Pesach and American Soldiers

Librarian's Lobby
by Daniel D. Stuhlman
April 2000

Pesach and American Soldiers

In looking over my father's memorabilia, I found a program and menu for a Pesach seder for soldiers that occurred in Casblanca

in 1943. Jewish soldiers were allowed leave to go to Casablanca. My father

had been in heavy fighting in Italy. He never talked about the fighting, but he remembered the sedarim. Since he had a powerful voice and loved to sing, he was able to help lead the singing.² The ability of Jewish soldiers to gather and celebrate was very important for their morale. Frequently soldiers were subjected to anti-Semitism and racism by fellow soldiers and commanding officers. The holiday celebration was a time to leave the fighting and join with fellow Jews in the celebration of freedom. Since I have no notes of the event, I can only imagine what the leader of the Casblanca seder said about the struggle for Jews to leave Egypt and the struggle for the Army to win the War. He probably said the events were connected and now we should all act as free men.

In the book, God's Warriors, by Dov Peretz Elkins (Jonathan David Publishers, 1974) many stories are told of Jewish chaplains who helped take care of Jewish soldiers and save Jewish lives. Rabbi Judah Nadich was an advisor to General Eisenhower. Eisenhower and Nadich were instrumental in getting aid to Jews in DP camps. President Truman sent a very strongly worded letter to Eisenhower concerning the problems of helping the victims. General Patton was fired over the issue of how he dealt with the DPs. When released from the army in December 1945, Rabbi Nadich toured the world to tell what happened and to raise money to help the survivors. Eisenhower and Truman's policy of helping the Jews led directly to the Pesach seder of the Survivor's Haggadah.

In another chapter, Rabbi Elkins, tells of a seder in Goebbels' Castle in April 1945. The war was in its closing weeks. Chaplain Joseph S. Shubow was discussing Passover arrangements with his men. A few days after the discussion, the U.S. Army crossed the Rhine River. This was symbolically connected by the commanding officer of the Ninth Army, General John P. Anderson, to the Jews crossing the Yam Suf (Sea of Reeds). Rabbi Shubow wanted to make that Passover different and memorable to all the Jewish men of the Ninth Army. They learned about the meaning of freedom and talked about the connection between the tyrant of Germany and the Pharaoh. Rabbi Shubnow needed to find a place to hold a seder for 400 people. One of the local residents told him about the castle. The press officer was shocked and amazed. Not only did he help them, but made sure everyone knew of the irony. He wanted to write a script for a movie, because he never thought anyone would believe a documentary story of a Jewish Passover in the home of a Nazi. The words of the young soldier who said that the crossing of the Rhine would be like the exodus from Egypt proved prophetic. A few weeks, later the army took Berlin and Goebbels took his own life. We do not know if he knew about the Passover in his home.

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 Footnotes
1. For those of you keeping count-- in 1998 I mentioned in this column that my personal collection had more than 75 haggadot. As of December 2020 I have more than 178 in the collection.

2. After the War my father had dreams of being an actor and/or radio announcer. He never did either professionally. He kept up his singing and was a regular in the Yiddish Theater and other amateur community theater groups.