Conservative Rabbis Lauded for Waiving Exemption from Military Service

Conservative rabbis who have waived their right to exemption from service in the U.S. armed forces, to which they are entitled as clergymen under the Selective Service Law, and have entered the army and the navy as chaplains under a self-imposed “draft” system, were lauded last night at a dinner meeting concluding an all-day conference of Jewish chaplains held at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Declaring that the voluntary “draft system” imposed by the Conservative rabbis upon themselves is “unique and unprecedented in the history of the nation,” Dr. Louis Finkelstein, president of the Seminary, read to the chaplains a resolution adopted by the Conference of the Jewish Theological Seminary on Sunday expressing its appreciation to the Rabbinical Assembly of America for its action to secure a maximum number of Army and Navy chaplains among its members.

“By unanimous consent and special resolve all members of the Rabbinical Assembly of military age have placed themselves at the service of their country and sixty of these men are now serving in all war theatres, overseas and in camps throughout the land,” the resolution said. “The Conference extends its greetings to these chaplains. We commend them for the sacrifices which they are so gladly making in order to minister to our valiant men in the armed forces.” The sixty Conservative rabbis, members of the Rabbinical Assembly, form about one third of the total of nearly 200 Jewish chaplains now on active duty in the U.S. armed services.

PRESIDENT OF RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY REVIEWS “LOTTERY” DRAFT SYSTEM

Rabbi Louis Levitsky of Newark, president of the Rabbinical Assembly, reviewed the operation of the draft system. “The lottery plan,” he declared, “has been in force since February 1942 when an extraordinary convention, attended by about 80 percent of the organization’s 328 members, was summoned to consider the most democratic method of providing chaplains. It was agreed at that meeting that every member of the Rabbinical Assembly must gives up his right of exemption or deferment to which he was entitled as a clergyman under the Selective Service Law.

“We appointed a nine-man Board of Chaplaincy Availability to determine the order in which members would be called to the services. It was decided at this conference that the procedures would apply to all rabbis between the ages of 25 and 45 who could meet the physical requirements of the Army and the Navy, and a covenant was made by each member that none would seek deferment or exemption on any grounds of indispensability whatever. Of the total of 162 members under 45 in the manpower pool, 150 have been called to date. All who could pass the physical examinations of the Army and Navy are now in the service.”

All Jewish applicants for the chaplaincy, Rabbi Levitsky pointed out, are examined by the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the National Jewish Welfare Board whose ecclesiastical endorsement of a candidate for the chaplaincy is required by the War and Navy Departments. The committee consists of 21 rabbis representing the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform groups.