JCC Association's JWB Jewish Chaplains Council Readies Seder Kits for Troops in Remote and Battle-Torn Regions
 NEW YORK, NY, MARCH 20, 2009 – Passover, the most widely celebrated of all festivals on the Jewish calendar, begins this year at sundown on Wednesday, April 8. While Jews worldwide gather around Seder tables, the holiday can be a trying time for thousands of U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen and women unable to join their families and loved ones. Reaching out to these isolated Jews stationed at bases at home and overseas, JCC Association, through the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, has prepared its annual spring shipment of individual Seder kits and finalized travel arrangements for the military chaplains who will spend an entire month abroad, leading communal Seders and alleviating the loneliness, particularly acute during holiday seasons, that accompanies active combat duty.
JCC Association is a U.S. government agency accredited to serve the religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients in VA hospitals. Kits will soon be on their way to Iraq , Afghanistan , ships in the Atlantic and the Persian Gulf in the Middle East , and other locations abroad. They are designed to enable servicemen and women deployed on ships and in remote areas of the world to have "a taste of Pesach" when the challenges of life in combat prevent attendance at family or communal services.
Each kit contains a box of matzah; a large can of gefilte fish with the traditional horseradish; a box of fruit-slice candy; macaroons; a box of chocolate-covered matzah; a Haggadah; and a pamphlet explaining the eight-day festival's rituals and restrictions. JWB is able to send these packages thanks to the generosity of hundreds of donors, both individuals and organizations, across the country.
Other service personnel who are able to make it to a communal gathering will be fortunate to have the spiritual leadership of JWB chaplains who will be fanning out across Europe, the Middle East and the Far East . Army Chaplain Henry Soussan is already stationed in Kuwait ; Air Force Chaplain Sarah Schechter is already stationed in Iraq ; Army Chaplain Avrohom Horovitz is heading to Iraq as well, where he will remain stationed after Pesach. Chaplain Irving Elson and Chaplain Joel Newman, both Navy officers, will also conduct Passover services.
Lay leaders will fill in the gaps, conducting Seders on bases where Jewish professionals can't be present.
JCC Association welcomes donations from the public to defray the costs of the services it provides to Jewish military personnel. For more information or to make a donation, log onto http://online.jcca.org/soloSederkits or mail contributions to JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, 520 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10018.
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JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
520 8th Ave., NY, NY 10018
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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