Nearly 20,000 tourists joined Israelis last night and tonight in the celebration of Passover. According to the Government Tourist Office, all first-class and second-class hotels in the country were filled beyond capacity, while hundreds of tourists had fanned out to join friends, relatives and acquaintances at sedorim in kibbutzim, moshavim and other settlements throughout the country.
More than 500 persons attended sedorim conducted at the Zionist Organization of America House at Tel Aviv. During the ritual services there, special blessings were recited for the Jews of Russia who, this year, were forbidden to obtain matzohs through a Soviet Government ruling banning the baking of matzohs in state factories.
All of Israel’s army and other military installations conducted sedorim for personnel in the armed services. Field kitchens had been made kosher for Passover under the supervision of chaplains. A special Haggadah had been prepared by the office of the Army’s Chief Chaplain, incorporating both ancient texts and special versions of the Passover narrative employed by various Jewish communities.
Israel did not forget those citizens who are on duty atop Mount Scopus, an Israeli enclave inside Jordanian jurisdiction. A special convoy had been sent up to the mountain, carrying Passover foods for the personnel there. A rabbi accompanied the convoy, so that he could preside at the seder on Mt. Scopus.
Two Arabs figured in the news here on Passover eve. One was Ahmed Abughos, of Abigosh, a village near this city. Theoretically, Abughos was today “the richest man” in Israel. Government authorities had “sold” to Abughos all non-Passover foods in their possession. On the evening of the last day of Passover, he will formally re-transfer ownership of those goods and properties to Israel–and will receive his fee, amounting to 70 Israeli pounds (a little over $23).
Another Arab in the news was Salim Hussary. A baker, with a small store in the former Greek colony here, he is the only man in Israel officially permitted to bake and sell bread during Passover.
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