CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)
Following is a letter written by a Jewish Confederate soldier, Isaac J. Levy of the 46th Virginia infantry, from camp in Adams Run South Carolina, describing to his sister how he and his brother Ezekiel ("Zeke") observed Passover while in the army.

Adams Run April 24, 1864.

Dear Leonora,
No doubt you were much surprised on receiving a letter from me addressed to our dear parents dated on the 21st which was the first day of Passover. We were all under the impression in camp that the first day of the festival was 22nd and if my memory serves me right I think that Ma wrote me that Passover was on the 22nd. Zeke was somewhat astonished on arriving in Charleston on Wednesday afternoon to learn that that was the first Seder night. He purchased Matzot sufficient to last us for the week. The cost is somewhat less than in Richmond, being but $2 a pound. We are observing the festival in a truly orthodox style. On the first day we had a fine vegetable soup. It was made of a bunch of vegetables which Zeke brought from Charleston containing new onions, parsley, carrots, turnips, and a young cauliflower; also a pound and a half of fresh beef, the latter article sells for four dollars per pound in Charleston. Zeke E. did not bring us any meat from home. He brought us some of his own, smoked meat which he is sharing with us; he says that he supposes that Pa forgot to deliver it to him. No news in this section at present. Troops from Florida are passing over the road enroute for Richmond. 'Tis probable that we will remain in this department and were it not for the unhealthy season which is approaching, [we] would be well satisfied to remain here. We received this morning Sarah's letter of the 18th and are truly sorry to hear that her sight is affected and trust that in a few days she will have recovered entirely her perfect sight.

Love to all,
Your affectionate brother
Isaac J. Levy

WORLD WAR II (1941-1945)
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in December of 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany. The Jews in America answered their country's call in great numbers. By the time World War II ended in August of 1945, over 550,000 Jews had served in the Armed Forces. 8,000 gave their lives, and 18,000 were wounded. There were 61,500 decorations and medals given to 35,000 Jews who served. A total of 311 rabbis served as chaplains during World War II, ten times the number of those serving in WWI. They served in every theatre of the war from Greenland to New Guinea, from India to North Africa and Germany. In Europe, they traveled by jeep to meet their men, in the Pacific by plane or boat. Jewish chaplains attached to the Marine divisions covered all the island battles, including Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They also tended to the forces occupying Japan, Korea and China; one Jewish chaplain traveled through China for a year visiting troops.

The Jewish Welfare Board supplied chaplains and servicemen with 900,000 packages of matzo, wine and other necessities for Passover Seders. They also became the largest publisher of Jewish books, producing an astonishing total of 2,545,085 Passover Haggadot and Sabbath and Holiday prayer books. One unforgettable Seder in 1944, was facilitated by Rabbi Aaron Paperman, a chaplain connected to the Fifth Army under the command of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark. At the Seder, held for over 5,000 Jewish troops in a railway station in Naples, Italy, General Clark made the following memorable remarks:

"Tonight you are eating unleavened bread just as your forebears ate unleavened bread. Because the Exodus came so quickly the dough had no time to rise. There was a time of unleavened bread in this war. The time when it looked as though we might not have time to rise-- time to raise an army and equip it, time to stop the onrush of a Germany that was already risen. But the bread has begun to rise. It started at Alamein. It was rising higher when the Fifth Army invaded Italy. It is reaching the top of the pan and soon the time will come when it will spread out... [and victory will be ours]."

THE GOLD RUSH (1848-1856)
The merchant class of the developing frontier boom towns were often heavily Jewish. The business district of Sonora, Grass Valley and Nevada City, California (among others) had traditional Jewish communities with Passover and Yom Tov services at various times during the Gold Rush. The major source of religious articles and food stuffs such as matzos and wine were merchants in San Francisco. As the noted historian Robert Levinson wrote: "Nevada City was the home of numerous Jews, which included the Aaron Baruh family who maintained separate dishes for Passover and ordered matzos from San Francisco. So that the entire community would have kosher meat for Passover, the Reverend Samuel M. Laski of San Francisco acted as shochet. He came to Nevada City to slaughter the animals. The preparations for the holiday of Passover in the Jewish communities of the Mother Lode were always elaborate. In Sonora, Julius Baer recalled that his parents conducted the Passover Seder at home and that, in anticipation of the holiday, "Dad used to buy 25 to 30 pounds of matzoth." In Mokelumne Hill, special preparations were also made for Passover, but owing to the remoteness of Mokelumne Hill and the great distance to San Francisco, special holiday foods did not arrive as planned. "My father used to tell me that any celebration of Passover was observed by the time the Matzos arrived in Mokelumne Hill." However, Aaron Harris, who resided in Yosemite Park in the 1870s and 1880s, wanted to celebrate Passover at the proper time. So that his observance would not be late, as it was in Mokelumne Hill, "the Matzos were always ordered the previous year (from San Francisco) so that they would arrive in time for the Passover."

Stories of American Jewish History courtesy of American Jewish Legacy. With thanks to American Jewish Archives, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, Robert Rosen and Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna.