Passover would begin at sundown Monday, April 15. This was the first Passover in thirteen years that the Jews of Europe were free from the threat of Hitler. The Sunday Times reported that 1,600 rabbis across country were joining in an appeal for aid for the 1.4 million Jewish war survivors who faced "the specter of starvation, homelessness and persecution." The appeal was part of a $100,000,000 campaign by the the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees, Overseas Needs and Palestine. The story stated that an additional million dollars in food and supplies would be purchased by the Joint Distribution Committee specifically for the relief of tens of thousands of Polish Jews who would be returning from sanctuary in the Soviet Union. According to other news reports around this time, the British claimed that some of this relief effort actually was being used to smuggle European Jews into Palestine over British objections. In a pre-Passover message, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, president of the Zionist Organization of America, expressed his conviction that "the day is not far off when every living Israelite will ally himself with the Zionist ideal."
In another news item, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee announced that matzohs and copies of the Hagadoth had been sent to Jews in Berlin and 20 countries in Europe and the Middle East, including 150,000 pounds of matzoh to Shanghai.
A related story said that gladioli grown in the Jewish village of Mishmar Hasharon in Palestine was enroute to New York to be placed in a leading church and leading synagogue in the city for holiday services. It was a gift from the Palestine economic bureau of the Zionist Organization of America.