• • PI, 7741r,

USSR Trip Finds British Chief Rabbi
Hopeful on Status of Soviet Jewry

0"LONDON (JTA) — Chief
Rabbi Immanuel Jakobov-
its said that his nine-day
visit to the Soviet Union
from which he has just re-
•
turned, gave him "reason to
•
be hopeful" about the situa-
tion of Soviet Jewry and
taught him that "the cir-
cumstances of Soviet Jewry
. . . are much more complex
than the simplistic view
up taken by so many here."
The Chief Rabbi said,
"There is a need for tho-
e gh and careful reap-
-
isal of attitudes and
priorities." He spoke of his
meetings with Soviet offi-
cials at various ministries
and of his visits to the three
largest Jewish communities
in the USSR — Moscow,
Leningrad and Kiev.
As Chief Rabbi of the Bri-
tish Commonwealth, Jako-
bovits was the first spiritual
leader of a Western Jewish
community to visit the
USSR in an official capac-
ity. He described his experi-
ence as "both exhilarating
and harrowing."
He said that at the out-
0
set of his tour he spent sev-
eral hours at the Soviet
Ministry of Cults in Mos-
cow with Viktor Titov,
deputy chairman of the
ministry's religious affairs
department.
He said they discussed
ways of increasing the Jew-
ish community's cultural
activity; developing contacts
between the Russian and
British Jewish communi-
ties; Hebrew language tui-
tion; the provision of reli-
gious artifacts, Bibles and
prayer books and the possi-
bility of publishing them in
the Soviet Union was
touched on.
Jakobovits reported that
at Titov's suggestion, he met
for an hour with Col. Ovchi-
nikov, deputy director of the
All-Soviet Committee of the
Ovir, the Interior Ministry's
visa and registration depart-
ment.
The Chief Rabbi said his
1
talk with Col. Ovchinikov fo-
cussed on the question of re-
unification of families. He
said the official explained
the procedure and criteria
for issuing visas. "Hopes
OP
were held out that the var-

o

op

r

ious representations we
made will be seriously
taken," Jakobovits said.
Meanwhile, Chief Rabbi
Jakobovits' visit to the
Soviet Union has been a
source of encouragement
and inspiration to Jewish
activists there according
to reports from Jewish
sources in the USSR.
Jewish sources reported
that the Soviet authorities
have gone out of their way
to make Dr. Jakobovits' visit
as comfortable as possible.
They set up a kosher kitchen
for him at the Moscow
Yeshiva. The Chief Rabbi
was invited to Russia by
Mikhail Tandetnik, head of
the Moscow Jewish congre-
gation.
At a scientific seminar,
Dr. Jakobovits lectured on
the medical ethics of the
Talmud. Speaking to 40
Jewish scientists, all of
whom were fired from sen-
ior positions in the Soviet
scientific hierarchy after
applying for visas to emi-
grate • to Israel, the 'British ,
Chief Rabbi said, "Your
struggle to emigrate to Is-
rael has injected life into
Western Jewish communi-
ties."
In New York, the Greater
New York 'Conference on
Soviet Jewry reported that
local Soviet police in the
small village of Zhmerinka,
west of Vinnitsa in the
Ukraine, broke up a Hanuka
minyan and celebration
which, was held in a private
house.
The names of the parti-
cipants were recorded by
the police who claimed
that gatherings of this sort
were against the law un-
less prior official permis-
sion was given.
The Hanuka celebrants
explained that although
they had applied several
times to have this house
considered as an official
place of worship, their re-
quests had been turned
down for unexplained rea-
sons.
It also was reported that
33 Soviet Jews staged a si-
lent demonstration Dec. 24
in front of the Lenin Li-
brary in central Moscow.
The
demonstration

Senate to Vote Legislation
to Counteract Arab Boycott

-

WASHINGTON (JTA) —
A two-pronged legislative
measure to counter the
,-,ab boycott and curtail the
sibilities-of a takeover by
d -rich Arabs of American
°' companies is to go before
the Senate 'early this year
011
with prospects of over;
whelming approval. Action
■
in the House is to take place
0. following the Senate's con-
sideration when Congress
returns to resume its ses-
sions.
developed following
0 " the This
approval by a near
• unanimous vote by the
13-member Senate Banking
0111 Committee of the Steven-
son-Williams measure deal-
∎
ing with the boycott and
investments. Sen. Jake

Garn (D.-Utah), who voted
against its investment sec-
tion, expressed the only op-
position to the legislation. -
Under the measure, U.S.
companies must disclose
publicly whether foreign
governments have asked
them to participate in boy-
cotts and whether they in-
tend to comply. The Arab
boycott strikes at compa-
nies that trade with Israel
or whose principal owners
or managers are Jewish.
Sen. Adlai Stevenson (D.-
Ill.) authored the measure's
boycott provision while Sen.
Harrison Williams (D.-N.J.)
wrote the investment disclo-
sure section. Sen. William
Proxmire (D.-Wis.) is the
committee's chairman.

marked the fifth anniver-
sary of the trial in Lenin-
grad of 11 persons, most of
them Jews, for attempting
to hijack a plane and es-
cape to Israel.
There were nearly as
many KGB agents as Jews
at the demonstration. After
standing for about 10 min-
utes on the library steps,
the demonstrators drifted
away.

miller

Israel Industry Sells Abroad

, TEL AVIV — Technologi-
cal Development and Auto-
mation Ltd., an enterprise
of Koor Industries Electric
and Electronics Division,
has received an order from
Canada for electronic
weighing units for cranes as
well as an order from Singa-
pore for two electronic mo-
tor truck scales.
Tedea, a pioneer in trans-
ducers and electronic weigh-
ing systems in Israel, has
recently signed an exchange
agreement with Cardinal,
one of the three largest
man ufacturers of weighing

systems in the Unitedi
States, whereby in return
for Tedea expertise in trans-
ducer technology, Cardinal
will supply know-how on
the manufacture of mechan-
ical weighing units.

A

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