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HUNDREDS OF IMMIGRANT SOLDIERS AT PESACH SEDER SPONSORED BY LIBI FUND Seder funded by International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; Center to help disadvantaged new immigrants and indigent families furnish their homes, funded by the Jewish Agency, opens in Ashkelon; Pesach campaign in Iraq: UJC sent 1,500 "seder kits" to Jewish soldiers in Iraq & Persian Gulf
 Young Indian Jews learn the traditional way of baking matzahs from their extended family, as part of the Jewish Agency's pre-Pesach preparations at the Ye'elim Absorption Center For the second year in a row, Keren Libi- the Fund for Strengthening Israel's Defense, will hold a seder for new immigrant soldiers who came to Israel without their families. The seder, which is funded by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, will be held in a hotel in the center of the country. Leading the seder will be Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Gabi Ashkenazi, President of the IFFJ, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, and Chairman of Keren Libi, Danny Matt. The rabbi of the IDF Education Corps, Rabbi Yehuda Wiesner, will lead the seder. Hundreds of immigrant soldiers who are in Israel alone, and who have distinguished themselves in their units, will take part in the seder, with priority given to combat soldiers. A number of families whose children fell during their army service have also been invited. The soldiers will arrive at the hotel Wednesday afternoon. At 4:00 PM, a toast will be held together with senior security officials, the Chairman of the Libi Fund, and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Tsippi Livni. The seder will be organized in a special way: the soldiers will sit at round tables; at each, a teacher/soldier will lead a discussion on the meaning of the holiday and the significance of the Hagaddah in present times. They will focus on topics such as the Return to Zion, immigration and absorption, and the like. For the past 23 years, the Libi Fund has worked to better the welfare of soldiers and to raise the educational level of young men and women who dropped out of school, giving them a second chance to study and to be accepted into the army and Israeli society. The Libi Fund seeks to raise the educational level of soldiers, to help new immigrants integrate into Israeli society and learn Hebrew, to assist soldiers from underprivileged families, to enhance the army's medical system by setting up medical facilities and acquiring advanced medical equipment for the soldiers, and to develop sophisticated defense equipment. General (res.) Danny Matt has served as the chairman of Keren Libi for ten years. The fund is run by a small group of officers and soldiers. Keren Libi raises funds from individuals and companies, and through special events it organizes throughout the country. "Light at home" in Ashkelon A new assistance center to help needy new immigrants furnish and equip their homes was dedicated last week in Ashkelon at a ceremony in which Jewish Agency chairman Sallai Meridor, Jewish Agency director-general Giora Romm, and Ashkelon mayor Benny Vaknin participated. The center, which was set up with a contribution from the Jewish Agency, will help families living in Ashkelon that lack the means to set up homes. The center is run by the Ashkelon Foundation, the Jewish Agency, and the Municipality of Ashkelon with the help of volunteers recruited by the Volunteers Division of the municipality. It was opened right before Pesach, a time when people traditionally go through their homes, buy new things, and give away their used items. The managers of the center, called Or Babayit (Light at Home) received calls from city residents and institutions that wanted to donate furniture and equipment in good condition, as well as from families that needed the items. Staff go to donors' homes to ensure that the items are in good condition; they are brought directly to the recipient or to a storage warehouse. Recipients pay a token fee. "I appeal to the government; despite the new economic plan, do not hurt the olim. They are our oxygen, we need them!" said Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor with great emotion when dedicating the center. He further noted that Peach is the holiday of aliyah and thanked the immigrants who cast their fate with the Jewish people in its homeland. Mayor Benny Vaknin warmly thanked the Jewish Agency for undertaking to establish the center. During a visit by the heads of the Jewish Agency, he said, Giora Romm informed him that they would probably receive an additional NIS 250,000 donation from the Meyerhoff Family Foundation to purchase basic furniture for needy elderly people. Seder in the Persian Gulf The UJC has sent Jewish soldiers serving in Iraq and the Persian Gulf 1,500 "seder kits," so that they can celebrate the seder properly. Each kit includes a Haggadah, a package of matzahs, grape juice, gefilte fish, chicken soup with kneidlach, and other "Kosher for Passover" items. Seven rabbis left for the Gulf to supervise the distribution of the kits and to help the soldiers with holiday arrangements. "I am still trying to figure out how to make Pesach," wrote Rabbi Captain David Goldstrum, who is with the Jewish soldiers in the Gulf, to Rabbi Joseph Grossman, one of the kashruth experts at the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. "I am now working on the seder and am trying, with the other rabbis, to figure out how to include as many Jewish soldiers as possible in this event. The idea is to hold several seders in various locations and to make sure that the soldiers are be able to leave their units and take part in them. Pesach around the world The WZO's Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora, in cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Jewish Agency, will conduct hundreds of Pesach seders for thousands of Jews in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Emissaries of the Sephardic Midrash in Jerusalem, the B'nei Akiva and Ezra youth movements, and 20 other organizations will conduct seders in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. In Eastern Europe, seders in Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Poland, will be jointly sponsored by David Ben-Naeh, director-general of the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora, and Tova Pinto, the head of the Jewish Agency delegation to Eastern Europe. At the request of Rabbi Kotel Dadon in Zagreb, Ben-Naeh has gone to Dubrovnik in Croatia, to conduct a seder in a small community that has not had a seder for many years. He brought along kosher food from Israel - including shnitzels, gefilte fish, and haroset. Seders will also be held in the city of Porto in Portugal, and in Bombay and Cochin, in India. An illustration edition of the Jerusalem Haggadah has been printed by the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora and Israel Publications.
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