The United States Armed Forces has established a quota of 90 Jewish chaplains to be met by June 1962, it was reported today by the National Jewish Welfare Board, There are now 70 Jewish chaplains on active duty in the Army. Navy and Air Force; An additional 42 are to be recruited from the rabbinical seminaries to meet the quota and to fill vacancies to be created by the separation of chaplains who will have completed their tours of duty between now and next June.
There are also more than 270 civilian rabbis who serve voluntarily as part-time chaplains at military installations and VA hospitals where no full-time Jewish chaplains are assigned.
Twenty-two rabbis who completed 10 or more consecutive years of service as full or part-time chaplains in various branches of the U.S. armed forces during 1961 received certificates of commendation from the National Jewish Welfare Board Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy. The Commission is the agency through which JWB gives ecclesiastical endorsement and serves all Jewish chaplains in the armed forces and in VA hospitals. Among those cited is Rabbi Bernard Segal, executive director of the United Synagogue of America, who has completed 25 years of service. Two others–Rabbi David Berent of Lewiston, Me., and Rabbi Irving Melamed of Chicago–have each served for 20 years.
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