THE Second World War Presented the Jewish Religious Community With

JEWISH CHAPLAINS IN WORLD WAR II By PHILIP S. BERNSTEIN* HE second world war presented the Jewish religious T community with some difficult problems. It was des- tined to remove over half a million American Jews from their homes and scatter them in military installations throughout the world. To meet their religious needs, hun- dreds of rabbis would be required as chaplains. But the total rabbinate of America numbers a little over a thousand, and over half were disqualified for the chaplaincy by reason of age, health, or shortcomings in formal, secular, or religious education. Furthermore, at the outbreak of the war there was not a single rabbi serving as a chaplain in the regular Army or Navy, although 29 were in the Reserve, most of whom quickly responded to war needs. Between World Wars I and II, there had never been sufficient Tews stationed any- where with the Armed Forces to justify the presence of a Jewish chaplain at any particular point. The JWB had served the religious needs of the Jewish personnel in the regular Army and Navy in camps, naval stations and hospitals in continental United States and in places like Hawaii, Panama, and the Philippines, with civilian rabbis and professional representatives. When the United States became involved in World War II, the rabbinate immediately recognized the needs and accepted the responsibilities. Within the framework of the JWB, which was authorized by the War and Navy Departments to endorse Jewish chaplains, there was organized the Committee * Rabbi on leave from Temple B'rith Kodesh, Rochester, N. Y., to serve as Executive Director of the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the National Jewish Welfare Board. 173 174 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK on Army and Navy Religious Activities (CANRA). Dr. David de Sola Pool was Chairman, Dr. Barnett R. Brickner (Reform) Chairman of the Administrative Commitee, Rabbi Louis M. Levitsky (Conservative) Chairman of the Execu- tive Committee, and Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein (Orthodox) Vice-Chairman. In its organization as in all phases of its work, there was representation of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform; and a pattern of working unity was achieved which endured throughout the entire war experience, and may well serve as a model for the American Jewish community after the war. Agreement was reached on liturgical materials, literature, responsa, etc., which enabled the Committee to serve the totality of American Jewish personnel in the Armed Forces. CANRA, through the rabbinical associations which con- stitute it, made known the chaplaincy needs to the American rabbinate. Well over half the rabbis of the country responded to the call. By September 2, 1945, the date of Japanese surrender, 309 rabbis had been commissioned in the Armed Forces as compared with a total of 26 in World War I. These constituted probably over two-thirds of the eligible qualified rabbis of the country and, to the best of the writer's knowledge, the highest percentage of any religious group in the land. As of September 2, 1945, allowing for deaths and separations from the service, there were 288 Jewish Chaplains in the active service; 245 in the Army, 42 in the Navy, and 1 in the Maritime Service. Of these Chaplains, 136 were Reform, 93 were Conservative, and 59 were Or- thodox. Many of these rabbis faced difficult problems of religious observance and adjustment to the hardships of military life. With but rare exceptions they adjusted splendidly to these new conditions. The primary reason was that the chaplains, like their endorsing body, gave priority to serving the Jewish men and women in uniform. It was universally accepted that the denominational loyalties and personal religious predilections of the chaplains must be subordinated to the needs of the Jewish G. I. This led to more observance of tradition by the Reform, a liberalization of the Orthodox, JEWISH CHAPLAINS IN WORLD WAR II 175 and an expansion of Conservatism, which seemed to charac- terize the general pattern that evolved under military conditions. The Jewish chaplains were confronted with peculiar prac- tical problems. They served a small, widely scattered minority group. In a camp containing perhaps 20,000 men and measuring some fifty square miles, there might be 20 Christian chaplains carefully assigned to meet the geo- graphic and institutional needs. But only one Jewish chaplain could justifiably be assigned to serve its thousand or so Jews. He would have to cover all areas and institutions of the camp and in the same morning or evening he might find it necessary to conduct two or three services at points ten or fifteen miles apart. The JWB assisted the chaplains with special arrangements for transportation. However, in the very nature of the situation, it was necessary for the Jewish chaplain to work harder and cover more ground than would be expected of most of the chaplains. This was doubly true in many overseas assignments. One Jewish chaplain covered by air, a distance of some 10,000 miles in the Atlantic stretching from the Azores to Greenland. Another served the religious needs of all the Jews scattered in the far flung islands of the Aleutian chain. The congrega- tion of still another reached from the African Gold Coast to Karachi in India. For an extended period a single chaplain was responsible for the religious activities of all the Jewish personnel in China. Jewish chaplains penetrated to remote places where no Jewish services had been previously con- ducted in all recorded history. In fact, the total picture of the American rabbinate overseas in World War II is one of which the American community can well be proud. 210 Jewish chaplains served overseas as compared with a total of 6 in the first world war. They accompanied American troops to all the battlefields of the global conflict. Jewish chaplains were in the armies that defeated Rommel in North Africa, that conquered the Anzio beachhead, that defeated the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, that drove the Japanese out of Iwo Jima. The writer in the performace of his duties has visited most of the 176 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK war areas and found everywhere a respect and appreciation for the service and the example of the Jewish chaplains. This was confirmed by all other missions sent overseas. It was universally reported that they gave a sense of dignity, of self-respect, and of stature to the Jewish personnel whom they served and represented. They also served effectively as interpreters of Jews and Judaism to non-Jews. They represented and interpreted Judaism to vast numbers of Christians who previously had no contact with it. In innumerable instances they helped the military to understand the special problems and needs of the Jewish personnel. In even more instances they assisted Jews in their adjustment to military psychology and re- quirements. The Jewish chaplains in North Africa and Europe were called upon to enact an historic role in the liberation of Jews from Nazi-Fascist oppression. In most instances they were the first representatives of Jewry to make contact with Jewish communities in those areas which had been cut off from the Jewish world and the free world for many years. Jewish chaplains were hailed as saviors. Their uniforms were bathed in the tears of joy and gratitude of the liberated. In many places they reorganized the broken Jewish communities and secured temporary relief for hungry, destitute Jews. In Germany, Austria, France, and Belgium, they rendered heroic services. It was Jewish chaplains who first brought hope, freedom, food and outside contacts to the miserable, forlorn, surviving Jewish prisoners in such Nazi concentra- tion camps as Dachau and Buchenwald. With the aid of military authorities and the generosity of Jewish G. I.'s, they sustained the lives of thousands of displaced persons. They re-established community life for the homeless and organized schools for the children who remained alive. They prepared and transmitted to responsible Jewish agencies the first authentic lists of the survivors. They helped refugees to go to neutral countries and to Palestine. * It should be stated in passing that as the stimulation and organization of Jewish community life was a concommitant of the chaplain's role overseas, it similarly accompanied his service in many places in the United States. Scattered Jews JEWISH CHAPLAINS IN WORLD WAR II 177 in certain remote sections of Oregon or Texas, for example, who could not worship in Jewish services or educate their children as Jews, found under the impact of the leadership of a Jewish chaplain in a nearby military camp, inspiration and assistance for the establishment of their own community life. Jewish communities were revived and others were brought into existence by the very presence of a rabbi in uniform nearby. The Jewish chaplains received promotions as follows: In the Army 2 Jewish chaplains achieved the rank of Lt. Col., 20 became Majors, 157 were promoted to the Cap- taincy. In the Navy 1 is a Commander, 3 were promoted to Lt. Commanders and 27 are full Lieutenants. The one chaplain in the Maritime Service bears the rank equivalent to Lt. (Sr. Gr.). Jewish chaplains received the following honors and awards: Bronze Stars Camillus Angel Sidney M. Lefkowitz Herman Dicker Ernst M. Lorge David M. Eichhorn Robert Marcus Norman Feldheym Jacob M. Ott Harold Goldfarb Aaron Paperman Meyer J. Goldman W. Gunther Plaut Samson M. Goldstein Melvin S. Sands Harry Jolt Emanuel Schenk Aaron Kahan Soseph S. Shubow Morris N. Kertzer Henry Tavel Presidential Citation Emanuel Schenk Irving Tepper* Naval Citation Morton M. Berman (Bronze Star) Roland B. Gittelsohn (Citation) Elihu H. Rickel (Bronze Star) Posthumous Award Alexander D.

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