Tag: American Jews in World War Two

     Pesach – Passover – is the most universally observed festival of the Jewish people – regardless of the nature of one’s religious beliefs, level of observance, or political affiliation.

     Though Pesach certainly carries a festive air, the holiday is far more than merely “a holiday”; at least, as such days are understood in the conventional sense of the term. 

     Pesach commemorates – even as it celebrates – the origin of the Jews as a distinct people sharing a national ethos and identity, through the form of a vivid historical narrative suffused with overtones, messages, and commentary – some subtle; some direct – about their identity, ideals, and relationship to God. 

     While it is obviously true that a central message of Pesach is the moral and practical imperative of freedom from slavery – whether that slavery be physical, intellectual, psychological, or spiritual – the core of the celebration extends beyond “freedom” per se, as a philosophical concept and legal actuality.  For, pure and unalloyed “freedom”, if not carefully guarded and consciously guided, can in time revert back into a form of slavery. 

      In a fuller sense, the message of Pesach is not simply “Let my people go!”, but, “Let My people go that they may worship me in the wilderness.”  (Exodus, 7:16) *

     The Haggadah – an example of which is the subject of this post – is the central text that serves as both a narrative and guide for the Pesach Seder.  Though Haggadot are centered around the central and ordered sequence of elements that comprise the Pesach Seder, the actual text and physical appearance of “a” Haggadah is not solidly fixed.  Even the most cursory Internet search for the term “Haggadah” reveals a myriad of images of the text – some simple; some elaborate.  Thus, with each new iteration of the Haggadah, its wide variety of forms, formats, and styles are reflective of the cultural conditions and historical forces influencing the long and continuing history of the Jewish people, shedding light on the mindset, values, and beliefs of the community or organization which published the text.  In that sense, each new publication can be a sociological, cultural, artistic, and linguistic “window” upon the past.  Such is so with the Guam Haggadah. 

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     The document presented in this post – “Haggadah – Seder in the Marianas : Passover 5705-1945” – is one such example.  This Haggadah was published for and used by Jewish soldiers, airmen, and sailors stationed on the Island of Guam – the southernmost island of the Marianas archipelago, in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean – for Pesach services in March of 1945. 

     One might aptly call it the “Guam Haggadah.”

     This Haggadah – in remarkably good condition – is among the holdings of the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library.

     The three men whose names appear on page two of the text – David I. Cedarbaum (Army), and, Philip Lipis and Elihu Rickle (both Navy) – were chaplains serving Jewish military personnel on Guam. 

     As indicated by the notation on the last page, the text was printed by the 20th Air Force’s 949th Aviation Engineer Topographical Company. 

     The text of the Guam Haggadah is derived from the revised edition of The New Haggadah, edited by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan and published by Behrman’s Jewish Book House in 1942.  The literary descendant of Kaplan’s 1942 Haggadah exists today as The New American Haggadah, and is available at Berhman’s House.   

     Mention of the Guam Haggadah is made in “Volume I” of the two-volume 1947 publication American Jews in World War II.  In an extensive account of Chaplain Cedarbaum’s service with the 20th Air Force (in a chapter entitled “They Delivered the Atom”) it is stated that, “He had hardly reached his new post when he found himself involved, along with Navy chaplain Philip Lipis, in the organization of an ambitious Passover service on Guam, the first ever held in that part of the Pacific.  The ancient Seder services were celebrated on March 28, simultaneously in two large mess halls.

     “Twenty-seven hundred soldiers and sailors attended.  The Hebrew Haggadah they used had been printed on the Island by 20th AF presses.  No doubt to all of them it was the most impressive service of their lives.”

     At least one photograph from the Seder is available on the Internet. 

     At the flickr Photostream of the Center for Jewish History (CJH), an image from the David Cedarbaum papers shows, “Jewish servicemen and women celebrate[ing] Passover together by eating matzo.  A caption next to the photo notes that the woman pictured is one of only seven Jewish women stationed in Guam.”  The woman in question is an Ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps.  Copies of the Guam Haggadah can be seen on the table before both her, and, the happily distracted (!) serviceman to her left.

     The next post will show the individual pages of the Guam Haggadah.

* Alternatively, “Send out My people that they may serve Me in the Wilderness.”