Lay Jewish personnel in the United States armed forces in Viet Nam assist the Jewish chaplains in conducting religious services and otherwise bolstering the morale of the Jewish soldiers, it was reported here today to the National Jewish Welfare Board’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy. The report came from the Jewish chaplain who was sent to the Viet Nam theater most recently, Rabbi Harry Z. Schreiner. Other Jewish chaplains in the area are Rabbi Richard E. Dryer and Rabbi Louis Reiner.
According to Rabbi Schreiner’s report, about 75 Jewish men attend Friday evening and Saturday morning services at the 8th Field Hospital at Nha Trang, 250 miles from Saigon. The Second Surgical Hospital Sabbath services are conducted weekly by Capt. Mordecai Gerstein, a physician, who is the son of Rabbi Israel Gerstein, of Passaic, N. J. at Cam Rahn Bay. The lay leaders are Capt. Jerome Meister and SP4 Martin Libowsky. Capt. Marvin Noble and Lt. Herbert Lesnoy conduct services at Qui Nhon, he reported. “The morale of the Jewish troops is high, “Rabbi Schreiner reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
