111E 1 DETROIT KWH - NEWS
Friday, September 21, 1979 15
How Soviet Yom Kippur Work Edict Was Quashed
(By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
(Editor's note: This is a --
chapter of Boris Smolar's
forthcoming book, "In
The Service of My
People.")
The first "Collectiviza-
tion Day" in the Soviet
Union — the day when all
agricultural workers on
Soviet farms were required
contribute one day of
Ar in the fields for the
ilea of the country — fell
on Oct. 14, 1929. That very
day happened to coincide
with Yom Kippur that year.
This occurred in 1929,
when the campaign against
religion was in full swing
throughout the Soviet
Union. The "Yevsekzia,"
the Jewish section of the
Communist Party, played a
vigorous role in the drive. It
closed synagogues, trans-
formed them into workers'
clubs and conducted anti-
religious actions even in the
smallest and most remote
towns.
Day after day, the three
Yiddish dailies of the "Yev-
sekzia," in Moscow, Khar-
kov and Minsk appeared
with galling attacks against
the Jewish religion and
against Jewish religious in-
stitutions. They carried on
their anti-religious agita-
tion in competition with the
non-Jewish Communist
press which conducted ran-
corous "atheistic" prop-
aganda throughout the
country in accordance with
the Communist slogan that
religion was "the opiate of
the people."
The press of the Yev-
sekzia was delighted that
"Collectivization Day"
fell exactly on Yom Kip-
pur. This afforded the
Yevsekzia a most precise
opportunity to strike a
blow against the Jewish
religion by demanding
that the Jewish colonists
in the Crimea and the Uk-
raine turn out to work in
the fields on Yom Kippur.
The order of the govern-
ment regarding Collectivi-
zation Day clearly stated
that every agricultural
worker was expected to
work in the field that day,
thereby demonstrating his
devotion to the Soviets. The
Yevsekzia had long been
conducting a battle against
many Jewish colonists who
stubbornly resisted pres-
sure to work in the field on
e Sabbath.
in some of the colonies the
settlers were so pious that
they had constructed an
"eruv," a mark of the Sab-
bath limit — a line of wire
by virtue of which it is
allowed to carry things on
the Sabbath — so as not to
carry things on the Sabbath
beyond that limit.
Because some colonies
were under the supervision
of the American Jewish
"Agro-Joint," against which
the Soviet government was
unwilling to provoke the
slightest rift, since it was at
that time seeking American
goodwill and diplomatic
recognition, the pursuit of
religion was tolerated
there. The Sabbath was ob-
fi
served by anyone who was
unwilling to work on thit
day and on all other Jewish
holidays, especially on Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur,
when the devout colonists
gathered openly to conduct
prayer services.
In the order from Mos-
cow that everyone, with-
out exception, who lived
in a village, must work in
the field on Collectiviza-
tion Day, as a contribu-
tion to the motherland,
the Yevsekzia saw an ex-
ceptional opportunity to
terrorize the religious
Jews in the colonies by
compelling them to labor
on Yom Kippur. They in-
tended to exploit this
opportunity to the fullest.
Several weeks prior to
Rosh Hashana and Yom
Kippur the Emes, the lead-
ing daily of the Yevsekzia,
began to print daily warn-
ings to the Jewish colonists
that they wouldn't be able to
avoid working on Yom Kip-
pur. Every one of those arti-
cles exuded an air of sadistic
gratification.
The other Jewish Com-
munist newspapers gener-
ally followed the same tone.
With the passage of each
day preceding the High
Holidays, the rancorous ar-
ticles against the "zealots"
in the Jewish colonies were
becoming more and more
venomous.
The director of the Agro-
Joint, Dr. Joseph Rosen, one
of the noblest figures work-
ing in behalf of Soviet Jewry
of that period, was ex-
tremely distressed by the
Yevsekzia's drive.
He discussed the crisis
with me with grave ap-
prehension. As for my-
self, as an officially
accredited American
correspondent repre-
senting the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency and the
prestigious New York
World, I did have open
channels through which
it was possible to reach
the authorities.
I believed that if I were to
speak to the Soviet Vice
President, Peter Smidovich,
who also held the post of
Commissar for Religious
Affairs, perhaps he would
arrange it so that devout
Jews would not be com-
pelled to labor in the fields
on Yom Kippur; that an-
other day could be desig-
nated for contributory
work, compensating for the
Yom Kippur holiday.
My decision was to bring
the matter to Vice President
Smidovich in person.
Smidovich was an affable
Communist, one of those in-
- dividuals who, in his stu-
dent days, had engaged in
conspiratorial activities
against the Czar. He was an
old-time Bolshevik of the
intellectual kind.
As Commissar for Reli-
gious Affairs, Smidovich, in
all his discussions with me,
emphasized that the Soviet
Constitution granted free-
dom of religion, and that the
entire anti-religious cam-
paign in the Soviet Union
was not being waged by the
government, but by "Bez-
BORISSMOLAR
bozhnik," an atheist organ-
ization whose objective was
to combat religion.
The government, he ad-
mitted, was in accord with
these efforts, but it never of-
ficially endorsed the ac-
tivity of the Bezbozhnik.
His reasoning was that just
as religious activity was
permitted in the Soviet
Union, so was anti-religious
endeavor permitted.
Ordinarily, I did not
agree with his view and I
told him so quite frankly.
Yet, he had always assured
me that, on a proper occa-
sion, he would demonstrate
to me that the government
did not interfere with the
practice of religion, and that
all anti-religious activities•
in the country did not stern
from the government, but
from specific anti-religious
groups.
That occasion came
now. Smidovich had not
known that Collectiviza-
tion Day and Yom Kippur
occurred on the same
day. However, as Com-
missar for Religious Af-
fairs, he should have
known it. I detailed for
him the sadistic cam-
paign which the Yevsek-
zia was carrying on to
force the Jews to work in
the fields on Yom Kippur,
and I explained the sig-
nificance which that day
has for the Jewish
people.
He grasped the situation
clearly. I did not conceal
from him the fact that I
would have to make an
issue of the Yom Kippur
edict in my cables to foreign
countries. I was sure that
the censor would pass my
dispatches, I told him, be-
cause the edict was no secret
— it was being inflated by
the Yevsekzia as a "victory"
in the battle against the
Jewish religion.
Snrrdovich listened
closely to my arguments
and was silent for a while.
"What do you think I
ought to do?" he finally
asked again. This time he
seemed anxious for advice.
My recommendition
was quite simple. Jews
need not be exempted
from making a contribu-
tion to Collectivization
Day. But they should not
be compelled to make
their contribution on
Yom Kippur. They could
make it up some other
day; perhaps even the
very next day after Yom
Kippur.
Smidovich was per- ble."
On Oct. 4, 10 days prior
suaded. He called in one of
his secretaries and dictated to Yom Kippur, the text of
a telegram to her. It was ad- that telegram was offi-
dressed to all the regional cially approved at a meet-
committees in the Crimea ing of the VZIK. It was
and the Ukraine who were immediately transmitted
involved in the implemen- to the appropriate offi-
tation of Collectivization cials, over Smidovich's
signature. It had not been
Day. The telegram read:
"The VZIK is not opposed publicized in the Soviet
to the postponement of Col- press, but the Jews in the
lectivization Day for Jewish Agro-Joint colonies were
colonists in your region • informed that they would
until the following day. not have to work on Yom
Please inform the proper Kippur and that they
local authorities, and take were to work the next day
instead as their contribu-
the necessary steps."
Then, turning toward me, tion to Collectivization
the Soviet Vice President Day.
They were elated. Natur-
said: "These instructions
will be dispatched over my ally the news created a con-
signature by telegraph, siderable stir.
The Emes was furious.
after I obtain the approval
of the VZIK. I am confident The entire campaign of the
that I shall have no trou- Yevsekzia to force the Jews
in the coldriies for the first
time, to labor in the fields on
Yom Kippur had been sud-
denly tricked away. Its
leaders were especially in-
censed by the fact that their
drive had actually been nul-
lified at the behest of the
highest authority of the
Soviet government .— the
VZIK.
They accused me of
meddling in the internal af-
fairs of Soviet life.
It was nothing but impo-
tent and malicious raving.
But the devout and par-
tially devout Jews in the
colonies were filled with a
sense of relief and
gratitude, and they cele-
brated Yom Kippur in the
traditional manner with
greater fervor than ever be-
fore.
g if t
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