Passover Starts Tonight Jews to Pray for Freedom for All Nations

The festival of Passover, celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt, will be ushered in tomorrow at sundown by Jews throughout the world with the holding of traditional Seders and with special prayers for peace and freedom for all nations.

Thousands of Jewish men in the United States armed services throughout the U.S.and in 72 overseas areas will observe Passover at special seders arranged by the National Jewish Welfare Board with the participation of 370 Jewish chaplains. The arrangements will make possible Seder services in Europe, North Africa,Japan,the Philippines, Hawaii,Greenland,Iceland, Korea, the Canal Zone and Alaska.About 3,000 “solo seders” have been provided for Jewish men in the armed services in remote overseas-places by making available to them Passover food packages.

In Japan, Jewish GI’s traveling long distances will come to Tokyo for the seder to be held at the Jewish Community Center.The Four Questions will be asked in all U.S. stations in the Pacific and even at the U.S. Embassies and Military Missions in Bangkok, Thailand, and in Vietnam, Chaplain Herbert Berger, Jewish chaplain in the Philippines, will fly several thousand miles to these stations to see to the Passover needs of the military and civilian personnel.

In the Caribbean, Rabbi Nathan Witkin, who recently completed a 10,000 mile Passover mission to U.S. stations in the entire Caribbean, has also taken care of the holiday needs of all the Jewish personnel with U.S. Military Missions, throughout Latin America.During his flight, he visited all the U.S.Navy Radar Guided Missile sites in the British West Indies, and arranged for transportation to the seders in Puerto Rico for the Jewish servicemen in the radar sites.

J. D. C.PROVIDES JEWS IN MOSLEM LANDS WITH PASSOVER SUPPLIES

Morris W, Berinstein, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, issued a call to the Jewish community of the United States “to dedicate itself during the Passover holiday to a renewed compassion for hundreds of thousands of Jews in need throughout the world.” He described in detail the holiday aid provided by the UJA member agencies to 600,000 people in 26 countries. He especially stressed the Seders which will be conducted in Israel among 22, 000 people in the Malben institutions which are being maintained by the Joint Distribution Committee.

The Joint Distribution Committee, which operates in 24 countries outside of Israel, has also provided Jews in Europe with 100 tons of 1960 Passover foodstuffs, including matzoh, matzoh meal, flour and holiday wine, In Moslem countries, the JPC was the only source of holiday supplies for many Jews, Passover assistance was an important part of the JDC aid program for the 800 Jewish survivors of the earthquake in Agader now being cared for in Casablanca.

Dewey D.Stone, national chairman of the United Israel Appeal, called upon American Jews to assist Israel’s newcomers to attain freedom “in the fullest sense of the word” by helping them to integrate themselves wholly into Israel’s economic life.”As we gather for the seder ceremony, we repeat the traditional invitation: may all those who are hungry come and share our meal. Yet to our brothers across the sea who cannot Join at the seder table we pledge that through our gifts to the United Jewish Appeal their needy, too, shall eat, ” Dr. Stone’s message said.

Abraham Feinberg, president of the Israel Bond Organization, said in his Passover message: “The realization of the ancient promise of Passover has ushered in a new era of fulfillment in which the State of Israel is fructifying large areas of long-neglected land and is building industries and homes for the settlement and sustenance of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families. This present-day deliverance through economic development is the result of a modern covenant of practical faith expressed through the State of Israel Bond campaign.

ZIONIST. NON-ZIONIST LEADERS, ISSUE PASSOVER APPEALS

Mrs, Rose Halprin,acting chairman of the Jewish Agency, stressed in her Passover message that 340,000 new citizens of Israel are still awaiting full rehabilitation. Pointing out that “political freedom without a minimum of economic self-sufficiency, without adequate homes, without proper medical and educational facilities must in the long run breed

frustration and bitterness, “she said; “To those who are still on the assistance rolls of the Jewish Agency (major beneficiary of the UJA) we owe that full measure of aid which alone can make freedom wholly meaningful to them and to their children.

Mrs, Halprin also emphasized that less than three weeks separate this Passover season from the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism.”It seems only fitting,” she said, “that in commemorating the Exodus from Egypt we should remember the man whose work prepared the ground for the modern Exodus from the ruins of war-tern Europe, from the DP camps and the ghettos of the Moslem world. Like Moses, he led his people in the wilderness and it was not given to him to see the full realization of his vision. Yet his mighty pen wrote the opening lines for a new chapter in Jewish history.”

Murray I. Gurfein, president of United Hias Service, pointed out in his message that Passover this year coincides with the World Refugee Year, Declaring that “thousands of Jews are at present eagerly awaiting for their own exodus in order to Join their families” he stressed that “United Hias Service is striving to help them resettle at the earliest possible time in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Australia.”

Special Passover messages were issued also by Herbert B.Ehrmaim, president of the American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Joachim Prinz President of the American Jewish Congress; Label A. Katz, national president of B’nai B’rith Abraham A. Redelheim, president of the Zionist Organization of America; Dr.Miriam K.Fieund, national president of Hadassab; and Mrs.Charles Hymes, president of the National Council of Jewish Women.

The heads of many other Jewish organizations, lay and rabbinical, also issued special holiday messages, among them being greetings from the leaders of the organized Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements.