More than 150,000 Jews serving in the United States armed forces will assemble at posts on four continents for Passover services and seders arranged by Jewish chaplains under the auspices of the National Jewish Welfare Board. Passover, the Festival of Liberation, Will be observed by Jews the world over beginning at sunset. Monday, March 30.
It was announced here today that months before the holiday, JWB shipped 75,000 pounds of kosher foods as well as large quantities of religious literature and these will make possible Passover observances at isolated airwarning stations in Greenland and Alaska, jungle gun-emplacements in Panama, and front sline bunkers in Korea.
Smoothly-functioning airlifts in the war zone will carry GI’s to mass seders in Pusan, Taegu. and Seoul and to services in all corps areas. The Jewish chaplains in the war zone have been working weeks in advance of the festival, planning for transportation, billeting and messing, and doing the thousand one little jobs that make the Passover miracle in Korea come off. Seders will be held at 17 points in Japan, where specially trained GI’s will conduct the seders in a number of remote areas.
The story of the liberation of Jews form Egypt will be heard at U.S. posts in Europe, Alaska, Iceland, Indo-China, North Africa and the Caribbean, Special arrangements will assure home hospitality in Athens for a group of sailors on the USS Tarawa, which will dock at that Greek city on the first seder night. A community seder has also been set up for the Jewish sailors on the USS Midway. which will anchor off the Island of Rhodes on the first seder night. The USO director in Athens is lending a hand in holiday arrangements.
Dispatch of 4,500 Passover food packages containing all the basic holiday foods will make possible ”solo seders” for those GIis at inaccessible installations and even for those on warships and army transports on the high seas during the holidays. In the U.S., volunteers on 220 local JWB Armed Services Committees have been at work for weeks planning the details of community and on-post seders.
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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.
