8
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and Ms Legal Chronicle
The Role of Religion In the Armed Forces
and having been drawn to-
gether by these faiths, we
found we were strengthened by
By RABBI PHILIP GOODMAN
our differences—differences in
religious belief, in religious ob-
servance and in religious her-
Editor's Note—Rabbi Goodman explains in his article how the re-
itage. It is these common
ligious and spiritual needs of our boys in the armed forces faiths, and this strength from
are met.
differences, that we propose to
Freedom of every person to for the purpose of religious wor- bring to our young men in
worship God in his own way-- ship. General George C. Mar- the programs we carry on un-
everywhere in the world," is the shall, Chief of Staff, in a pamph- der the USO."
second of the Four Freedoms to let entitled "The Soldier and
The USO provides a "home
which we look forward in future His Religion," prepared by the away from home" and recognizes
days, declared Franklin D. Roose- Women's Interests Section, War that religion is an integral part
velt in his presidential message Department, states •
of the home of Americans. One
to Congress on Jan. 6, 1941. This
"There should be NO fear of the finest illustrations of the
particular goal is being sought that any young man will suf- maintenance of the individual
constantly by our Government. fer spiritual loss during the identity of each faith, on a har-
We are now engaged in a war to period of his military service. monious and cooperative basis, is
preserve democracy. And de- On the contrary, we hope that the USO.
mocracy need not be a mean- the young soldier will return
The every day life of the serv-
ingless, hackneyed phrase. We to his home with a keener un- ice man brings him into contact
should appreciate that religion is derstanding of the sacred ideals with comrades of other faiths. In
an integral part of the American for which our churches stand." the associations of Jewish men
democracy for which we are fight-
Realizing full well that it is and women in arms with their
ing today. The right of each important for civilian organiza- fellow Christians, there need nut
individual in the armed forces tions to assist the government be any implication that they must
of the United States to religious agencies particularly in religious negate their own convictions and
freedom is being fully imple- work, Catholic, Protestant and practicses.
mented by the War and Navy Jewish bodies have combined into
The individual man or woman
Departments and civilian agen- the United Service Organization,
in many instances will become
cies.
Inc. (USO), When public an- conscious of his or her own re-
The United States Army and nouncement was made of the ligion due to the realization of
Navy fully recognize the vital plans of the USO, Frank L. Weil, the important role that religion
importance of religion in "the president of the National Jewish is playing in the lives of others.
world we want to live in." Today Welfare Board and vice-president Jews are learning to live to-
both the Army and the Navy are of the USO, made the following gether with non-Jews and at the
commissioning more and more statement:
same time, if they are sufficiently
chaplains to keep pace with the
"We were thus drawn to- imbued with knowledge of Juda-
steadily increasing armed forces. gether by these common faiths ism, they can maintain their own
The probability is that the United
(belief in a Supernatural particular convictions. The re-
States will have the largest chap- Power, the brotherhood of ligions of democracy can serve
lain corps of any army in the man, the dignity of the indi- to make the Jew a better Jew
world. Hundreds of non-denom- vidual, belief in the existence and the Christian a better Chris-
inational chapels have been built of ethical standards of right)
tian. A concrete instance is
found in the following extract of
a letter from Chaplain Max A.
Braude to a former teacher at
the Hebrew Theological College:
"Every day the aged Ga-
lach (priest) and I say to our
Protestant friends, 'You will
excuse us, we must pray,' and
we retire to our respective and
respected studies for a half
hour of prayer and medita-
tion.
"Picture for yourself the
following departure from tra-
dition. Last week the two of
us were on maneuvers. We
were riding in a half-truck (a
Army and Navy Service Division, National Jewish Welfare Board
SEASON'S GREETINGS
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April 16, 1943
sort of tank with the top cut
off) after having been awak-
ened from a deep, deserved
slumber. When the morning
star arose, Father Cleary said
to me, 'I guess it's day now.'
I thought of "Higea Z'man shel
Krias' Shema" (the time ap-
proaches for the Morning Pray-
ers). Then he started count-
ing his beads while I put on
my Tephilin (phylacteries).
The early morning wind blew
in our faces; softly it began
to turn the pages of his Brev-
iary and the pages of my
Siddur (prayer book). At
breakfast over our soft-boiled
eggs, he asked me, "Braude,
which psalms of David did you
recite today?" He smiled when
I told him; then he said, "So
did I."
While the members of the
armed forces of the United States
of different faiths are learning
to live together, they are gain-
ing increased interest in their
own particular religions. In many
respects the men and women serv-
ing in the military establishmenti
of our country have a more in-
tense need for spiritual minis-
tration than they did in civilian
life.
One of the primary functions
of the Jewish Welfare Board, of-
ficially recognized by the gov-
ernment for this purpose, is to
fulfill the religious and spiritual
needs of the Jewish members of
the armed forces of the United
States.
There are now 124 Jewish
chaplains on active duty with
the army and the navy—nearly
five times as many as were in
service during the first World
War. The Jewish chaplains, with
the cooperation of the Jewish
Welfare Board, render unusual
service both at home and abroad,
See RELIGION Page 12
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