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Yom Kippur Services Held in Yokohamas Oldest Church, Soldier Blows the Shofar

September 18, 1945
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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For the first time in the history of Japan, the empire of the rising sun heard the shofar blown by an American soldier at the conclusion of Yom Kippur services tonight, which were attended by several hundred Jewish men of the U. S. armed forces.

The services were held in a Presbyterian Church, by the sea, the oldest in Japan. Chaplain Morris Adler of Detroit pronounced a memorial prayer “for those of every creed who gave up their lives in this war to the end that freedom might live.” Corporal Daniel Cohen of Brooklyn, N.Y. blow the Shofar.

The church was offered for the Jewish High Holy Day services by Pastor Rauk Watnake who lived in the United States for twenty years. A congregation of soldiers, sailors and marines, some of them with sidearms, attended Kol Nidrei services last night and the all day services today.

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