Sandwiches Feed Hordes of European Passengers

As flights resumed late Monday night from European airports south of an Icelandic volcano’s infamous ash cloud, thousands of stranded travelers crowded departure halls in such cities as Madrid, Rome and Marseille for their first chance to leave the stricken continent.

While their first thoughts were of securing passage out of Europe, many found themselves in unfamiliar locations without food or drink. But according to Israeli-bound passengers who left Marseille on two flights around midnight, one local rabbi – bearing bushels of kosher sandwiches and gallons of cold juice, soda and water – stood out among the hordes at the check-in-counters like an oasis in the desert.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” remarked Yossi Cohen, a native of Afula, Israel, who had phoned from the train to tip off Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Eliyahu Altabe that hundreds of people were making their way like him from Paris to the south of the country to catch flights home. “There were hundreds of hundreds of sandwiches. Drinks, cookies. Thank G-d, because everyone was hungry.”

Cohen joined Altabe and another local resident, Thierry Levy, in passing out the food. Among those who enjoyed the refreshments was former Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik.

“The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, sent emissaries to the farthest corners of the world just for this,” said Cohen, “to help people in distress.”

Cohen’s journeys after last week’s eruption mirrored those of countless others throughout the continent. He had been in Paris for a week and was due to return home on April 15 when aviation authorities banned all commercial traffic over much of Europe. Word circulated that he could fly out Friday morning, but when that had turned out to be little more than a mirage, he was left without plans for the Jewish Sabbath. He contacted Rabbi Chalom Dovber Danan, who welcomed him to his Chabad House in the Parisian suburb of Fontenay Sous Bois.

Article Continued (Chabad.org)