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Frida*; Not. 24, INI
III IOUTBIKN IIKABL1TI
Soviet Disbands
Council of
MoscowYeshiva
NEW YORK (JTA) — The
Soviet Government has ordered
the disbanding of the Vaad Yes-
hiva, a governing council of the
only Jewish seminary in the So
viet Union, it was disclosed here
this week by Label Katz, presi
dent of the B’nai B’rith, at the
organization’s 118th annual meet
ing here.
The seminary, which is affili
ated with the Moscow synagogue,
trains rabbis and religious func
tionaries. Mr. Katz, who headed
a B’nai B’rith group that visited
the Soviet Union in August, said
he had learned at that time that
the seminary’s enrollment was 12
students.
Mr. Katz said that B’nai B’rith
had received “confirming infor
mation” of the secret trial and
conviction of three Jewish lead
ers of the main Moscow syna
gogue. He said that despite the
earlier absence of any public an
nouncements, the convictions of
the three Moscow Jewish reli
gious leaders and of the three
others in Leningrad, became
known among religious Jews in
both communities. “They are in
terpreting it as an effort to sup
press further what is already a
sadly diminished practice of Ju
daism in the Soviet Union,” Mr.
Katz said.
The B’nai B’rith leader said
the recent events “appear to in
dicate a pattern of steped-up ha-
rassments of Judaism in the So
viet Union.” He linked them with
the forced closing of synagogues
in 12 Soviet cities in the past 13
months. He said the leader of the
Moscow group, an engineer
named Ryshal, was sentenced to
seven years of hard labor. “We
have learned that Ryshal, who is
known to be a very pious Jew,
conducted himself with great
courage and dignity during the
ordeal of the secret trial,” Mr.
Katz declared.
Mr. Ryshal and his companions
were convicted at a three-day
trial that ended October 2, the
day before the Jewish festival of
Simchas Torah. Presumably the
Moscow trial preceded the one
in Leningrad which reportedly
concluded on October 13. His in
formation, Mr. Katz added, is that
Ryshal is about 60 years old and
had been “very energetic” in the
spiritual affairs of the Moscow
synagogue. He had not learned
the exact nature of the charges
against Ryshal and the others, he
said.
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American Groups Protest
Leningrad, Moscow Arrests
NEW YORK (JTA) — Major
American Jewish organizations,
including secular and religious
groups, labor, fraternal and civic,
voiced "apprehension" and “cha
grin” this weekend over the ar
rest and imprisonment of Rus
sian Jews in Leningrad and Mos
cow on what were seen as
“patently trumped-up” charges of
"espionage.”
Label A. Katz, national presi
dent of B’nai B’rith, called the
Israel Denies
Trumped-Up
Red Allegations
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Reports
in the Soviet press that the three
leaders of the Jewish religious
community in Leningrad were
arrested and sentenced because
they transmitted “espionage ma
terial” to Israeli Embassy officers
during religious services were of
ficially termed here as being
“completely without foundation.”
(The Soviet authorities also ar
rested three Jewish religious
leaders in Moscow.)
The Israeli diplomats named in
the Soviet newspaper Leningrad-
skaya Pravda, organ of the Com
munist Party in Leningrad, are
Yaacov Sharett, son of the former
Israeli Prime Minster and For
eign Minister, Moshe Sharett;
and Eliahu Hazan, formerly a
member of Israel’s Embassy staff
at Moscow. The latter was ar
rested by Soviet authorities at
Odessa in 1957, and expelled from
the Soviet Union. Mr. Sharett
was arrested at Riga last sum
mer and also ordered to leave the
USSR.
Mr. Sharett said here today,
that during his tenure in Moscow,
he had met hundreds of Jews at
the Moscow synagogue, but he
doesnot recall the names of the
three Jews arrested in Lenin
grad. His only “conversation”
with Jews he met, Mr. Sharett
said, consisted of the traditional
greeting, “Shalom Aleichem,”
which usually drew the custo
mary “Shalom” in response. The
espionage charges against him
self and Mr. Hazan, Mr. Sharett
said, are “fantastic.”
Other officials here today said
the Soviet allegations in both ex
pulsion cases were “groundless.”
Observers here speculate that the
charges against the Russian Jews
and the linking of those men with
Mr. Sharett and Mr. Hazan may
have been intended by Soviet
authorities to counter-balance
espionage cases recently brought
here against Israelis charged with
handing secret information to an
unnamed “foreign power.”
The Israel Foreign Ministry, it
was said, is not likely to respond
to the allegations in the Lenin
grad newspaper, unless it is fol
lowed by a formal note from the
Soviet Union. No such formal
note has been received by Is
rael from the Soviet Union. The
Israel Embassy in Moscow has
been requested to send to the
Foreign Ministry the complete
text of the article in the Lenin-
gradskaya Pravda.
It was pointed out that, neither
at the time of Mr. Hazan’s expul
sion, nor when Mr. Sharett was
ordered out of the Soviet Union,
did the Soviet Government con
nect them in any way with the
Jews since arrested and sen
tenced at Leningrad. Nor, it was
pointed out here, did the Soviet
Government ever make diplo
matic representations or com
plaints to the Israel Government,
charging any such connections
either against Mr. Sharett or
against Mr. Hazan.
conviction of Gedalia R. Pecher
sky, a leader among Leningrad
Jews, “incomprehensible.” Mr.
Pechersky has been sentenced to
12 years' imprisonment
Mr. Pechersky, according to
Mr. Katz, was known to and
revered by religious Jews in the
Soviet Union because of his piety
and strong faith and courage.”
The 60-year-old Leningrad leader,
said the B’nai B’rith president,
“met with foreign visitors openly
and had no hesitancy about dis
cussing the affairs of the Lenin
grad Jewish community. This can
hardly be defined as a treason
able act”
“The ironic fact is," continued
Mr. Katz, “that the Soviets used
Leningrad as a showplace of re
ligious freedom of Jews. Intour
ist guides included it in their
points of interest to foreign visi
tors.”
The sentences meted out to the
Russian Jews were protested to
day in a statement issued by the
Jewish Labor Committee, repre
senting 500,000 Jewish workers
organized in trade unions affili
ated wth the AFL-CIO. The JLC
expressed its “bitterness” and
protested “vigorously against the
trial and sentencing of Gedalia
Pechersky and others.” They
were sentenced, said the state
ment, “for no other crime, pun
ished severely, because they are
Jews.”
Adolph Held, national chair
man of the Jewish Labor Com
mittee, sent a telegram today to
Adlai E. Stevenson, chairman of
the United States delegation to
the United Nations, urging “the
need for UN intervention into the
whole range of the dscriminatory
policies against Jews within the
Soviet Union.” In his telegram,
Mr. Held stated;
“The confirmed arrest, secret
trial and conviction of three Jew
ish religious leaders, and the ad
ditional arrests known in similar
warrant a UN
rights investigation. Policies at
suppression, recrimination and
discrimination in many facets of
Soviet life still plague the Soviet
Jews. Only the UN spotlight at
this moment can save those al
ready imprisoned and those
slated for a similar fate on
trumped-up specious and
charges.” ^
On behalf of the American
Jewish Congress, Rabbi Joacfafan
Prinz, president of the Congress,
issued a statement declaring the
latest arrests and imprisonment
were “fresh evidence of the cm
tinued tragic plight” of the
in the USSR He voiced
AJC’s “deep regret and in erase
ing apprehension” over the out
break of “treason” trials against
Jews in the Soviet Union.
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