Jewish personnel in the U.S. Armed Forces are being ministered to by Jewish chaplains “to an extent unknown in previous military history,” it is revealed by the National Jewish Welfare Board in its new Year Book on the Armed Forces Field, published today.
While in the first World War there was but one Jewish chaplain for each 10,000 Jews in service, and one for each 2,000 in World War II, the Year Book points out, “the goal of having one chaplain for each 1,000 Jews in the Armed Forces is in sight.”
The current intensive chaplaincy coverage, the Year Book notes, has its origin in the chaplaincy recruitment program launched by JWB’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy shortly after the outbreak of the Korean war. The Commission is composed of representatives of the three leading rabbinical bodies in the U.S.
Since the launching of the chaplaincy “voluntary draft” program, more than 150 Jewish chaplains have come into service. Also serving are 234 part-time chaplains, who have also been recruited and endorsed by the JWB Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy. Contacts of Jewish chaplains with GI’s at religious services and other functions totalled close to a million, the Year Book states.
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