Jewish Chaplains Prepare for Passover
Passover is the most widely celebrated of all the Jewish holidays,
but this year thousands of U.S. service men and women will
be unable to join their families and loved ones around the
Seder
table. Reaching out to these isolated Jews at home and overseas,
JCC Association through the JWB
Chaplains Council is shipping over 2,500 solo Seder kits
this spring, a significant increase over past years. JCC Association
is the only U.S. government accredited agency for serving
the
religious and social needs of Jewish military personnel, their
families, and patients in VA hospitals.
The kits are designed to enable servicemen and women deployed
on ships and in remote areas of the world to have "a
taste of Pesach" when their duties make it impossible
for them to attend family or community services. The current
call up in the Middle East has made it that much more critical
to meet the needs of personnel in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi
Arabia, as well as the many ships deployed in the area. “I
am worried about Pesach because there is so much uncertainty
about what will be next week, let alone next month,”
said a chaplain stationed near the Iraqi border. “In
the meantime, I feel like I am taking care of our people.
I know this is where I need to
be.”
Shipments went out to Kosovo as well as Germany, Bosnia, Italy,
and England in the European Theater of Operations; and to
Okinawa, Japan, and South Korea in the Pacific. Chaplain Irving
A. Elson, USN, has been deployed to Kuwait from Marine Air
Station Miramar, CA; Chaplain Kenneth J. Leinwand, senior
Jewish chaplain in Europe, will be traveling to Kosovo and
Bosnia from his home post in Heidelberg, Germany. Many dedicated
Jewish military lay leaders are also making efforts to provide
Jewish personnel with Passover supplies.
The solo Seder kit consists of a box of matza, two cans of
kosher-for-Pesach chicken matza ball soup, two cans of tuna
fish, a bottle of kosher grape juice, a Hagaddah, and a Passover
pamphlet.
JCC Association is the leadership network of,
and central agency for the Jewish Community Center Movement,
which is comprised of more than 275 JCCs, YM-YWHAs and camps
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 only 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
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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