Synagogues: from Bnai Keflavik to Beth Nah V'nad By JULIAN JABLIN Would you like to attend a Passover Seder this year at Con- gregation Bnai Keflavik Or join a minyan with Bnai Antietam? Or attend a Jewish service at Aloha Chapel? The chances are that you'll never have the opportunity to become a member of any of these congregations, although you'd - be a most welcome visitor at any of them. No, the mem- bership is highly restricted, be- ing limited to Jewish men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. Armed Forces. These are the "GI congregations"— the groups of servicemen who band together for religious activities, social events and communal service wherever American troops are on duty across the world. In Case some of the "Hebrew" in these names seems unfamil- iar, an explanation is in order. "Keflavik" is the name of an American air base in Iceland, Greetings to All on Passover CADILLAC BODY SERVICE Custom Collision All 8424 Work Guaranteed TY. 8-5600 Dumbarton Best Wishes for a Happy Passover . BROOKS UNDERGROUND LAWN SPRINKLING SYSTEM UN, 3-9650 20122 Livernois Greetings on the Holiday T. H. BREHM CO. Incorporated Heating Contractors . and Distributors Service and Repairs on All Automatic Furnaces and Heating Equipment 21380 COOLIDGE HWY, OAK PARK, MICH. JO. 4-6785 Member of Detroit Air Conditioning institute Holiday Greetings ADD NEEDED STORAGE SPACE WITH Greenfield SLIDING DOOR WARDROBE UNITS • • Each unit complete with hardware Overhead storage space with separate sliding • Garment section can provide shoe rack • • All standard widths 13/4" birch slab doors top and bottom doors Greerrfielcl Wood Products Co. 21850 W. 8 Mile Road KE. 5-0090 Passover Greetings To Our Many Friends THE EVANS-SHERRATT COMPANY 16619 Wyoming "Antietam" is a U.S. aircraft carrier, and "Aloha" is a name that means almost anything in Hawaii. Some congregations stick to pure Hebrew with spe- cial meanings; Bnai Barzel, "Sons of Iron," most appropriate for an artillery outfit; Sehilla lcdosha Okinawa, the "Holy Community" of Okinawa; Bnai Erev Ra,v, a "Mixed Multitude" of men from • several different military organizations. These GI congregations escape some of the problems facing synagogues in American com- munities. There are no dues, al- though members generally con- tribute to 1, "chapel fund" to make necessary purchases for the chapel, for charitable con- tributions, or for other purposes. There are never any building campaigns, because the congre- gation meets wherever the men can get together. There are few social distinctions; rank is care- fully parked outside and the measure of a congregant's im- portance is the amount of serv- ice that he gives. There are no ritual problems, since the pray- erbook provided by the National Jewish Welfare Board is de- signed to minister to the needs of all men in service, and any questions which do arise are usually settled by the demo- cratic" process of discussion by the Congregation. Often, there is no regular rabbi; where there is a Jewish chaplain in the area, he may serve a dozen Jewish groups or more, and while he is away one of the members fills in to conduct services. There is, however, a tremend- ous enthusiasm, a love for tra- dition, a desire to give to and get from the service as much as possible, and this spirit would distinguish any congregation anywhere. What these GI congregations do not have is the normal sources of supply for religious items, prayerbooks, kosher foods and the like. They get these ne- cessities from the National Jew- ish Welfare Board as part of JWB's year-round, world-wide program of religious and morale service to Jewish men and wo- men in uniform. It is JWB's Commission on Jewish Chap- laincy which recruits, endorses and serves the Jewish chaplains who minister to these congrega- tions. So the reports that come back to JWB from the congregations with the strange names make up an inspiring bit of the cur- rent history of American Jewry. It was a group of American Jews who set up the "First He- brew Congregation of the Arc- tic," on a windy desert of ice that was to become famous as Thule, our northernmost out- post. The first word from this little synagogue was -a request to JWB for Passover supplies. In Pusan, Korea, Jewish GIs gath- ered together to form Beth Nah V'nad, the "House of the Wan- derer,'' for they had been shift- ing back and forth across the Korean Peninsula. And while the congregants wander, and re- ceive new assignments in far- off places, the congregations re- main for those who arrive. At times these GIs, with that special humor that American fighting men have become noted for, have given their congrega- tions names which might well grace a B-29 or a heavy tank. Thus there are the "Bayonet Bentschers" daf the 7th Division, and the "Lightning Litvaks" of the 25th Division, not to men- tion the "Mazeldike Medics" of I Corps, all in Korea. And one can note a bit of wishful think- ing on the part of the "Kosher QMs" whose supply lines of kosher foods are frequently badly strained. The very map of Korea has been changed (albeit unofficially) and now the town of Wonju appears (in chapel bulletins, at least) as "One Jew." For simple dignity, though, coupled with the traditional de- sire of Jews to live in peace, one must salute the Jewish men sta- tioned on Guam, who have named the but that serves as their synagogue, "Chapel of Shalom." Friday, April 1, 1955 DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-35 Season's Best Wishes A. J. Danboise & Sons, Inc. 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