Jews throughout the world will greet the New Year tonight with the hope that the coming year will bring the war to a victorious end and restore to normal living the surviving Jews in Europe after five years of Nazi extermination during which millions of Jews in various German-occupied countries were massacred and starved to death.
On every fighting front where American forces are battling the enemy, Jewish men and women in uniform will be given the opportunity by their commanding officers to observe Rosh Hashonah in traditional Jewish fashion. Services will be conducted at army camps, naval bases, on battleships and aboard transports. Wherever possible, army and navy authorities will grant permission for Jewish men to attend services at synagogues in local communities here, or to return home on furlough and observe the Holy Days with their families. In some cases families in communities near army camps will entertain servicemen as their guests.
The Jewish Welfare Board has forwarded 1,000,000 Rosh Hashonah greeting cards to men in all branches of armed forces, as well as prayer books and leaflets explaining the significance of the High Holy Days and ample stocks of prayer shawls. The services for men in the Army and in the Navy will be conducted by 251 Jewish chaplains, 96 of whom are overseas. In areas where there are insufficient numbers of Jewish men to warrant the appointment of a Jewish chaplain, the Jewish Welfare Beard has arranged to supply these groups who wish to conduct services themselves with transcriptions of High Holy Day programs recorded by distinguished cantors and choirs.
AMERICAN RED CROSS PROVIDES FACILITIES FOR JEWS IN THE ARMED FORCES
Through facilities provided by the American Red Cross men and women of Jewish faith serving in the U.S. armed forces all over the world have been enabled to send Rosh Hashonah greetings to their families in the United States. The Selective Service Headquarters notified all local Selective Service offices that Jewish registrants wishing to observe Rosh Hashonah may be delivered to induction centers either before or after the holiday. The War Department and the Navy Department indicated that their Jewish employees will be granted High Holy Day leaves upon request.
The Office of War Information invited the Synagogue Council of America to broadcast Rosh Hashonah messages to the Jews of the world and to the armed forces overseas. Detained Jewish immigrants at Ellis Island and refugees who are temporarily being sheltered there will observe Rosh Hashonah at special services arranged for them by the Hias.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
