Jewish services held on Saipan in front of an Army Air Corps B-29 bomber shortly after Japan surrendered the Island in mid-1944.The service was conducted by (L to R) Chaplain Lt. Max Daina, Syracuse, NY, Sgt. Edward Slutsky, of New Haven, Conn., who acted as cantor, and Col. Solomon J. Zoller, New York City. Courtesy: The National Museum of American Jewish Military History

By Steve Krant, US Air Force (Retired), Commander of Jewish War Veterans Department of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana & Oklahoma (TALO)

“There are no atheists in a foxhole,” an apt adage that invokes the stress of battle and the very human need to believe in a higher power. As the focus shifts on the High Holy Days, a reminder of the challenges that face our men and women in uniform, stationed far from home, family and Jewish life, to stay connected with their Judaism.

Jewish people have served since the early days of the New Amsterdam colony in the 1600’s, often combating bigotry and antisemitic stereotypes for the privilege.

The first Jewish chaplain, German-born Rabbi Jacob Frankel, was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in 1862. In doing so, he overturned a Revolutionary War mandate that all military chaplains “be ordained by a Christian denomination.” Jewish clergy-men, and now women, have served with honor and distinction in every conflict since.

The Jewish Welfare Board’s Chaplains Council estimates just one and a half percent of today’s military is Jewish. That translates to some 10,000 individuals plus 15,000 of their family members, all of whose spiritual needs are met by fewer than 100 Jewish chaplains spread across all service branches. The Chaplains Council, along with Aleph Institute, a branch of the Chabad movement, serve as the primary pipeline to recruit, prepare and endorse rabbis for military service.

And over time, the chaplain’s role has grown to include counseling, morale support, and interfaith cooperation, as well as promoting religious tolerance, ethical leadership, and humanitarian values.

Among the most revered, Rabbi Alexander B. Goode, one of the “Four Chaplains” who gave up their lifejackets to save others in 1943 when their troop-carrying supply ship Dorchester was torpedoed and sank in the frigid North Atlantic. Rabbi Goode, along with his Catholic and Protestant comrades were posthumously awarded medals for their interfaith heroism and sacrifice and an annual remembrance ceremony is held in the Four Chaplains Memorial Chapel on the Navy Yard grounds in South Philadelphia.

Jewish War Veterans of the USA – A Jewish voice for Veterans; a Veterans voice for Jews since 1896 – proudly supports the Chaplains Council and Aleph Institute’s efforts to expand and strengthen the role of Jewish faith leaders in uniform.