Rescue of Moscow Synagogue

By BORIS SMOLAR
Lditor-in-chief Emeritus
of JTA
,1
1 .,:? ST 1. in, )

e-It Moscow, make it a point
o see
the Great Choral
'ynagoguc there, the last

tole Lunatcharski to take an
interest in the matter.
Vice President Smidovitsh
citadel of Jewish traditional- was an exceptionally wonder-
tor's note. This is a
ism in the So‘iet capital. It ful person. One of the older
from :qr. Smolar's
the only attractive Jewish intellectual Communists, he
• •- •f:ooftog book on IIe'
address in the Soviet Union. was a good-natured individ-
pNnts of his career
But none of these foreign ual, sensitive to Jewish feel-
, ourr?,11/St atilt
foreign
Jews knows that this impos- ings. In addition to being
ponilent )
ing synagogue, situated only vice president of the USSR.
• • -h te.dists. ishen they
a few minute,' walk front he was also commissar of re-
the Kremlin eery nearly be- ligious affairs as well as
came a Workers' Club in chairman of the Soviet gov-
:928 as a result of demands ernmental committee (COM-
that were made by Moscow :GET), which was concerned
Jew i s h Communists. The with helping declassed Jews
SAMUEL BROS .
danger w a, a‘erted only settle on the land as farm-
CAFETERIA
after I succeeded in per- ers` Actually, my friendship
suading Soviet Vice Presi- with him had its origin in
Eastern Market
M-nt Piot: S ! B loc itsh and the contact which I, as cor-
Commissai of Culture Ana-
respondent of the Jewish
-------,---„,-,..,„,„„....,......w............-„,-...-....1
Telegraphic Agency in Mos-
llohday Greetings
4
cow. developed with him as
fu My F-lends and Customers
a consequence of these two

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Sincerest New Year Greetings

1

HOA KOW INN

rael With the aid of Lunat- cow with a request that it
Chinese and American Restaurant
charski it was even possible order the conversion of the
Spec.ohzIng in Cantonese Foods
for the Ilabima group to go Great Choral Synagogue into
1 371 5 West 9 Mile,
abroad for guest perform- a Workers' Club. Such acts
ances and then to return to of turning synagogues in-
wes t of Coolidge, Oak Park
LI 7-4663
t h e Soviet Union. This was to clubs were being executed
:rue until 191:3, when the
in many- Soviet cities at that r
'Imo became permanen‘
time and Yecsektsia of Mos-
residents of Palestine.
c ow was determined to bring
Nt'll
ear (•reetin • ,
Were it entirely up to Lun-
about the same thing in Mos-
ltcharski, who was a highly cow. It chose the city's larg-
cultured person, if
est synagogue for its pur-
would have remained a liv- pose.
1501 DAVISION
TE 2-1258
ing language 'in the Soviet
Although they knew it was
Union. But Lunatcharski was a dangerous thing for them
under a considerable amount to do, some of the leaders of "
_mum, sow_•• ■■■_■ _Fm._
■ •• mm• +seal
of pressure from Yevsektsia, the directorate of the Mos-
who regarded Hebrew as an
cow Choral Synagogue de-
expression of the Zionism cided to begin gathering
.Set, wm . , G reel 1 n gs
they greatly opposed. Never- signatures on a petition to
theless, he kept one eye
the Moscow Soviet in which
closed to the fact that even they expressed opposition to
to years after the revolu- the demand of Yevsektsia. In
tion, Hebrew religious books those years it was still pos-
WO 1-1992
were being printed in ear- , sible to obtain a consider-
Oils cities of the Soviet Un-
able number of signatures,
ion, in Berditshev, Zhitomir., since most of the Jews in
Minsk. Slutsk and Bobroisk.
Moscow during that period*
were not Communists. but,
ibduhil Greeting ,
I have in my archives a
rather, persons who still fol-
small v o I u m e by Rabbi lowed Jewish tradition. Mos-
Ezekiel Abrarnski of Slutsk. cow still had two restaurants
Printed in Hebrew. entitled serving kosher food — one of )
Yigdal Torah, it was pub- them near the Choral Syna-
14395 Schaefer
VE 8-6000
lished in Bobroisk in 1927 at
gogue. These two restau-
the Komunatrost I'ress with rants were managed as co-
the 1 ermission of the area
operatives, which was per-
tenser . The volume treats of
missible under Soviet law,
"Torah and Casuistry" and
11,-4 It i../te. eta the New leg,-
as such enterprises were not
could not hale appeared considered to he private en-
without the .consent of Lun-
terprises . During that year.
atcharski, since he was min-
I could still obtain kosher
ister of culture.
salami, brought to Moscow
As late as April 7 1928
8170 LIVERNOIS
front a kosher meat prod- -
TY 7-9514
- more than 10 years after ucts factory in Kharkov op-
the Belshesik Resolution
-
erated as an "artel." in co-
while Lunatcharski was
operative fashion.
commissar
t culture
The delegation front the
ioxerning hoard of the Mos-
II,,,, „/„.
leading 1:
• , w - Choral Si nagogue also

KAY Ffi,„,-.,,,,,,
DANZER

Hy Lipsaz and Family

Holiday Greetings
to Our Friends and Patrons

TOPINKA'S COUNTRY HOUSE

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Across from the Fisher Theatre TR 5-2614

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H„,,,,

STEVE PETIX

.1 - ned to Dr Joseph 1{ ■ ,,4, 11.
: ■ •,(.1 of the American act-
int in Mes
which ssas
f•rrinc

-

.L:cst Wishes To All Our
Frien,is. Relatives and Customers

cog

_

rIZIt

826 3705

e •

1- or

I

e ion• , .....t.ed . 1111
Soviet Central Government
,00
, -,: omp
ri .ilOtis
h a d • officials treated him with ex-
been printed
.
treme
courtesy. It was the
.1Ithough his
name was not mentioned in
hope of the synagogue dele-
the article, the charge was.
gation that as a result of Dr

51. ti

Custom Tailoring

Rho

Dernarel

the

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Detroit-Birmingham

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,es ;here Dr Rosen
American citizen and the

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f

THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS
83 14—Friday, Se t. 8, 1972

DORN FRUIT & PRODUCE CO.

Best Wishes to Our Friends and Patrons
for a Happy New Year

12:1 Zr1

ous man himself, Dr. Rosen
did want to help the leaders
of the Moscow Synagogue
and found a way to do so
indirectly. He told them that
I was highly respected by
both Smidovitsh and Lunat-
charski and advised them to
(Continued on Page 15)

ACE WIPING CLOTH CO.

:zua;ze theater troupe.
except on holida:,s
Ina Born in Moscow. ilald
csnreu-`ed ,=.rea 1 mrhena-
'ra I
ith sonic of .7s trig- !ion '-then it became known r -
;nal mem bers, a mon . z them that at the end of June, 1928.
!he, actress liana Rosina I Is
Vevsektsia had
applied to
now the State Theater of 14- the Municipal Soviet of Mos-

16980 Jeanette, Southfield

ay (greetings

!
I

Rosen's contacts in higher
government circles he might
succeed in saving the syna-
gogue from being turned in-
to a club.
For understandable rea-
sons. Dr. Rosen—who was of
great help to the Jews of the
Soviet Union in their most
difficult years—avoided be-
coming involved in internal
conflicts within the ranks of
Soviet Jewry, Ile was par-
ticularly reluctant to do any-
thing which might interfere
with the work of the Agro-
Joint. Ile simply did not
want to give the Moscow
Yevsektsia any opportunity
o attack the Agro-Joint. Al-
hough he was not a religi-

Lunatchar• Russia. Russian Jewry has

enough to recall that no knowledge ,,f Reform
:i.!hough Hebrew was almost Judaism or
nnsers,ibse

enbridy forbidden in the So-
If ,,r) ■•■ !:, is
Urion as a result of the member it 'e:s s:•na2ectie
influence of the ••Yessekt- it can only be one conducted
Joh section of in the Ortliod• x tradition
the Communist Party—Lim.
The !railitional element of
atcharsk,
nes crtheless.
in
if
emnill , mllY
1941.
one year after the Mos , i ))-- not unit' the ‘er1.
Communist Resolution help_ !elLdiei , :. but also those -,,ho
ed or
the Ilcbrew lam Mel iit;:e -ontact wits the

1

1
1

(if Cenunissar

1928: Smolar's Role

!low did
I come to be
drawn into efforts to help
avert the implementation of
the decision to transform the
Moscow Synagogue — one of
the very largest in all of
the Soviet Union — into a
Workers' Club?
In 1928. when this was
about to happen. the Moscow
Jewish community still
counted many thousands of
traditionalist Jews who were
members of synagogues.
Many of them were not com-
pletely- Orthodox, but in so-
iet Russia all the syna-
gogues are still Orthodox—
lust as they were in Tsarist

of his various p‘,:tions.

Fine Furs

in

of course, aimed at Lunat-
charski for permitting such
things to occur. Ernes dill
not dare come out openly
against Lunatcharski person-
ally

1

(

Bri g II ashes

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