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Jews in U.S. Forces Abroad Reported Taking Greater Interest in Religion

December 30, 1957
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Some 90 percent of the “Jewish personnel in American military bases overseas are regularly participating in religious services,” it was reported here by Rabbi Solomon J. Sharfman, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, on his return from a visit to American Air Force centers overseas. Rabbi Sharman felt that “the revival of this religious spirit is attributable to their basic insecurity, boredom and loneliness.”

reporting on the situation in Israel, Rabbi Sharfman and Rabbi Zev Segal, chairman of the Israeli Commission of the Council, indicated that “the Rabbinical Council of America will henceforth recognize the Chief Rabbinate as the sole authority for the determination of religious matters in Israel” and that “in return, the Rabbinical Council of America will receive full recognition from the Chief Rabbinate as the liaison rabbinical body in the United States.”

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