Jewish Americans have served in theUnited States armed forces dating back to before thecolonial era, whenJews had served inmilitias of theThirteen Colonies. Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in every majorarmed conflict to which the United States has been involved. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, as of 2006 there were currently 3,973 known Jewish servicemen and servicewomen onactive duty.[3]
Anumber of Jewish American servicemen have gained fame due to their military service, and many have receivedawards and decorations for distinguished service, valor, or heroism. More than20 Jewish servicemen were awarded the military's highest award, theMedal of Honor. Many other American Jews who served in the military later achieved prominence in business, politics, science, entertainment and other fields. American Jews, both native- and foreign-born, have also been significant in the development of Americanmilitary science andtechnology—includingphysicistsAlbert Einstein,J. Robert Oppenheimer,Richard Feynman, andEdward Teller, who were important in theManhattan Project, which led to the development of the firstnuclear weapons.
Though the history of Jews in this pre-independence conflict is poorly documented, the 19th century historianSimon Wolf documented one Jew from New York who became captain of a company ofbateau men, and two others who served in an expedition across the Allegheny Mountains.[4]
American Jews served in numbers disproportionate to their small population of the period. Of an estimated population of 3,000, 160 Jews served on the Colonial side in the conflict, includingFrancis Salvador, the first Jew known to die for the cause of American independence.[5] (In 1895, Simon Wolf had counted 46[6]).
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During theAmerican Revolutionary War, thePolish-bornHaym Solomon (1740–1785), who immigrated to New York and was a friend ofGeorge Washington, was a key financier who helped fund theContinental Army. Solomon became the agent to the Frenchconsul, as well as thepaymaster for the French forces in North America. In 1781, he began working extensively withRobert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent for Finance for theThirteen Colonies.[7] Often working out of the "London Coffee House" in Philadelphia, at one time Solomon sold about $600,000 inbills of exchange to his clients. At one point, when Washington's war chest and the treasury of theContinental Congress was completely empty, Washington determined that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington gave him a simple but eloquent order: "Send for Haym Salomon". Haym again came through, and the $20,000 was raised. Washington conducted theYorktown campaign, which proved to be the final battle of the Revolution, thanks to Haym Salomon.[8]
Salomon negotiated the sale of a majority of the war aid from France and theDutch Republic, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. Solomon also personally supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay inPhiladelphia, includingJames Madison andJames Wilson. He requested below market interest rates, and he never asked for repayment.[9][10]
Reflecting their pattern of long settlement in both northern and southern cities, Jews served and supported both theUnion Army of theNorthern States as well as theConfederate States Army of the SouthernConfederate States of America during theAmerican Civil War. They had generally taken on regional loyalties according to residence. Jews were among the supporters of each side of theAmerican Civil War. Some 150,000 Jews lived in the United States at the time of the American Civil War, about 0.5 percent of the population.[11] One academic estimate was that at least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for theUnion andConfederate during the Civil War.[12] Donald Altschiller estimates that at least 10,000 Jews served, about 7,000 for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy, with some 600 Jewish soldiers killed in battle.[11]
Jews also played leadership roles on both sides, with nine Jewish generals and 21 Jewish colonels participating in the war.Judah P. Benjamin, a non-observant Jew, served as Secretary of State and acting Secretary of War of the Confederacy.
The Civil War, also saw the appointment of the first official Jewishchaplain in the US Army, Rev.Jacob Frankel of Philadelphia'sCongregation Rodeph Shalom, on September 18, 1862.[13] While Catholic chaplains had been appointed first during the Mexican–American War, to serve the needs of the large influx of Irish immigrant enlistments,[14] the same had not been accomplished for Jewish Americans; to make matters worse, in 1861 Congress ordered military regiments to appoint Chaplains who were specifically of the Christian faith.[13] Following protests by theBoard of Delegates of American Israelites and introductions by others, a meeting was held in December 1861 with President Lincoln, which led to the rescinding of the order and the appointment of the first Jewish chaplain.[13] Some sources consider this intercession "perhaps the first example of organized Jewish lobbying in Washington".[15]
During the war, approximately 7,000 Jews (out of around 150,000 Jews in the United States) fought on the Union side.[16] Two Union Jewishcompanies were raised, including Company C of the 82d Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers, made up mostly of recent immigrants from Europe, and the "Perkins Rifles" ofSyracuse, New York. But, most Jews serving in the war served alongside Christian soldiers, many in units such as Company D of the 8thNew York National Guard Regiment and the Light Infantry Blues of Richmond.[11]
Four generals are known to have been Jews who served theUnion and attained higher rank in the heat of key battles:
During the war, of the 8,000-10,000 Jewish soldiers that fought for either side, approximately 3,000 fought for the Confederacy.[21][22][16]The most prominent Jewish figure wasJudah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), a strong slavery supporter, who, before the Civil War, was the first Jewish Cabinet member in a North American government. Benjamin was born a British subject inSaint Croix to Phillip Benjamin, anEnglish Jew, and his wife, Rebecca Mendes, aPortuguese Jew (Sephardic).[23] He immigrated with his parents to the U.S. several years later and grew up inNorth andSouth Carolina. He was considered the "brains of the Confederacy," serving in high office throughout the war: asConfederate Attorney General in 1861,Secretary of War in 1861 and 1862, andSecretary of State from 1862 to 1865. PresidentJefferson Davis called Benjamin "the most capable statesman I have ever known,"[24] but he was subject to "vicious anti-Jewish attacks" as the object of popular discontent after becoming actingSecretary of War in 1861, a position he resigned.[11] He quarreled with the Confederate generalsP. G. T. Beauregard andStonewall Jackson over strategy. In 1864, as the South's military position became increasingly desperate, Benjamin publicly advocated a plan whereby anyslave willing to bear arms for the Confederacy would be emancipated and inducted, but his proposal faced stiff opposition from traditionalists. It was not passed until March 1865, by which time it was too late to salvage the Southern cause.
Other prominent Jewish Confederate figures include ColonelAbraham Charles Myers ofCharleston, South Carolina, theQuartermaster General of theConfederate States Army[25] and Dr.David Camden de Leon, the Surgeon General of the Army.[26][27] The surgeonDr. Simon Baruch, father of the financierBernard Baruch, served on GeneralRobert E. Lee's personal staff. His widow became an early member of theDaughters of the Confederacy.
In 1862, Union GeneralUlysses Grant issued his infamousGeneral Order No. 11, ordering the expulsion of all Jews "as a class" from those states under his jurisdiction: Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
MajorRaphael J. Moses, aGeorgia businessman and later astate representative, before the war wascommissary officer of Georgia. He carried out the last order of the Confederate government on May 5, 1865, by taking possession of $40,000 in gold and silverbullion from the Confederate treasury and delivering it to defeated Confederate soldiers headed home—followingPresidentJefferson Davis' instructions. All three of Moses' sons served in the Confederate Army, and one was killed atSeven Pines.[28]
Future sculptorMoses Jacob Ezekiel participated in theBattle of New Market. A "Confederate expatriate" in Rome, through his sculptures he became a key figure in theLost Cause of the Confederacy interpretation of the war.
Jews served in numbers higher than their proportion of the population. In the77th Division, originally recruited from the greaterNew York City area, perhaps a third of the soldiers may have been Jewish. This division fought through the entireMeuse-Argonne campaign, and its units comprised the legendary "Lost Battalion of the Argonne." SergeantBenjamin Kaufman won theMedal of Honor in the fighting to relieve the Lost Battalion, which had been surrounded by German forces after achieving a breakthrough at Charlevaux Mill.[29]
Another prominent story involvesWilliam Shemin, who sprinted across a battlefield to pull wounded comrades to safety no fewer than three times. The 19-year-old American then took over command of his unit and led it to safety. For his actions, he was awarded theDistinguished Service Cross. In December 2011, PresidentBarack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains a provision known as the William Shemin Jewish World War I Veterans Act. It provides for a Pentagon review of the military records of Jewish soldiers and sailors who may have been overlooked for the Medal of Honor simply due to their faith.[30]
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DuringWorld War II, approximately 500,000 American Jews served in the various branches of the United States armed services. Roughly 52,000 of these received U.S. military awards.[31] The historianSolomon Grayzel, inA History of the Jews: From the Babylonian Exile to the Present, records that more than a million Jews were officially enrolled in the fighting forces of the Allies and that the largest number were Jewish Americans. Grayzel gives a number of 550,000 Jews in military service in the United States during World War II out of a total population of 4,770,000 American Jews.[32][33]
Major General Maurice Rose (1899–1945) was a United States Army general during World War II and World War I veteran. The son and grandson of rabbis, General Rose was at the time the highest ranking Jew in the U.S. Army.
The Third Armored Division official history of World War II, published after Rose had been killed in action states "He was over six feet tall, erect, dark haired, and had finely chiseled features. He was firm and prompt of decision, brooking no interference by man, events or conditions in order to destroy the enemy."
Rose was the highest-ranking American killed by enemy fire in the European Theater of Operations during the war.
ChaplainAlexander D. Goode, a rabbi, was one of the "Four Chaplains" or "Immortal Chaplains", a name given to honor four US military chaplains who sacrificed their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the troop transportDorchester by a U-boat off the coast ofNewfoundland in February 1943. Goode and the three other chaplains, Methodist, Roman Catholic, andReformed Church in America, helped to evacuate the ship. When lifejackets ran out, they gave up their own to save more troops. The four sang and prayed as they went down with the ship.[34][35]
America's rise as a nuclear power resulted directly from theManhattan Project, codename for a project duringWorld War II to develop the firstatomic bombs for wartime use. The project's roots began in 1939 when, at the urging ofLeó Szilárd,Albert Einstein signed theEinstein–Szilárd letter to US presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt expressing his concerns thatNazi Germany may be trying to developnuclear weapons.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was atheoretical physicist and philosopher, widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. AGerman-SwissNobel laureate, Einstein is often regarded as the father ofmodern physics.[36] His father wasHermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother wasPauline Einstein (née Koch). The Einsteins were non-observant Jews.
In 1933, Einstein was compelled to immigrate to the United States due to the rise to power of theNazis under Germany's new chancellor,Adolf Hitler.[37] While visiting American universities in April 1933, he learned that the new German government had passed a law barring Jews from holding any official positions, including teaching at universities. A month later, theNazi book burnings occurred, with Einstein's works being among those burnt, and Nazi propaganda ministerJoseph Goebbels proclaimed, "Jewish intellectualism is dead."[38] Einstein also learned that his name was on a list of assassination targets, with a "$5,000 bounty on his head". One German magazine included him in a list of enemies of the German regime with the phrase, "not yet hanged".[38][39]
Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) was a JewishHungarianphysicist who conceived thenuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of anuclear reactor withEnrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter forAlbert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built theatomic bomb. Szilárd left Hungary because of the risingantisemitism under theHorthy regime, which excluded Jewish students from Hungary's universities.
Szilárd was directly responsible for the creation of the Manhattan Project. He drafted a confidential letter toFranklin D. Roosevelt explaining the possibility of nuclear weapons, warning ofNazi work on such weapons and encouraging the US development of a program to create them. During August 1939 he approached his old friend and collaborator Albert Einstein and convinced him to sign the letter, lending his fame to the proposal.[40] TheEinstein–Szilárd letter resulted in the establishment of research into nuclear fission by the U.S. government and ultimately to the creation of the Manhattan Project; FDR gave the letter to an aide, GeneralEdwin M. "Pa" Watson with the instruction: "Pa, this requires action!"[41] Later, Szilárd relocated to theUniversity of Chicago to continue work on the project. There, along with Fermi, he helped to construct the first "neutronic reactor", a uranium and graphite "atomic pile" in which the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved, during 1942. Szilárd became anaturalized citizen of the United States during 1943.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was appointed the scientific director of theManhattan Project, theWorld War II project that developed the firstnuclear weapons. He is often referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb".[42] Oppenheimer was born to Julius S. Oppenheimer, who had immigrated to the United States fromGermany in 1888 with his parents and become a wealthy Jewish textile importer, and Ella Friedman, a painter.
Among other German scientists forced to flee Germany were fourteen Nobel laureates and 26 of the 60 professors of theoretical physics in the country. Among the scientists who came to the United States or its Allies wereEdward Teller,Niels Bohr,Enrico Fermi,Otto Stern,Victor Weisskopf,Hans Bethe, andLise Meitner, many of whom worked to ensure that the Allies would develop nuclear weapons before the Nazis.[38] With so many Jewish scientists forced to live in the United States, where they often worked together, Einstein wrote to a friend, "For me the most beautiful thing is to be in contact with a few fine Jews—a few millennia of a civilized past do mean something after all." In another letter he writes, "In my whole life I have never felt so Jewish as now."[38] Einstein was offered a position at theInstitute for Advanced Study atPrinceton, New Jersey,[43]an affiliation that lasted until his death in 1955.
In the summer of 1939, a few months before the beginning of World War II, Einstein was persuaded to write a letter to presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and warn him thatNazi Germany might bedeveloping an atomic bomb. Einstein helped strengthen the letter, and he recommended the U.S. beginuranium enrichment andnuclear research. According to F.G. Gosling of theU.S. Department of Energy, Einstein, Szilard, and other refugees includingEdward Teller andEugene Wigner, "regarded it as their responsibility to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb, and to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon."[44] Gosling adds that "the President was a man of considerable action once he had chosen a direction," and believed that the U.S. "could not take the risk of allowing Hitler" to possess nuclear bombs.[44]
Other weapons historians agree that the letter was "arguably the key stimulus for the U.S. adoption of serious investigations into nuclear weapons on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II". As a result of Einstein's letter, and his meetings with Roosevelt, the U.S. entered the "race" to develop the bomb first, drawing on its "immense material, financial, and scientific resources". Due to the Manhattan Project, it was the only country to succeed in developing an atomic bomb during World War II.[45]
Germany surrendered before atomic weapons could be used against it. Japan was bombed intosurrendering when the United States finally deployed two atomic bombs against it at theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.
Jewish Americans continued to serve in the following two major wars, both of which involved the use ofconscripted troops. Over 150,000 Jewish Americans (men and women) served in the Korean War. In Vietnam, 30,000 served.[46]
Key Jewish-born scientists ensured that the United States became the first and most dominanthydrogen bomb power, not long after having played key roles in the development of the firstatomic bombs. Also known as theTeller–Ulam design that is thenuclear weapon design concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons[47] colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employshydrogen fusion to generateneutrons.
TheTeller–Ulam design is named for its inventors and creatorsEdward Teller (1908–2003) andStanislaw Ulam. Teller was born inBudapest,Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family. He left Hungary in 1926 partly due to theantisemiticnumerus clausus rule underHorthy's regime. He became aphysicist, and was later known as "the father of thehydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title.
Teller emigrated to the United States in the 1930s, and was an early member of theManhattan Project charged with developing the first atomic bombs. During this time he made a serious push to develop the firstfusion-based weapons as well, but these were deferred until afterWorld War II. After his controversial testimony in thesecurity clearance hearing of his formerLos Alamos colleagueJ. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller was ostracized by much of the scientific community. He continued to find support from the U.S. government and military research establishment, particularly for his advocacy fornuclear energy development, a strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorousnuclear testing program. He was a co-founder ofLawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and was both its director and associate director for many years.
In the 1980s, Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called theStrategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derided by critics as "Star Wars," the concept of using ground and satellite-based lasers, particle beams and missiles to destroy incoming SovietICBMs. Teller lobbied with government agencies—and got the sanction of presidentRonald Reagan—for a plan to develop a system using elaboratesatellites which used atomic weapons to fireX-ray lasers at incoming missiles—as part of a broader scientific research program into defenses against nuclear weapons. Teller's own comments on the role of lasers in SDI, as disclosed in live panel discussions, were published, and are available, in two laser conference proceedings.[48][49]
TheStrategic Defense Initiative was created by U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan on March 23, 1983[50] to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategicnuclearballistic missiles. Supporters of SDI claimed it helped contribute to the fall of the Soviet Union by the so-calledstrategy of technology, which was a prevalent doctrine at the time. While SDI was a source of disagreement between the United States and the Soviet Union a summit led to theIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which some have claimed was an outgrowth of USSR'sMikhail Gorbachev's fear of SDI. In 1991 presidentGeorge H. W. Bush shifted the focus of SDI from defense of North America against large scale strikes to a system focusing on theater missile defense calledGlobal Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS).[51] In 1993 presidentBill Clinton changed its name to theBallistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and its emphasis was shifted to theater missile defense and from global to regional coverage. BMDO was renamed to theMissile Defense Agency in 2002.
Stanislaw Marcin Ulam (1909–1984) was an Americanmathematician ofPolish Jewish origin, who participated in theManhattan Project and originated theTeller–Ulam design ofthermonuclear weapons. He also inventednuclear pulse propulsion and developed a number of mathematical tools innumber theory,set theory,ergodic theory andalgebraic topology. Ulam was born inLwówGalicia to a wealthy Polish-Jewish banking and timber-processing family[52] who were part of the large Jewish minority population of the city. Lwów (nowLviv, Ukraine) was then in theAustro-Hungarian Empire; from 1918 until 1939 was in theSecond Polish Republic.
Uriah Phillips Levy (1792–1862) was the firstJewish-AmericanCommodore of theUnited States Navy and a veteran of theWar of 1812. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank ofAdmiral. During his tenure, he ended the Navy's practice offlogging,[53] and prevailed against theantisemitic bigotry he faced among his fellow naval officers. His service is memorialized through theCommodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel at theUS Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986), was born to Abraham Rickover and Rachel (née Unger) Rickover, a Jewish family inMaków MazowieckiPoland, at that time underRussian rule.[54][55] He rose to a four-staradmiral in theUnited States Navy who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director ofNaval Reactors. He was known as the "Father of theNuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-poweredsubmarines, and 23 nuclear-poweredaircraft carriers andcruisers.
With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities, and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving naval officer in U.S. history with 63 years active duty.[56][57]
Jeremy Michael Boorda (1939–1996) was anadmiral of theUnited States Navy and the 25thChief of Naval Operations (CNO). Boorda is the only CNO to have risen to the position from the enlisted ranks. He was born on November 26, 1939, in South Bend, Indiana, to a Jewish family.[58][59] He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He dropped out of high school when he was seventeen years old and joined the Navy. This was the beginning of his naval career of 40 years. Boorda kept his Jewish roots private: "Although Boorda was not a practicing Jew and in fact raised his children as Protestants, he was born to two Jewish parents and had abar mitzvah. He did not in any way emphasize his Jewish roots or his Jewishness, said Rabbi Aaron Landes, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral ... virtually no one knew that Boorda, who became the first enlisted man to rise to the Navy's highest post of chief of naval operations, was born a Jew ... Among Boorda's ancestors were acantor and aChasidic family, Landes said."[60]
Boorda believed that "people should have the opportunity to excel, and be all they can be, even if they don't get a perfect or traditional start."[61] He committed suicide at the age of 57 in 1996. He was disturbed by pending questions about Vietnam War combat ribbons he wore; he had not had service there and was not entitled to wear them.[62] Researchers have noted that "the most important reason that no one paid attention to Boorda's Jewish background was that ... being Jewish is no longer an issue in the military."[63]
On February 7, 1943 the troopshipUSSHenry R. Mallory was torpedoed by U-402. Among those lost was Ships Surgeon Dr. Joseph Grabenstein age 65.[64]
James Rodney Schlesinger (1929-2014) served as USSecretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under PresidentsRichard Nixon andGerald Ford. He became America's firstSecretary of Energy underJimmy Carter. While Secretary of Defense, he opposed amnesty for draft resisters, and pressed for development of more sophisticatednuclear weapon systems. Additionally, his support for theA-10 and the lightweight fighter program (later theF-16) helped ensure that they were carried to completion. Schlesinger was born in New York City, the son of Rhea Lillian, aRussian Jewish immigrant, and Julius Schlesinger, anAustrian Jew. In 1960 he publishedThe Political Economy of National Security. In 1963 he moved to theRand Corporation, where he worked until 1969, in the later years as director of strategic studies.
Harold Brown (1927-2019) wasU.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet ofPresidentJimmy Carter. Brown is a Jewish American[65] born in New York City to Gertrude Cohen and A. H. Brown. He had previously served in theLyndon Johnson administration asDirector of Defense Research and Engineering andSecretary of the Air Force. While Secretary of Defense, he insisted in laying the groundwork for theCamp David accords. He took part in the strategic arms negotiations with theSoviet Union and supported (unsuccessfully), ratification of theSALT II treaty. He advocateddétente with theSoviet Union.
William Sebastian Cohen (b. 1940) was aRepublican who served asSecretary of Defense (1997–2001) underDemocraticPresidentBill Clinton. His father, Reuben Cohen, was aRussian Jewish immigrant, while his mother, Clara, was of Protestant Irish ancestry; the two owned the Bangor Rye Bread Co.[66][67] Cohen attendedHebrew school as a child. When he was told that he would have to undergo aconversion ceremony (seeMatrilineality in Judaism), however, he decided not to follow through with hisBar Mitzvah. Instead, he followed his mother's example in refusing to convert to Judaism and became a Christian,[68] specifically within theUnitarian Universalist tradition.
There have been notable examples of those who have risen in the service ofAmerican intelligence andnational security. Some notable examples have been the following:
Henry Alfred Kissinger (1923-2023) was aGerman-born Jewish Americanpolitical scientist, diplomat, and recipient of theNobel Peace Prize. He served as the eighth USNational Security Advisor (1969–1975) and later concurrently as the fifty sixth USSecretary of State (1973–1977) in the administrations of PresidentsRichard Nixon andGerald Ford. After his term, his opinion was still sought out by many following presidents.
Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger inFürth, Bavaria,Weimar Republic to a family ofGerman Jews. His father, Louis Kissinger (1887–1982) was a schoolteacher. His mother, Paula Stern Kissinger (1901–1998), was a homemaker. The surname Kissinger was adopted in 1817 by his great-great-grandfather Meyer Löb, after the city ofBad Kissingen.[69] In 1938, fleeingNazi persecution, his family moved to New York. He never lost his pronouncedFrankishaccent, due to childhood shyness that made him hesitant to speak.[70][71]
A proponent ofRealpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role inUnited States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy ofdétente with theSoviet Union, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China, and negotiated theParis Peace Accords, ending American involvement in theVietnam War. His role inthe bombing of Cambodia and other American interventions abroad during this period remains controversial.
John Mark Deutch (b. 1938) was theUnited States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1994 to 1995 andDirector of Central Intelligence (DCI) from May 10, 1995 until December 14, 1996. Deutch was born inBrussels, Belgium, to aRussian Jewish father.
Lawrence N. Freedman, Sergeant Major, United States Army enlisted in the Army on September 30, 1965. He served for over 25 years and in a number of conflicts. After earning his green beret, he was shipped to Vietnam, where time and time again he distinguished himself under fire. In 1978 he joined the Army's newly formed counterterrorist group Operational Detachment D (better known as Delta Force). In 1980, while serving with Delta Force, Freedman was directly involved in the ill-fated Iranian hostage rescue attempt. He left Delta Force in October 1982. Over the next two years, he was involved in a number of "special projects" and obtained the rank of sergeant major. He briefly considered working as a mercenary for theMOSSAD, and eventually joined the CIA.[72] Freedman was killed on December 22, 1992 working as a CIA paramilitary officer. He was killed when his vehicle hit a land mine. His wife Teresa was told that he had driven over a Russian-built mine near the town ofBardera,Somalia. The blast had caused severe head trauma, blown off his lower right leg and opened his chest.[73] He helped train theDelta Force from 1986 to 1990, when he retired from the Army and joined the CIA's Counter-Terrorism unit. A colorful character, he nicknamed himself "SuperJew".[73]
TheUnited States military has a long-standing and strong tradition of supporting Jewishmilitary chaplains in all sectors. Chaplains are drawn from allJewish denominations includingReform,Conservative, andOrthodox Judaism.
The Board of Delegates of American Israelites, organized in 1859 shortly before the Civil War, was the first American civic defense organization for Jews.[11][74]
On July 22, 1861, the North's Congress passed legislature requiring all chaplains to be ordainedChristian ministers, makingrabbis ineligible to serve. The Board of Delegates of American Israelites lobbied the government and organized apetition drive to change the law. On July 12, 1862, Congress reversed itself and changed the law to permit non-Christian clergy to serve as chaplains. InBangor, Maine, 200 non-Jews signed the petition, although only three Jews lived in the community. Rabbi Jacob Frankel ofPhiladelphia was the first rabbi appointed as a military chaplain.[11][75]
The following are the official insignia of Jewish chaplains in the US military:
The JWB (Jewish Welfare Board) Jewish Chaplains Council was founded in 1917 as the Chaplains' Committee of theJewish Welfare Board. It is an agency of theJewish Community Center (JCC) association, and serves as the endorsing body for Jewish military chaplains who serve in the US Armed Forces andVA chaplaincy services.
The JWB Jewish Chaplains Council consists of sixteenrabbis, four each from theRabbinical Assembly (Conservative), theRabbinical Council of America (Orthodox), and theCentral Conference of American Rabbis (Reform), plus four active duty Jewish chaplains representing the Chaplains Advisory Group (CAG). As of 2010, the Council serves approximately 37 full-time Jewish military and Veterans Administration chaplains, 55 chaplainreservists, more than 88 military lay leaders, and thousands of Jews at more than 500 military installations and VA medical centers.[76]
Many Jewish chaplains served with honor duringWorld War II. For example, RabbiHerschel Schacter was a chaplain in theThird Army'sVIII Corps.[77] and was the first US Army Chaplain to enter and participate in the liberation of theBuchenwald concentration camp in 1945 and later aided in the resettlement ofdisplaced persons. There were a total of 311 rabbis in service, of whom 147 wereReform, 96 wereConservative, and 68 weremodern Orthodox. Before they could serve, the US Military sent their chaplains through training at American universities, and a significant part of this training was fostering relationships between men of different faiths. Those who practicedProtestantism,Catholicism, andJudaism shared rooms with one another, encouraging peaceful relations. Throughout this preparation for service, these future chaplains learned that their personal beliefs were never to be professed to the soldiers who would come to them seeking religious counsel.[78]
Jewish Chaplain RabbiArnold E. Resnicoff's eye-witness report of the1983 Beirut barracks bombing had historical importance for two reasons. First, four days after the attack, then-Vice presidentGeorge H. W. Bush led a White House team to visit the scene of the attack, and asked Resnicoff—then one of the chaplains for the U.S. Sixth Fleet—to write a report for presidentRonald Reagan.[79] Resnicoff had arrived in Beirut on Friday, October 21, to lead a memorial service for a young Marine killed by sniper fire (then only the fifth death of American forces present as part of the international peace-keeping force).[80] He refused to accept transportation back to Sixth Fleet Headquarters inGaeta, Italy the next day because it wasShabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, and so ended up being on the scene the morning of October 23, when the attack occurred.[81] When Reagan received the report, he decided to use it as his keynote speech to the 20,000 attendees of the "Baptist Fundamentalist '84" convention, led by Rev.Jerry Falwell. Rabbi David Lapp, then-Director of theNational Jewish Welfare Board Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy, said that many rabbis had quoted Presidents, but that this may have been the first time in history that a president had quoted a rabbi—certainly, the first time that an entire speech of a president was attributed to a rabbi.[81]
Secondly, one story from the aftermath of the attack was instrumental in terms of changing military policies regarding the wearing ofkippot, head-coverings, for Jews in uniform. The "religious apparel amendment," allowing kippot, had twice failed to pass. But during the rescue efforts following the bombing, Catholic Chaplain Fr. George Pucciarelli tore a piece of his camouflage uniform off to use as a makeshift kippa for Resnicoff, who had discarded his kippa when it became blood-soaked after being used to wipe the faces of wounded Marines.[82] When that story was read into the Congressional Record, both the Senate and House passed the Religious Apparel Amendment, which then laid the groundwork for Department of Defense Directive (now Instruction) 1300.17, "Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Service."[81][83][84][85]
This story of the "camouflagekippah" was retold at many levels,[82] in addition to Reagan's speech, including another event involving a meeting between Reagan and the "American Friends of Lubavitch."[86] During the group's visit to the White House, Reagan recounted the Beirut story, and then asked the rabbis to explain to him the religious meaning of the kippah.[86] RabbiAbraham Shemtov, the leader of the group, responded, "Mr. President, the kippah to us is a sign of reverence." Rabbi Feller, another member of the group, continued, "We place the kippah on the very highest point of our being—on our head, the vessel of our intellect—to tell ourselves and the world that there is something which is above man's intellect: the infinite Wisdom of God."[86]
TheNaval Academy Jewish Chapel, also known as theCommodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel is the Jewishchapel at theUnited States Naval Academy, inAnnapolis, Maryland. The center is named in honor ofCommodoreUriah P. Levy (1792–1862), the first Jewish commodore in theUnited States Navy, who is famous for refusing to flog his sailors.[87][88] The Levy Center contains a 410-seat synagogue, fellowship hall, Character Learning Center, classrooms, Brigade's social director offices, academic board, and the Academy's Honor Board.[88]
The Levy Center cost $8 million.[88] Approximately $1.8 million was paid for with military construction funds.[88] The remaining amount was paid for by private donations raised by the Friends of the Jewish Chapel, headed by Jewish alumni of the academy and others.[88][89] It was given to the Academy upon completion.[89] The building was dedicated in September 2005.[90]
TheJewish War Veterans of the United States of America is anAmerican Jewishveterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an estimated 37,000 members.[91]
The Jewish War Veterans were established in 1896.[91] The group holds acongressional charter underTitle 36 of the United States Code.[92][93]
In thepreamble to its National Constitution the purpose of the JWV is stated:
To maintain trueallegiance to the United States of America; to foster and perpetuate trueAmericanism; to combat whatever tends to impair the efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; to uphold the fair name of the Jew and fight his or her battles wherever unjustly assailed; to encourage the doctrine of universal liberty, equal rights, and full justice to all men and women; to combat the powers ofbigotry and darkness wherever originating and whatever their target; to preserve the spirit of comradeship by mutual helpfulness to comrades and their families; to cooperate with and support existing educational institutions and establish educational institutions, and to foster the education of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen, and our members in the ideals and principles of Americanism; to instill love of country and flag, and to promote sound minds and bodies in our members and our youth; to preserve the memories and records of patriotic service performed by the men and women of our faith; to honor their memory and shield from neglect the graves of our heroic dead.[94]
TheNational Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH), founded in 1958, is in Washington, D.C., documents and preserves "the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States ... [and to educate] the public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices made by Jewish Americans who served in the armed forces."[95]
The museum operates under the auspices of theJewish War Veterans (JWV), USA, National Memorial, Inc. (NMI), located at 1811 R St., NW, Washington, DC, in theDupont Circle area. The building also houses the JWV National Headquarters.
The early history of Jewish service was complicated by American assumptions thatJews were unwilling or unable to serve in the military. This perception was to last for centuries, and it was in response to an 1891 article in theNorth American Review regarding the perceived lack of Jews in the military that historianSimon Wolf compiled his 1895 workThe American Jew as patriot, soldier and citizen.[6]
This perception was so widespread and long-lasting that authorMark Twain, in his 1899 articleConcerning the Jews, criticized the American Jews for their lack of patriotism and their lack of willingness to serve. However, when he was presented with statistics which proved that Jews served in the armed forces of the United States throughout America's military history, Twain withdrew his remark, and he contradicted the misperception in his 1904The American Jew as Soldier.[6]
During World War II, Jewish American soldiers were able to perform religious practices overseas while in service. Men brought theirtefillin into battle, had thePassover seder, albeit unceremoniously and untraditionally, along with other important Jewish services. Worship was conducted in public or wherever it was possible during the conflict. For these worship services, a Jewish prayer book that was approved by Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox rabbis was created. This book's creation made worship as accessible as possible during turbulent times. CANRA, also known as the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities, established a committee of rabbis of the Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox denominations that served to guide the chaplains and answer their questions surrounding worship during the war.[78]
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