16 Friday, December 31, 1982

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Air Force Article Pays Tribute to Rabbi Herbert Eskin

is uninterrupted even in the Pugh article, quoting
temporary retirement from Rabbi Eskin:
active affiliation with the
" 'I love the service be-
the U.S. military.
cause it is so democratic,'
The Eskin story is told in the rabbi likes to say. 'In the
an exciting account of the service, people make rank
Detroit spiritual leader's because they earn it, not be-
record, told in an illustrated cause they're a Protestant
five-page article in the cur- or Catholic. Favoritism is
rent issue of Airman, the minimal; promotion is on
magazine that regularly merit. That's how it should
reaches 184,000 enlisted be.
personnel.
" `To anyone separating
Written by Sergeant from the service, I say carry
for your party
Craig Pugh, this essay is a that feeling of unity wher-
remarkable tribute to a - ever you go. This is what
By
man who has dedicated his America is all about, a land
work to the enlisted uni- of opportunity, a land that
formed men. It gives an ac- safeguards not only its own
count of devotion to the shores but those of every
great American principles, freedom-loving country in
Call
embodied in humanism as the world. We are not self-
well as Americanism.
ish.Americans are a people
There is this direct who can live together in
tribute to such patriot- spite of their differences,
ism, directly culled from because we know our dif-
ferences make us strong.
Sure we have rough spots,
but thank God they're so
Priced Sale of Household Furnishings
few.' "
Professionally Conducted In Your Home
Published on the eve of a
Estate Liquidators_
new year, Sgt. Pugh notably
commences his tribute to
the Jewish spiritual leader
Liquidators
-
Appraisers
with reference to the man-
368-4044
875-7650
ner in which Rabbi Eskin,
Member of Antique Appraisal Assoc. of America
in 1944, in the midst of a
terrible war, gathered the
Jewish soldiers he could lo-
cate in the Vosges Moun-
tains in eastern France to
assist in providing the
Christmas spirit for the
Christian soldiers. Thus the
Christian uniformed war-
riors
were enabled to celeb-
4•10.
rate Christmas and to have
a holiday enspirited by a
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The major account of the
(Call Mike Steingold-
many Eskin roles is in this
Pugh account:
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Ei/E.S.d SAT-SUN 4- MON-PRI 9-5
"The road to peace he
chose to follow has taken
him many miles in many
directions, serving as he
did for more than 30

Rabbi Herbert S. Eskin is
one of the most respected
names in the American
military circles, a distinc-
tion acquired in four de-
cades of dedicated services
as an army chaplain — a
service that continues and

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years as a circuit rider of
sorts visiting military in-
stallations in Michigan.
"Included among them
were Selfridge, Wurtsmith,
and Kincheloe air force
bases. At each location he
conducted services and
tended to the religious —
and as often the very human
— needs of Jews.
"All the while, of course,
he was a full-time rabbi at
his own synagogue in De-
troit. And since 1946 he's
always been an auxiliary,
on-call chaplain for at least
one VA hospital in the state.
"His reasons for all of this
are deceptively simple.
There is in him a love for
people, but it runs far de-
eper than that. He also loves
America. And the two loves
are indistinguishable.
" 'We take so much
from others and from life
itself,' he explained. 'I be-
lieve you do the right
thing by giving it back —
by sharing your life with
others. That's been my
motto: Give of yourself.
This is what I've tried to
do. And when you serve
people ; you also serve
America, because what is
America if not its people?
So in my own way I do
what I can.'
"And he did and is doing
just that — what he can. His
life has been a revelation
packed hard all around with
the giving of himself.
"For the Holocaust sur-
vivors he established a
sanctuary, a house of refuge
in Stuttgart. For many it
was a place of hope, their
only resort.
"Now 70 years old and
`retired,' Rabbi Eskin can
today talk about the
Stuttgart days as if they
were a chapter in his life. So
consuming was his compas-
sion for others that he went
on to do so much more.
" 'Herb's indefatiga-
ble,' said Chaplain
Ronald Phelps, chief of
chaplain services at the
Allen Park Veterans Ad-
ministration Medical
Center where Eskin has
worked part-time for 20
years. 'I first met him in
1965 when' was the chap-
lain at a school for re-
tarded children.
" 'I'd been unsuccessful in
finding someone from the
Jewish community to spend
time with the Jewish chil-
dren there. I mentioned that
to Herb and he volunteered
on the spot. As I later found
out, that's characteristic of
him.
" 'In the 18 years I've
known him, I've grown to
realize he serves God in the
classical image; that is, you
best serve the Almighty by
serving His people. Herb
serves the Almighty's
people."
"Service. That's the one
word above all that de-
scribes Eskin's life. He has
been three times the de-
partment chaplain of the
Michigan Jewish War Vete-
rans; three times depart-
ment chaplain of the
American Legion, Michigan
branch; and in 1950 was
elected the first Jewish na-

General A. Weatherly, left, is shown presenting an
Air Force commendation certificate to Rabbi Herbert
Eskin last year, citing the rabbi for 35 years of service
at military installations in Michigan.

tional chaplain of the U.S.
Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A retired Army Reserve
lieutenant colonel, he has a
law degree and speaks five
languages.
"He
has
met
presidents, Supreme
Court justices, and tes-
tified before the U.S.
Congress on behalf of
veterans. He has been
quoted in Newsweek
magazine and was a
charter member of the
Michigan branch of the
NAACP — in 1954! In
short, he's manned the
front lines of life itself.
That's typical of this
Russian-born former in-
fantry chaplain who
earned the Bronze Star in
World War II. He has al-
ways been where the ac-
tion is when it comes to
living, and the friend-
ships he's formed along
the way are his true trea-
sures.
"To meet him is an ex-
perience not soon forgotten.
He is a bear of a man. While
neither too tall nor too wide,
there is a solidness in his
build that smacks of
strength. His head rests on
a thick stump, a wrestler's
neck, and he prides himself
on having been an athlete in
his youth..
"Naturally, he has a
preacher's voice — he was
an active rabbi for 40 years
— and uses it well: whisper-
ing sometimes, nearly sh-
outing at others, speeding
up the words, and then slow-
ing them down for em-
phasis.
"His dark brown eyes are
warm and liquid. Notice-
ably kind toward others, he
is the consummate. gentle-
man. He's the epitome of the
grandfather who easily
draws children to his knee.
"He regularly plays 18
holes of golf, and
wouldn't think of using a
cart. After all, a soldier
walks. 'I'm an ex-GI,' he
said, 'an infantryman.
You don't have to handle
me with silk gloves.'
And therein lies the con-
trast. Eskin is leather and
lace; stern when he has to
be, but gentle by preference.
"As soldierlike as he was
when he served his country
in uniform, he never forgot
that his first service was to
God. He always served the
principles of righteousness
as he saw them. He believed
in humankind, even in the
German people, some of

whom were slaughtering
Jews.
"Such was the case one
day in 1945 when the 100th
Infantry Division was
marching into yet another
German town that had fal-
len. He saw an elderly
couple by the road, and pul-
led his jeep over to talk. He
asked in German, did they
know of any Jews nearby?
" 'The wife started to
cry,' Eskin related. 'She
took me by the sleeve and
implored me to come to
her house. Her husband,
a Lutheran minister,
went to the attic and
brought out a young
couple: two Jews, skinny
as rails. The minister and
his wife had saved them
from the camps by hiding
them for six years. Im-
mediately the couple
talked to me in Yiddish,
telling me that this man
was their God: He had
saved their lives.'
"Eskin returned to the
town a few weeks after the
war was over. He found the
German couple in tears.
`Please help us,' they im-
plored. 'Our daughter is in
an American prison camp
because she has been a Hit-
ler Youth member.'
"Her parents had kept the
two Jews in hiding a secret
from her. They couldn't risk
her finding out and perhaps
turning them in to the
authorities.
"Rabbi Eskin talked to
the U.S. Army major in
charge at the prison. He told
him what the girl's parents
had done. 'They saved two
lives,' he said. 'Give one
back — give me their
daughter. She was too
young to know what she did.
Show these people our good
faith; I'll take the blame if
you get in trouble.'
"The warden released
her. At home, her father
told her what the rabbi
had done. She was con-
fused because she'd been
taught that Jews be-
longed in the camps.
Why, then, would this
Jew unlock her prison
door?
" let this be a lesson
throughout your life,' Eskin
later admonished the girl.
`Your parents could've been
shot for what they did, but
they risked their lives to
save two others.
" 'Taking someone's life is
easy when you have a rifle
and all the power,' he said,
(Continued on Page 17)