"Passover in the former Soviet Union is the most passionately revered holiday in the Jewish calendar," says Chabad Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the C.I.S. "While enduring seventy years of Communist oppression, Jews here struggled to celebrate Passover in some manner each year."

Three months ago the Moscow-based Federation began its Passover airlift which entailed flying one thousand tons of matzah and 200 thousand bottles of Kosher wine into communities all across Eastern Europe.

In past weeks, Federation officials have been coordinating an operation bringing 500 Israeli and American rabbinical students into the C.I.S. to assist in the preparation and conducting of Passover seders. The rabbinical students are paired off with hundreds of Russian-born students, conversant in the native languages. Together they'll be sent to more than 250 communities that do not have permanent religious centers.

Some half million Jews in isolated towns and hamlets depend on the arrival of Lubavitch students and holiday provisions for their Passover celebrations.

It is not uncommon for thousands of Jews to line up for hours to receive Passover supplies. Grandmothers and grandfathers, who can still recall Passover seders of pre-Communist days, carry along their young grandchildren who first learn about Passover while waiting on line. Chabad activists also enroll the youngsters in special Passover services and programs.