Blowing, of Shofar. Mass Oath to Continue Protests
Mark H. C. Vigil- Johnson Hopes USSR Will End Bias
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Crowds
estimated officially by police au-
thorities as totaling between 7,500
and 10,000 persons staged an im-
pressive demonstration here Sun-
day over Soviet discriminations
against the USSR's 3,000,000 Jews.
The event was the beginning of an
"Eternal Light Vigil" organized by
the American Jewish Conference
on Soviet Jewry, comprised of 24
).ational Jewish organizations
—ziepresenting virtually all Jews in
this country. Prominent non-Jew-
ish speakers were among major
participants.
The rally, which was culminated
by the blowing of the shofar and
a mass oath to continue the protests
until the Kremlin alters its anti-
Jewish policies, heard an encourag-
ing statement from President John-
son and cheered an address by
Ambassador James Roosevelt,
Washington's new representative
to the United Nations Economic
and Social Council, to press the
issue of anti-Semitic discrimina-
tions in the USSR before the
various, relevant bodies of the
world organization.
At the conclusion of the rally,
a delegation representing the
vigil attempted to file at the
Soviet Embassy here a petition
bearing 1,000,000 signatures,
seeking easement of Russia's
policy vis-a-vis the Jewish people.
to the
Jewish
Community
The embassy staff shut the doors with the President of the United Negro solidarity with Jewish
Rustin said the American Negroes
in the face of the delegation, which States, recognizes the Negro rights religious and cultural freedom in
included Rabbi Seymour J. Cohen, problem with all its ramifications. Russia and throughout the world. suffered oppression for 350 years
Continued on Page 17)
of Chicago, chairman of the steer- But in the USSR, he charged, the
ing committee of the organizing authorities have consistently ref-
conference and president of the used to recognize unequivocally
Synagogue Council of America; that a grave problem of anti-
Bayard Rustin, Negro civil rights Semitism exists there. Secondly,
leader; and the Rev. John Cronin, he said, American Negroes have
co-director of the department of a growing opportunity to take their
social action of the National fate into their own hands through
Catholic Welfare Conference.
the civil rights movement "but
President Johnson's message to Soviet Jews are utterly helpless
the rally stated:
and voiceless, and any attempt
"I greet my fellow Americans on their part to combat discrimina-
of all faiths gathered today in a tion and to advance their group
vigil for Soviet Jewry. Your cause rights would be immediately sus-
is the cause of all men who value pected and shattered by official
action."
freedom.
He pointed out that American
"History demonstrates that the
public opinion and public in-
treatment of minorities is a
stitutions were moving to sup-
barometer by which to measure
the moral health of a society.
port Negro aspirations but, in
the USSR, "a large segment of
Just as the condition of the
popular sentiment is itself anti-
American Jew is a living symbol
Semitic, and that segment which
of American achievement and
opposes anti-Semitism can at best
promise, so the conditions of
speak in muffled and obscured
Jewish life and other religious
tones. As for Soviet public in-
minorities in the Soviet Union
stitutions, the hard fact of the
reveal fundamental contradic-
matter is that it is government
tions between the stated princ-
policy itself which is the guilty
iples and the actual practices of
party."
the Soviet system.
Roosevelt said that a recent
"I once again express my hope
for an end to restrictive prac- Pravda editorial conceding -the ex-
tices which prevent Soviet Jews istence of anti-Semitism showed
from the full enjoyment of their that public protest has been ef-
heritage. I join all men every- fective. That fact, he said, "should
where who, through vigilance, only encourage us to continue, and
maintain freedom's eternal at an intensified pace." He emp-
DON'T FUSS — DON'T CUSS — CALL US
hasized that "we cannot keep
light."
silent
so
long
as
justice
is
not
More than 125 communities from
every part of the United States done on this problem."
An address during the rally, by
sent representatives to the rally.
Groups came by chartered bus, Rustin emerged as the most mov-
airplane and train from every sec- ing and dynamic of the orations
tion of the U.S.A., and many ar- delivered. His linkage of Negro
rived by automobiles pooled for with Jewish rights drew the day's
longest and loudest applause. He
the occasion.
For three hours, in 90-degree informed the audience that he had
DEALER IN
*Mt PROM=
heat, participants crowded around been personally asked Sunday by
the platform in Lafayette Park, two other Negro rights leaders —
FREE PICK-UP and DELIVERY
opposite the White House. Later, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and
A.
Philip
Randolph
—
to
voice
when the delegation started for
the Soviet Embassy, many hun-
dreds took part in a silent march
near the Embassy, observing of-
ficial regulations that forbid picket-
ing of any embassy in this capital.
The Vigil, which will remain
officially in session here all this
week, while an "Eternal Light"
continues to shine, will be repeated
in many of the principal Jewish
centers around the country during
the coming weeks.
Roosevelt told the rally that,
in his new post at the UN, he
will be mindful that "the problem
of Soviet Jewry probably belongs
on the agenda of the U.N." He
said that one of his main con-
cerns as ambassador will be the
protection of human rights and,
in this connection cited his con-
cern about the Jews of the Soviet
NO NEED TO BELONG TO A CLUB
Union.
He said that the Soviet Jewish
NO NEED FOR DUES
problem belongs on the agenda
"whether at the Human Rights
Commission, at the Sub-Commission
NOV. 28th — DEC. 7th
for the Prevention of Discrimina-
tion and Protection of Minorities,
NON-STOP JET BOTH WAYS
or at the kind of special world
investigative commission on human
rights proposed some months ago
For Further Information
by Ambassador Goldberg." While
this problem must concern the
Contact
UN, he declared, it does not
belong exclusively there and "must
be on the agenda of the conscience
of us all."
Citing what he termed "three
profound differences In the situa-
tion of the Negroes here and the
Jews in the USSR," he said that
American society, beginning
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