U.S. Jews Meet New Year with Pride of 300 Years of Achievements

American Jewry is meeting the Jewish New Year 5715–which starts at sundown tomorrow–with jubilation over its achievements during 300 years of Jewish settlement in this country, and with pride at the contributions which the Jews have made to the development of the United States during these three centuries.

At the same time, concern will be expressed during many Rosh Hashanah sermons in synagogues all over the nation at the intention of the State Department to provide arms for the Arab states at a time when they refuse to conclude peace with Israel. Appeals will be made in synagogues for funds to help Israel and Jewish communities in Europe and North Africa.

200,000 U.S. JEWISH SERVICEMEN OBSERVE HOLIDAY IN 50 COUNTRIES

More than 200, 000 Jews in the United States armed services, stationed in this country and in about 50 overseas areas, will usher in the New Year with services conducted by a corps of 335 Jewish chaplains officiating at American military posts in Europe, Asia, the Pacific Islands, Alaska, the Caribbean area and in the U.S. Arrangements for these services have been made by the National Jewish Welfare Board which sent tons of religious supplies and kosher food to these bases months before the High Holy Days.

Rosh Hashanah will be observed by Jewish servicemen at lonely anti-aircraft stations in the jungles of Panama, at secret radar stations in the Arctic, on maneuvers, in military hospitals, and at JWB servicemen’s centers in Germany; Balboa, Canal Zone; Tokyo and Fairbanks. Wide dispersal of Jewish troops and the small number of Jewish chaplains will mean transportation of Jewish servicemen from Tripoli across the desert to Sidi Slimane, French Morocco. In Korea, servicemen who will travel by truck, jeep, rail and plane, will be accommodated in the tent city set up at I Corps Headquarters by the military before the Holy Days. In Europe, hundreds will head for such cities as Paris and Bordeaux, Wiesbaden, Munich, Heidelberg and Frankfurt.

In the ice-locked U.S. base of Thule, Greenland, 800 miles from the North Pole, a Jewish chaplain flown by the Air Force will conduct a service. Between New Year and Yom Kippur he will fly for services to Air Force Bases in Greenland, winding up for Yom Kippur in Goosebay, Labrador. The decks of the mammoth aircraft-carrier, Coral Sea–stationed somewhere in the Mediterranean–will be the scene of a New Year service arranged by the lone Jewish chaplain in Naples, Italy, who will serve the Holy Day needs of Navy personnel of the entire 6th Mediterranean Fleet.

In Great Britain, British rabbis who served as chaplains in the second World War, will be marshalled for the first time as auxiliary chaplains to conduct services for American troops through arrangements made by JWB’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy, the Jewish Committee for Her Majesty’s Forces and the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. On the continent, the thousands of GI’s at European posts who will not be able to leave camp for the Holy Days, will be led in worship by a corps of 150 GI’s who received special training in the ritual details of the New Year service at an Army-sponsored religious retreat conducted in Berchtesgaden, Germany, summer headquarters of the late Adolph Hitler.

COMMUNAL LEADERS ISSUE HOLIDAY MESSAGES TO JEWS IN U.S.

In keeping with their annual custom, leaders of all major organizations in this country issued Rosh Hashanah messages most of which emphasized the fact that for American Jews this Rosh Hashanah sanctifies a very special commemoration because of their entrance into the fourth century of Jewish life in this country.

Edward M. Warburg, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, called upon American Jewry to rededicate itself during the High Holy Days “to the service of suffering humanity” and recommit itself to the work of helping Israel and the needy Jewish communities in Europe and North Africa. “Thanks to the enlightened and generous support of American Jews extended to the UJA, there is betterment everywhere as we go into the year 5715,” he stated.

Other Jewish leaders who issued Rosh Hashanah messages include Irving Engel, president of the American Jewish Committee; Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress; Adolph Held, president of the Jewish Labor Committee; Julian Freeman, president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds; Philip Klutznick, national president of the B’nai B’rith and Ralph E. Samuel, chairman of the American Jewish Tercentenary.

Greetings were also issued by Charles Aaron, president of the National Jewish Welfare Board; Ben Touster, president of the United HIAS Service; Dr. William Haber, president of the American ORT; Harry T. Madison, commander of the Jewish War Veterans; Dr. George S. Wise, president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University; and J. W. Wunsch, president of the American Technion Society.

Among the Zionist leaders who issued Rosh Hashanah greetings, are: Samuel Rothberg, national chairman of the Israel Bond Organizations; Rudolf Sonneborn, national chairman of United Israel Appeal; Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council; Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Zionist Public Affairs Committee; Mortimer May, president of the Zionist Organization of America; Mrs. Rebecca Shulman, president of Hadassah; Rabbi Mordecai Kirshblum, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America; Dr. Harris J. Levine, president of the Jewish National Fund of America; Dr. Sara Feder, president of Pioneer Women, and others.

The religious and rabbinical groups which issued messages include: Synagogue Council of America, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbinical Council of America, Yeshiva University, and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. More than 700 rabbis–Orthodox, Conservative and Reform–from all parts of the country issued a joint call addressed to American Jewry on the occasion of the High Holidays, urging “our fellow Jews of America to identify themselves with the program and activities of the Zionist Organization of America.”