Joyous celebrations in all parts of the country marked the second Passover since the establishment of the state of Israel. For the second time since May, 1948, when the Jewish state declared its independence, the rule of austerity was temporarily dropped and the seder tables were weighted down with traditional meats, fowl, wine and delicacies.
Thousands of visitors and tourists attended seders in varied surroundings–some in hotels, others in immigrant camps, some in private homes and many in communal settlements. For the most part, the leaders of the state celebrated the holiday in private; Premier and Mrs. Ben Gurion visited with President and Mrs. Weizmann. The Army Chief of Staff, Brig. Yigal Yadin, and Col. Moshe Dayan, commander of southern Israel, attended a special military seder at Beersheba. American Ambassador James G. MacDonald and members of the Embassy staff attended a seder at Ein Geb, on Lake Tiberias, while Czechoslovak Minister M. Goldstuecker was a guest at a seder at Maanit Narbata, a settlement of Czech immigrants.
Meanwhile, the 300th “Magic Carpet” plane arrived here from Aden on Passover eve with 113 Yemenite Jews. The plane took off from the British protectorate after a ceremony attended by the British Governor of Aden, the commander of the local R.A.F. unit, and a representative of the Joint Distribution Committee which operates the airlift. A total of 38,000 Yemenite Jews has been brought to Israel since last June.
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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.
