Passover in Rumania

Passover will be a sad event for the 700 Jewish families in this city whose homes were damaged by the March 4 earthquake. The Jewish community is mourning more than 100 dead. Many hundreds more are homeless and living temporarily with friends and relatives under precarious conditions. But there will be seders.

The Federation of Rumanian Jewish Communities, led by Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen, together with the American Joint Distribution Committee are determined to do everything possible to enable every Rumanian Jew to celebrate Passover, it was reported by a JDC spokesman here. As early as January the community received 150 tons of matzoh as well as Passover wine from Israel, sent by JDC as a gift, financed with United Jewish Appeal funds.

Part of the matzoh and wine were stored in Bucharest’s Fortuna and Mamulari Synagogues. They are no longer functioning as synagogues. Both were severely damaged by the earthquake. On the morning after the disaster, the staff of the Bucharest Jewish community organization moved their Passover supplies to safe premises. Fortunately, a major part of the matzoh and wine were saved, the JDC reported.

Two of the basement rooms of the Negru Voda Nursing Home which was badly damaged, had also been used for storing matzoh. These were quickly moved elsewhere and the two rooms were hastily converted into an emergency nursing ward for the patients from the third floor, which was unsafe and had to be evacuated.

This year as in previous years, the Rumanian Jewish Federation will distribute matzoh and Passover food parcels to over 12,000 needy Jews throughout the country. There will be communal seders for more than 1,200 persons in Bucharest and in 20 towns in the provinces. Some of the synagogues where the communal seders are usually held have been so bodily damaged that they cannot be used. Makeshift premises are being readied for the purpose.