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."

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Don Canaan is managing editor of Israel News Faxx, located at www.israelfaxx.com, a leading, free, daily Internet publication containing news from Israel. Israelfaxx.com also contains more than 1,750 links of interest to Jewish, Christian and Muslim readers, as well as a subscription-based searchable archive of Israel News Faxx articles dating to April 1993.
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