Passover Observances Tonight Will Be Meager in Many Parts of the World

The world’s second peace-time Passover will be ushered in tomorrow evening at Seders in practically every country in the globe, but only in America will the observances resemble in bounteousness and gaiety of prewar years.

In Germany and Austria, 250,000 Jewish DP’s will mark the holiday in camps and temporary quarters in which most of them have spent the two years since V-E Day. On Cyprus, which has become the domicile of more than 10,000 Jews, the Seders will be held in tents. Palestine’s festivities will be muted by the ever-present threat of violence.

In Eastern Europe, hard-hit by the devastation of war and poor crops, the Passover observances will be meager, although tons of supplies have been sent to those countries by American Jews. The Jews in Britain, France and the Low countries will probably fare best of the 1,500,000 Jews in Europe, outside of the Soviet Union.

MORGENTHAU APPEALS FOR DELIVERANCE OF JEWISH SURVIVORS

The plight of European Jewry was highlighted tonight by Henry Morgenthau Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, in a nation-wide broadcast over the facilities of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Mr. Morgenthau pointed out that the aid provided by the United Jewish Appeal, will give 1,500,000 Jewish survivors in Europe this Passover a “small measure of solace,” but added that “the road ahead must be filled with great tasks of rehabilitation and resettlement, if their next Passover is to have reality as a deliverance from suffering and as an opportunity for life.”

“As free men, we in America can enjoy the victory that has been won,” the former Cabinet member said. “But for millions of human beings tonight, around the whole face of the earth, very little has been gained. Amid the havoc and devastation left by war, in a vacuum of despair and neglect, they are waiting to share our victory. They are waiting for one small chance — the chance to begin life.”

Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, in a Passover message, declared that the Passover cry, “From serfdom to freedom” has a” glorious meaning” for the Jewish community of Palestine.

“No military repressions will stop the Jews in Palestine until fellow-Jews in Europe’s concentration camps and all over the world can share with them the Godgiven right to freedom, to national liberation in the land of Israel,” he said. The message called upon the Jews of America to join in the effort to make the next Passover free for all Jews.

PROSKAUER IN PASSOVER MESSAGE URGES ACCELERATED IMMIGRATION

Opening of the gates of Palestine to facilitate Jewish immigration and temporary emergency legislation to admit approximately 400,000 displaced persons of all faiths and nations to the United States were urged by Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, in a Passover statement issued today.

“The Passover holiday which celebrates the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage is a festival of liberation not only for the Jews, but for all

“A modern exodus of the displaced Jews of Europe to Palestine, the United States, and other nations of the world,” was urged by Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, on the eve of Passover. Dr. Eisendrath, who heads the federation of 340 Reform Synagogues throughout the United States, declared that “there is little or no hope of a decent life for those remaining Jews in Central Europe.” He expressed the hope that the United States would take the lead in the solution of the problem of the displaced persons by the passage of the Bill introduced this week by Rep. W.G.Stratton, Republican of Illinois, which calls for the admission into the United States of a maximum of 400,000 displaced persons from UNRRA camps in Germany, Austria and Italy over a period of four years.

AMERICAN JEWISH CONFERENCE MESSAGE BROADCAST TO DP’S IN CAMPS

Dr. Israel Goldstein, speaking for the American Jewish Conference, will broadcast tomorrow morning a special Passover message by short wave to the Jews residing in displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria. Characterizing as a “Passover offering” current Jewish efforts to assist the DP’s, he said, “We are doing what we can to secure from our Government a more liberal immigration policy for America, and a helping hand to achieve the fulfillment of Jewish hope for Palestine.”

Dr. Glodstein also extended Passover greetings to the Jewish men serving in the American army of occupation in Central Europe. “Jews, and especially American Jews, the world over, are grateful to the American army of occupation in Germany and Austria and to the War Department here for the shelter and protection to the displaced persons,” he declared.

JWB ARRAGES PASSOVER SERVICES FOR JEWISH GI’S THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

The National Jewish Welfare Board, with the aid of the Army, Navy and Veterans Administration authorities, has made arrangements for the observance of Passover by Jewish service personnel in the ETO, Pacific areas, north and south Atlantic bases, and at hundreds of posts in the U.S. In every V.A. hospital of the nation services will be conducted by JWB chaplains or rabbis. Whore these are lacking, Passover Service recordings sent by the JWB women’s division will be used.

In the Pacific, Services will be held at Tokyo, Kyoto and S?ndi. Services will be held also in the Marbo Command; at the USO club in Manila, and at the JWB club in Honolulu. Kosher chickens will be flown from Shanghai to Korea and Okinawa for Sedarim. In the ETO, observances will be conducted at all JWB centers – Frankfurt, Heidelberg, as well as at Bremen, Bremerhaven and other points. On this continent, in addition to arrangements for Services at forts in many states there will be observances in Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, the Aleutians, Alaska and bases in the Atlantic.

In New York, 300 refugees newly arrived from Germany will sit down to a mass Seder tomorrow night in the Hotel Marseilles, arranged by the United Service for New Americans. For many it will be the first free Passover they have observed in many years. Similar services will be held at the HIAS shelter for new arrivals who are temporarily lodged there pending their leaving for permanent homes.

Other institutional observances will be held by hundreds of Jewish organizations throughout the city, including a special service with Haggadahs in Braille, for blind children, students at the New York Institute for Education of the Blind.