"An Exhibition by the American Jewish Historical Society"
Jewish Chaplains at War: Unsung Heroes of the ‘Greatest Generation,’ 1941-45
During World War II, American Jewish chaplains were committed to their country, to their Judaism and to the Jewish people. More than one thousand rabbis (half of America's Jewish clergy) volunteered to serve as chaplains. Of these, 311 were selected. Eight died while on duty. Each of the Jewish chaplains had to become, as David Max Eichhorn wrote to his family, both "a good soldier and a good rabbi."
Jewish chaplains comforted the wounded, buried the dead and sustained the faith of all troops without regard to race, ethnicity or religion. They developed consensus rituals for Jewish soldiers who came from different traditions and denominations. They traveled countless miles to bring prayer, food and comfort to Jewish service personnel spread across the globe. Among the first to encounter European Jews who survived the Nazis' systematic attempt to destroy them, Jewish chaplains did what they could to help the survivors rebuild their lives.
The rabbis engaged in social activism, developed a commitment to establishing a Jewish state that many had lacked before the war, and gained a confidence that they carried into future dealings with post-war Christian America, laying the foundation for American Jewish life today.