Jews throughout the world will usher in Passover tonight with the traditional Seder celebrating the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in ancient Egypt and praying for peace between Israel and modern Egypt and other Arab countries which are again threatening aggression against the Jewish State.
The Passover holiday will also be observed by Jewish military personnel with the United States armed forces on five continents and in 63 overseas countries. Seders and Passover services have been organized for them by the National Jewish Welfare Board, the government-authorized agency for serving the religious and morale needs of American Jewish servicemen and hospitalized veterans.
Arrangements have been made for Jewish chaplains to cover great areas and to officiate at Passover services in Korea, Japan, Hawaii, the Philippines, Alaska, Germany, France, England, Italy and the Caribbean. Some 350 full and part-time Jewish chaplains will be involved in “Operation Global Seder.” Thousands of pounds of kosher foods, matzoh, Haggadahs and other Passover items were shipped by JWB months in advance.
Airlifts will carry American Jewish GI’s from all points of the United Kingdom to a mass seder to be held at London’s largest kosher restaurant. Complete Passover coverage will be provided in the Caribbean area thanks to a pre-holiday flight of 10,000 miles by the USO-JWB worker in Panama. A rabbi designated by JWB’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy flew before the holidays to Alaska for seder arrangements. The lone Jewish chaplain with the Sixth U.S. Fleet in the Mediterranean has completed arrangements for transportation by airlifts of Navy personnel to Naples for seders.
The Four Questions will be recited at seders for U.S. personnel on the high seas; and the holiday will be marked by lonely men at desolate radar and air weather stations and antiaircraft and NIKE installations. For these men and those in other remote areas the JWB has shipped some 4,000 individual holiday food boxes. These packages will be opened at little “solo seders” and will reach their destination in some instances by dogsled and even helicopter. Hundreds of on-post and community seders will be sponsored by the 262 local JWB Armed Services Committees in the U.S. Patients in some 170 veterans hospitals will attend services to be conducted by Jewish chaplains.
ROSENWALD ISSUES PASSOVER PLEA FOR INTENSIFIED SUPPORT OF U.J.A.
William Rosenwald, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, in a Passover plea to the more than 5,000 campaign units affiliated with the UJA, called today for intensified holiday support of the Appeal’s two concurrent multi-million dollar drives “to help Israel’s hard-pressed people absorb the mounting exodus of Jews from turbulent North African lands.”
“Passover, which traditionally observes Israel’s ancient attainment of freedom, is a time for Jews everywhere to rededicate themselves to helping those who seek and need freedom, too,” he declared. “Unless Israel’s people are helped by us to receive and resettle these refugees, the people of the new State may falter and fail under the weight of this task at a moment when they are also faced by the necessity of assuring their own survival in the face of regional hostility.”
In his message, Mr. Rosenwald called for the carrying out of the following three point program during the Passover period: 1. Each contributor to be apprised that Israel’s people are no longer able to participate financially in programs of mass immigration and that “the burden of financing these programs now rests on American Jews;” 2. Each contributor to be called on immediately to make a pledge to both the regular campaign and the Special Survival Fund; 3. Each contributor to be urged to pay his pledge in cash immediately following the end of the Passover period.
Dewey D. Stone, national chairman of the United Israel Appeal, major beneficiary of the United Jewish Appeal campaign, said in a Passover message: “Despite the tightening grip of hostile neighbors and their threats of war, this Passover finds Israel carrying on the task of making a productive homeland for tens of thousands of needy and oppressed Jewish immigrants. In view of the grave dangers facing the Jewish State, American Jews can do no less to match the people of Israel’s daily heroism with generosity and greater-than-ever support of the United Jewish Appeal’s campaign to make possible the rescue and resettlement of Jews in search of freedom.”
Abraham Feinberg, president of the Israel Bond Organization, pointed out in his Passover message that at no Passover since it achieved independence has the State of Israel been faced with the sort of crisis that confronts it today. “Armaments from behind the Iron Curtain are flowing to Israel’s Egyptian and Arab neighbors, Mr. Feinberg said, “increasing seriously the tensions and war dangers throughout the Middle East.” He stressed the important role played by Israel bond investment capital in helping Israel to maintain her economic strength in the present difficult situation.
JEWISH AGENCY, ZIONIST LEADERS PLEAD FOR AID TO ISRAEL
Mrs. Rose L. Halprin, acting chairman of the Jewish Agency, emphasized that Passover this year comes at a time of great danger for Israel. “Israel’s whole desire is for peace–peace based on security which will enable her to develop her economic and cultural potentials to their fullest for the benefit of her own citizens and in cooperation with her neighbors. It is not surprising that the forces of totalitarianism and reaction aligned against the Jewish State, the only democracy in the Middle East, are the same which threaten freedom and stability the world over. In this holiday season which is sacred to all men of good will, we call upon our fellow Americans to stand solidly behind Israel in her quest for peace, justice and security.”
Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council, hailed the Israeli people who this year “face the same enemy that our forefathers faced over three thousand years ago–with the same will to resist.” He predicted that Israel would survive the “latter-day Pharaohs in Cairo and Moscow.” He called on American Jewry to turn the “hearts of the leaders of the American people” to recognize the community of interests between Israel and the United States and expressed confidence that when that recognition came the U.S. Government would “act decisively to preserve peace in the Middle East.”
Mortimer May, president of the Zionist Organization of America, called for redoubled efforts by American Jewry to aid Israel and further its “progress, its stability and security.” In the spirit of Passover, he concluded, “let us pray and hope that our freedom loving America will render Israel, its sister democracy, necessary aid to enable her to ward off her enemies who aim at her annihilation and, the enslavement of the free world.”
Hadassah president Mrs. Herman Shulman declared in her Passover message that “Americans of good will, regardless of faith or creed, are united now in the seasons of Passover and Easter in their horror of war and in their desire to strengthen the forces of democracy and freedom. Defensive arms for Israel today will avert war in the Middle East and will serve as a warning to the forces of evil and aggression that the American people and the American Government will not countenance the destruction of our cherished liberties and freedom.”
Dr. Harris J. Levine, president of the Jewish National Fund of American reiterated his faith that the United States would not let Israel down in its current crisis and called on American Jewry not to “permit Israel to be victimized.” He rededicated the JNF to safeguarding Israel through reclaiming and developing the land of Israel. “The soil of Israel, Dr. Harris said will be wrested from the waste and ruin of ages and restored to its ancient fertility.
JEWISH GROUPS STRESS EXISTENCE OF TYRANNY IN SOME COUNTRIES
Irving M. Engel, president of the American Jewish Committee, said in his message: We pray for the liberation of those still in the bonds of slavery whether in Soviet Russia or in Saudi Arabia, and for those of our co-religionists in fear of their very existence in Israel. We pray for a just and enduring peace for all enmeshed in the toils of conflict. We of the American Jewish Committee pray that in this season of Passover, 1956, Americans of the Jewish faith will enrich their link with their glorious historic past, gaining inspiration from the story of mans first liberation, and strengthening their contribution to the universal effort to make justice and liberty a reality for all men in our lifetime.”
Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress, declared: “At this Passover season it is appropriate for Jews outside of Israel to renew their pledge to aid her in strengthening her economic sinews and resisting the relentless political pressures and threats which face her. We pray that the Passover promise of freedom will fortify against despair those Jews who dwell in lands where tyranny or ignorance is ascendant, and where they live in fear of persecution. We must resolve to expedite the migration of those Jews from North Africa who have urgently voiced their desire to go to Israel, where they can take up the threads of their life in security and peace.”
Philip Mr. Klutznick, president of B’nai B’rith, declared: “At this Passover season B’nai B’rith renews its pledge to combat all forms of tyranny over the individual and the group, in the sure knowledge that truth and freedom will prevail wherever the human spirit is permitted to strive in its own way toward these goals.”
Passover messages were also issued by the Synagogue Council of America, all rabbinical organizations, United Hias Service, American Fund for Israel Institutions, National Council of Jewish Women, Pioneer Women and Mizrachi Women of America.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.