Passover
In Palestine, 1948

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Fears of starvation,
snipers and hopes for redemption abounded.

proceeds from sales were used to buy
additional provisions.
Jerusalem writer Shmuel Bizinski
made
his own unique preparations.
ifty years ago, conditions in
Since
he
assumed that he would not
Palestine were so tense —
be
able
to
visit Jerusalem's Western
especially with the with-
Wall during Passover, he decided to
drawal of the British only a
make his way there a few weeks earlier.
month away — that Jews in Palestine
He buttonholed a friend, a
were not sure that the holiday,
British officer, who secured an
due to begin on April 23,
Israeli soldiers extra British uniform which
would ever arrive.
In Tel Aviv and Haifa, com- patrol a road the writer donned.
in Israel dur-
Together the two of them
mittees busily worked to col-
ing
the
1948-
made
their way through the
lect food for Passover for the
49
War
or
embattled
Old City, running
detainees in the Cyprus camps.
Indepen ce. into groups of Arab legion-
During the end of March and
naires at every turn but not
the first week-and-a half of
hindered by them because of their
April, regular advertisements appeared
army dress. Despite occasional skir-
in all the newspapers announcing the
mishes between Arab snipers and the
shipment for the Cyprus exiles. A spe-
Jews,
Bizinski quietly and unobtru-
cial edition of the well-known Yavne
sively
made his way to the Wall where
Haggadah was printed bearing the
he
uttered
a silent prayer.
symbol of the Cyprus campaign, and
Throughout March and during
Rabbi David Geffen is spiritual
the beginning of April, convoys
leader of Temple Israel in Scranton, Pa.
bringing food from Tel Aviv to

RABBI DAVID GEFFEN
Special to the Jewish News

F

Jerusalem were halted by Arab
attackers in the Judean Hills.
Civilian and military groups effec-
tively closed the road to Jerusalem
with only a few battered trucks able
to make it through. These siege con-
ditions prompted articles in the New
York Times and other papers abroad
stating that Jerusalem's 106,000
Jewish inhabitants faced starvation.
Tel Aviv was a different story. On
April 8, announcements were pub-
lished to the effect that every ration-
card bearer would be entitled to three
kilograms of potatoes, with the possi-
bility of more to come. Matzah was
available to the poor, and 10 days
before Passover at a store opened at 42
King George Street in Tel Aviv,
matzah was sold to people who had
valid ration-cards for sugar.
For those Tel Avivians who were
not planning to have a seder at home,
an invitation was printed in the papers
and on the billboards alerting them to
a public seder scheduled to be held at

4/10

1998

41