The number of synagogues which numbered several thousand in preCommunist Russia has now dwindled to less than 100. Prayer books in Hebrew are not published nor allowed to be imported for use in the synagogues. Religious education of the young is forbidden. "But most deplorable of all is the fact that the Soviet Government will not permit the emigration of those Jews who wish to go to Israel where they can settle among their people and live as Jews practicing their faith in their traditional manner. This is a denial of the most elementary principles of freedom and human rights. The Soviet Union denies all charges of antiSemitism. but its actions against the Jewish minority speak louder than words and the whole free world deplores such activities against a small and defenseless group. Obviously. the Soviet Union is pursuing a policy of repression against its Jewish minority in order to discourage all feelings of Jewish identity and every desire for emigration to Israel. This is in line with its antiIsrael and proArab policy which finds its strongest expression in Stalintype show trials aimed to bring fear into the hearts of every Jewish man. woman. and child in Russia. It is truly amazing that more than a half century after the Communist revolution. the Soviet Union. which still clings to the fiction of being the spokesman and protector of the rights of all oppressed and downtrodden nations. has found it necessary to conduet circus trials and to bring charges b.gainst a helpless people whose only cri me is its desire to live in freedom. to worship its God. and to live by the precepts of its faith and tradition.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization about the Soviet Union's actions against the Jewish minority.