|
The Jewish Chaplaincy By Don Canaan (412 words)
(c) Don Canaan -- All rights reserved
On Feb. 3, 1943, the S.S. Dorchester was ferrying American
troops to Europe. The young soldiers on board, fresh from school
and their families, did not have any idea a U-boat was tailing
them until the German torpedoes struck the ship broadside.
The men were ordered over the side, but there weren't enough
life jackets to go around. The four chaplains on board
voluntarily gave up their life preservers and lives so that some
others might live.
The four chaplains were a Catholic priest, Methodist and
Baptist ministers and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode of Cincinnati.
They stood on the deck, hand in hand, as the Dorchester tilted
and sank beneath the waves of the turbulent mid-Atlantic.
Jews have been a part of every American Army since the
Revolutionary War, but Jewish chaplains were not allowed to
serve them until the end of World War I.
Fifty percent of West Point's first graduating class of 1802
was Jewish, but the class consisted of only two graduates.
More than 8,000 Jewish soldiers, including eight generals, 21
colonels, 40 majors, 205 captains, 325 lieutenants, 48 adjutants
and 25 surgeons served in the Union Army. Seven Jews won the
Congressional Medal of Honor during the fraternal conflict.
One Jew, Michael Allen, was appointed a chaplain in the 5th
Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War, but he was forced to
resign under pressure. The Volunteer Bill specifically required
chaplains to be "regularly ordained clergymen of some Christian
denomination."
By the end of 1917 the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was asked to
recruit rabbis to serve in the Chaplain Corps. Many Jewish
doughboys had complained they had not seen one Jewish chaplain
during their entire military career. Jewish volunteers accounted
for 20 percent of all American land and sea forces.
The War Department had authorized one rabbi for every 1,200
men, but it was estimated recruitment only amounted to one per
10,000 Jews. In order to expand this coverage, the JWB furnished
a Ford automobile for each rabbi, making them, as one chaplain
said, the envy of all of France."
|