1,500 Pounds of Matzos? Nyet!
WASHINGTON — A small mountain of matzos is piling up in a Postal Service warehouse here since the Soviet Embassy refused to accept delivery of 1,500 boxes mailed from American Jews to Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin.
The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews supplied its members with pre-printed mailing labels addressed to Dubinin and bearing the message, “Please deliver to one of the 400,000 Jews who wish to leave the Soviet Union.†Participants were instructed to place the label and postage on a one-pound box of matzos, the unleavened bread eaten by Jews during the eight-day Passover holiday, which began Tuesday.
“This is like telling Pharaoh to let our people go,†said Lawrence Taubman, a Malibu, Calif., attorney who mailed three boxes.
Council public relations director John Rosenberg said the Postal Service notified him that the Soviet Embassy refused to accept the packages. Nevertheless, he said, the group hopes to put the food to some worthwhile use. “We have asked the Postal Service to hold the boxes for a day or two. We are considering the possibility of distributing it to homeless people in the Washington area,†he said.
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