The Jewish Chaplain and Freedom of the Pulpit
BY ARYEH LEV
Director, MB Commission on
Jo ish Chaplaincy
Mountingy opposition to the war
in Vietnam and to the military
draft, one of the causes of the
campus rebellion, has also had a
a major impact on students in the
theological seminaries of all faiths,
including those in the rabbinical
seminaries.
Since newly ordained rabbis have
been the primary manpower pool
for the recruiting of Jewish mil-
itary chaplains, the anti-War senti-
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ment among rabbinical students'
has created a serious shortage of.
Jewish military chaplains.
Since 1950, most Jewish chap..;
tains came into service through a''
voluntary draft of all newly or-
dained rabbis imposed by the ma-
jor rabbinical bodies. Adopted dur-
ing the Korean War, the voluntary
draft brought 475 rabbis into the
chaplaincy.
In the past two years. however,
the resistance of the rabbinical
students to the chaplaincy draft
became so militant that it has
been replaced by a voluntary
system, thus seriously curtailing
the manpower available for Jew-
ish chaplaincy service.
This in turn has created a sit-
uation that puts the entire Jewish
military chaplaincy in jeopardy.
Yet the pressing need remains to
provide religious. Jewish educa-
tional and welfare services to the
widely dispersed Jewish .. -.ilitary
personnel, a traditional responsi-
bility of rabbis in uniform.
Two main thrusts have been
mounted in the attack on the mil-
itary chaplaincy. One is expressed
as a concern that, since a chaplain
is an officer in the military, his !
conscience may be violated be-
cause, in any situation, he must
relationship within the congre-
give priority to the military view
gation.
and only secondary consideration
to his own views as a clergyman.
If the chaplain feels that the
The second revolves around the Vietnam war is wrong. he may put
question of "freedom of the pul- on his civilian clothes on his days
pit" in the military.
off and speak about it at denomi-
Army, navy and air force man- national conferences, at rabbinic
uals and regulations all treat the meetings, in civilian pulpits.
mission and duties of chaplains. I
However. when he is wearing
quote here from the army manual: the uniform and he is speaking to
"The chaplain is a clergyman military personnel who do not con-
in uniform. He represents re- trol the situation and who cannot
ligion in the army. The duties of take personal action, it seems to
the chaplain as a religious and me that it would be poor judg-
spiritual leader are established ment and improper use of the
by law and by the ecclesiastical clerical role to speak on that sub-
usages which pertain to his pro- ject.
These GIs have problems. These
fession as a clergyman. The mis-
sion of the chaplain is to provide people have fears. These people
for the religious and moral needs have concerns. It is the chaplain's
of military personnel, their de- job to bring the insights of re
pendents and authorized civili- ligion and morality to help see
ans. He has a leading role in the them through their difficult situa-
deliberate and systematic culti- tions.
vation of moral a n d spiritual
forces in the army. The chaplain
stimulates and guides the growth
of the spiritual and moral sense
of obligation within the indi-
vidual."
One doesn't organize a fire de-
partment when a fire is raging.
It is then too late—except for the
next fire. Similarly, you can't
have a Jewish chaplaincy serv-
ice for selected situations. Either
you have a chaplaincy service
or you do not. Even with chap-
lains on duty, one still prays that
the country and the world will
remain at peace—and that. if
there is a war, the country will
be "moral" in pursuing it.
Our problem is that Vietnam is
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
52—Friday, September 12, 1969
Happy New Year to Our
Friends and Patrons
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Season's
Most Cordial Greetings
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This language is repeated again
Season's Greetings
and again throughout the entire
Field Manual, which deals only
Family
and
J. Berkowitz
with the subject of "The Chap-
TE 1-3755
4825 Russell
lain." Throughout the document.
no mission other than what is stat-
Louis Eder
ed in this paragraph is .ever re-
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ferred to.
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Clearly, this paragraph protects in our craw. We are all trying to
Happy Holiday
the chaplain's right to be essen- dislodge it.
tially a clergyman and to serve
However, to use the chaplaincy.
New Year Greetings
practically in the same manner as the one really free service in the
he would in a civilian community. military, as the "expectorant" to
Like most regulations, this one dislodge it, is like using a cap gun
1431 TIMES SQUARE
too is subject to personal inter- to explode an iceberg.
misinterpretation, or
- pretation,
If the rabbinate opposes the got .
ernment's policies on Vietnam. let
CUUTQ_OtU)Q_OCULd7 cut.suri o os even violation. The mission itself
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is clearly stated and can be fol- it intensify its actions beyond all
Gratiot
lowed by any chaplain of any faith the resolutions passed till now. Ci-
Holiday Greetings
without doing violence to his re- vilians can be effective.
a
ligious convictions or his moral In the military millieu, ihowever,
New Year Greetings
a
a
sensitivity.
the one place where the delicate
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first (with the implication that To remove chapels and chaplains i;
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he passes on the command of from the service is to take from
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his superiors without question) the GI-a very important source of
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and a chaplain second, that comfort, self-expression and hope.
Sincerest New Year Greetings
1914
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A chaplain is a clergyman first.
He works within the administra
tion of the military, just as a rabbi
in the civilian community is a rah-
- bi first, but works within the ad-
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342-7000
ministrative structure of his con-
gregation or his denomination.
***********444-"4
The boards of ecclesiastical en-
dorsing agencies of all denomina-
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tions, including JW13's commission
on Jewish chaplaincy. keep an
alert eye for any infringement on
this policy.
Luncheon: — Dinners — Cocktails
They consider their chaplains on
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loan to the military and subject to
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withdrawal whenever the military.
in general, or some commander, in
particular, violates this understand-
ing.
sr
Happy New Year
I know of no civilian rabbi who sr
to Our Friends and Patrons
does not "hold his tongue" on vari-
ous subjects, at various times, in
spite of the fact that his conscience
may bother him because of his
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He may enjoy "freedom of the
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pulpit" but he also claims the
freedom to use his good judg-
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the proper time, to maintain his
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HAPPY NEW YEAR
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