Pvt Murray Hoffer Overseas Tells Young People
How He Spent Yom Kippur On High Seas

Pvt. Murray G. Hoffer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hoffer, of Wade St., who is stationed somewheres in England with the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army, wrote the following letter to the young men and women of the Young People’s Congreg. Ohab Sholem, 126 Rutgers Ave.:

Somewheres on the Atlantic
Dear Fellows and Girls:

To some of you, I am well-known. To others I might have been mentioned in some casual conversation. However, what I have to say now should be of interest to everyone of you. I’d like to describe how I spent today-Yom Kippur.

Many boys have gone overseas-yes, but not too many have spent our highest holiday on the Atlantic. At Nilah services tonight, I decided to let you know of my state and implore everyone of you to carry on the good work of our congregation until we boys come home.

At the morning service, we had about 100 people. There women and men of various services of various nations. Our ship carried no Torah and no Bible. But we had more than those obstacles to overcome. We had only about 40 prayer books. For our prayer shawls, we wore our life preservers.

Our services were interrupted by an Emergency Muster. This was practice to abandon ship in case we were hit by enemy torpedoes. Yes their subs are still around and we have to guard against them. And then again, we have to guard against them. And then again, we were using a portion of the deck to hold our services as we were no fortunate to have a synagogue of even your size.

There was no need to tell this congregation to stop talking or to keep order. These fellows and girls knew what was before them and we prayed as none of us prayed before. This Yom Kippur meant a great deal to all of us. And fasting on the high seas meant a lot to all of us. And fasting on the high seas is not easy. I fasted for about two days-Yom Kippur and seasickness causing the lengthy fast, to be truthful.

We prayed not only for ourselves but for ou folks back home. We want you to keep up those institutions and those ideals that we have left. We want to take up where we left off- when we again touch America’s shores. As we said in one of our prayers-“O Lord, Thou art with my distant loved ones even while Thou art here with me as Thou hearkenest to mine, bless us and keep us united in spirit until we meet again.”

Pvt. Hoffer, now attached to the medical corps, is a graduate of the Yeshivah Jacob Joseph. At the time of his enlistment he was a pre-medical student at N. Y. U.

Be sure to spend some time exploring the museum next time you are at Beth Ahm

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