the worshipers
swaying and chanting the an
cient prayers. Thousands of
years in the Diaspora, countless
centuries of persecution, massa
cres in the name of God and
bloody pogroms seemed to have
been reflected in the anguished
and yet joyous eyes of these
old Russian Jews. All the cen
turies of the baleful Jewish his
tory had not diminished their
hopes and their faith in the
Creator whose unseen presence
has guided the Jewish people
through the oceans of innocent
blood and bitter tears.
After the services we moved
to an adjoining hall in the cen
ter of which stood a “Chuppah”
and where weddings take place.
"When are you going to have
a wedding?” 1 asked one of the
men surrounding us. He winked
his eye and smiled: “You furn
ish the bride and we will have a
wedding!"
In our conversation at the
synagogue we were told that the
Jews in Leningrad can obtain
kosher meat and that this past
Passover they had baked 100
tons of matzos.
“Is it true that the Jews are
persecuted in Russia?” I asked
a group of old men gathered
around us. They were indignant
at my question and protested
vigorously. It’s tru£, they said,
that under Stalin things were
tough. The Jews and non-Jews
alike lived in the constant
shadow of fear. Stalin was a
terrible man, but now that he
is gone, thank God, things are
different. Jews occupy respon
sible government and civilian
positions and life is in gen
eral much easier and happier
for everybody. One old man
said with unconcealed pride,
“Look, I have a son who is chief
military prosecutor, another son
of mine is a prominent engineer
in Moscow and a nephew is
chief surgeon in the Polish army
in Warsaw. And I myself have
been decorated several times by
the Soviet government. And he
pointed with pride to his colored
service ribbons on his old and
wrinkled coat “Some of our best
(Continued on page 7)
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FULTON COUNTY LEfilfMTQR
SEPTEMBER 14, 1960
Charles
EMMERICH
Says:
“The job of Chairman of the DeKalb County Com
mission is one of the most important jobs in our State,
both in its responsibilities and its potential.
DeKalb citizens are entitled to, and I believe they
will insist on, the best qualified person to fill the job.
For 18 years I have lived in DeKalb County. I have
held an administrative job of business manager at
Emory University for 12 years. I ask that you examine
my qualifications."
ELECT
Chairman
Iwlf CiammlaaLui
UeMl 10 UMHMSSJOn
EMMERICH