More than 1,500,000 pounds of Passover foods have been distributed by the Joint Distribution Committee to needy Jews in 17 European and North African countries, it was announced this week-end by Edward M.M. Warburg, J.D.C. chairman. Some 500,000 Jewish men, women and children will benefit from the special holiday distribution, which includes matzoh, matzoh meal and 40,000 bottles of Passover wine, the J.D.C. chairman declared.
The Passover holiday, which begins April 1, will this year be marked by thousands of Jews in the DP camps and in J.D.C. transient centers, waiting to reenact the Biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt by their own resettlement in Israel. During 1950, the J.D.C. expects to move a minimum of 120,000 emigrants from Europe and Moslem-Arab lands to Israel, Mr. Warburg said.
The largest distribution of Passover foods, 485,000 pounds, is being made in Hungary, where the J.D.C. now maintains its largest single assistance program in Europe. Other major distributions are being carried out in Germany–230,000 pounds–Poland–220,000 pounds–and France–185,000 pounds. Passover supplies for Poland reached that country before the J.D.C. was ordered to wind up its program on January 1, and are now being distributed to Polish Jews by the Jewish Successor Organization, which represents all groups of Polish Jewry.
Every DP will receive five pounds of matzoh, a pound of matzoh meal, a bottle of wine and a supply of kosher fat. For Orthodox Jews in the DP countries, the J.D.C. has ordered special supplies of wheat from Israel. The wheat is now being processed and baked in Fuerst, Germany, under the supervision of DP rabbis. In addition to Passover supplies furnished directly by the J.D.C. approximately 250,000 Jews in Moslem countries, in North Africa and the Near East, will be provided special Passover cash allowances to permit their purchase of holiday foods locally. Other countries in which J.D.C. matzoh is being distributed include Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Yugoslavia.
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