POSITIVE SIGNS FOR JEWISH AGENCY

. A prominent rabbi said in Moscow May 26 that the Russian government may be retreating from what had seemed earlier to be a decision to shut down the leading Jewish emigration organization in Russia. (See Monitor, May 2 & 17) Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt was quoted as saying that he was "cautiously optimistic" that problems for the Jewish Agency were being resolved and that closures of the Agency’s offices "are part of the past." He pointed to an apparent decision by the Russian government not to revoke the visa of the head of the Jewish Agency office in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-the-Don as one positive indicator.

Goldschmidt also praised Mikhail Yuriyev, a Russian parliamentarian, for his intercession on the Agency’s behalf. The Agency, he said, is now renewing its accreditation and had received official assurances that it would be re-registered. The Jewish Agency has brought more than 600,000 Jews to Israel from the former Soviet Union since 1989. Its leaders were informed in April that its accreditation to operate in Russia was being canceled. (AP, May 26)

About 3 Million People Have Migrated to Russia in the Last Three Years.