The Joint Distribution Committee has shipped 270,000 pounds of matzoth and other Passover supplies to eight European countries to enable needy Jews to observe the holiday appropriately, it was announced today by Edward M. M. Warburg, JDC chairman.
The 270, 000 pounds shipped this year compares with some 257, 000 pounds distributed last year, Mr. Warburg said. More than half of the total, 171,265 pounds, was shipped to France, where the Jewish population has increased in the past two years from 350, 000 to over 500, 000, mostly through immigration from Algeria and other North African countries.
The other supplies were distributed to needy Jewish communities in Albania, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain–including Spanish Morocco–and Yugoslavia. In Poland, matzoth are baked by the official religious community, with equipment provided by JDC. Needy Jews in Poland are given funds to purchase matzoth from the Jewish community.
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