The Oldest Active U.S. Aircraft Carrier Is Hosting A Passover Seder
Image by wikimedia commons
By Laura E. Adkins April 10, 2017
Think organizing a Passover Seder is hard work? Try doing it in the middle of the ocean.
Lt. Nicholas Fritzhand, a weapon-systems officer, will be conducting a Passover Seder aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz, the oldest active U.S. aircraft carrier, on April 10. The Seder, conducted 500 miles from shore in the middle of the Arabian Sea, will be made possible thanks to supplies shipped via Priority Mail from The Aleph Institute, a non-profit run by the Chabad movement, which seeks to help Jews learn more about Judaism.
“We are sending supplies for more than 500 Passover seders across the globe,” Rabbi Menachem Katz, director of Prison and Military Outreach for The Aleph Institute, told Chabad News. “This will serve about 5,000 people.”
“It may not be the fanciest of seders, but we have the basic supplies, so we will make it work,” Airman 1st Class Mariel Meltzer said. “When you are in an isolated location, it doesn’t matter if you have a white tablecloth, a big meal or even someone who can sing on key. If there are Jews, matzoh and a kosher-for-Passover MRE [military-speak for Meals Ready to Eat], that’s all you need.”
Laura E. Adkins is the Forward’s contributing network editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @Laura_E_Adkins.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
Most Popular
- 1
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 2
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 3
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.