How a Chabad emissary conducted Yom Kippur services in Greenland

An archival Lubavitch News Service report describes a special mission in 1964. Jewish personnel stationed at the U.S. Air Force base in Thule, Greenland, were at risk of having no one to conduct Yom Kippur services. Their request for a military chaplain had arrived less than a week before the holiday, while the normal process required several weeks. The matter was brought to the attention of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. His secretariat arranged for a Chabad representative to travel to Thule with assistance from the Radio Corporation of America. A further obstacle emerged when officials explained that the formal reservation on the only suitable Air Force flight would not be available until the Monday after Yom Kippur. The secretariat then contacted U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Eugene Zuckert, who ordered that the usual reservation procedures be waived for the rabbi. On Sunday, 25-year-old Rabbi Shmuel Lew, ordained at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in New York, left McGuire Air Force Base aboard the flight to Thule and returned on Friday. He also brought nonleather shoes for the Jewish personnel, since leather footwear is not worn on Yom Kippur. President Lyndon Johnson was informed about the arrangements.