The Jewish people began its spiritual inventory at sundown today, as Rosh Hashanah services throughout the world marked the start of a 10-day period of penitence, prayer and charity culminating in Yom Kippur, the most awesome day in their spiritual calendar.
Jewish servicemen in all parts of the world, Jewish patients at hospitals and other community institutions, and tiny Jewish communities which might not otherwise have been able to celebrate the holiday were the beneficiaries of special plans made by a host of Jewish organizations operating in their special fields of competence. The National Jewish Welfare Board announced that more than 350 full and part-time Jewish chaplains were taking part in programs for servicemen here and in 65 overseas countries.
The Jews of the Soviet Union heard a special Rosh Hashanah broadcast today in Russian and Yiddish over Radio Liberation by Rabbi George B. Lieberman, of Rockville Center, L. I.
WORSHIPPERS CROWD SYNAGOGUES IN ISRAEL
In Israel; restaurants and movie houses were pressed into service as temporary synagogues to house the overflow of worshippers. Israel transportation companies prepared to move the tens of thousands of persons who were on their way to join their relatives for the holiday in what almost amounted to a mass transfer of populations between the cities and the settlements. Special 24-page Rosh Hashanah editions of daily newspapers appeared to mark the event.
In London, Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie delivered a message to the Jews of Britain over the facilities of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He contrasted the struggle of Jews behind the Iron Curtain to keep Judaism alive under adverse conditions with the full freedom available to his own people and urged that the opportunity to appreciate their opportunities not be bypassed.
In The Hague, the world-wide facilities of the Dutch Radio Service were turned over last night to a special program, “On the Eve of the Jewish High Festivals.” The program included transmission of excerpts from the synagogue ritual by a cantor and choir.
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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.