A Jewish Chaplain in FranceLevinger, Lee J. (Lee Joseph)
Religion
A Jewish Chaplain in France
Levinger, Lee J. (Lee Joseph)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Jews
The entire American area in France had been charted out for the purpose
of holyday services and the central cities designated, either those
which had French synagogues to receive our men, or those points like
Nevers where Americans were to be found and had to be provided for. I
quote the official order which carried authority for our arrangements.
"Tours, Sept. 1, 1918.
Wherever it will not interfere with military operations soldiers of
Jewish Faith will be excused from all duty and where practicable
granted passes to enable them to observe Jewish Holidays as
follows: from noon Sept. 6th to morning of Sept. 9th and from noon
Sept. 15th to morning of Sept. 17th. If military necessity prevents
granting passes on days mentioned provision should be made to hold
divine services wherever possible."
This meant that all those had leave who were not at the time in action
or on the move. Chaplain Voorsanger, for example, was not able to have
any service in the 77th Division as his troops were on the march on New
Year's Day and in action on the Day of Atonement. Most of the central
points designated for Jewish services were important cities with French
synagogues,--Paris, Toul, Belfort, Dijon, Epinal, Nantes, Rouen, Tours,
Bordeaux and Marseilles. Three of the chief American centers had none,
so Dr. Enelow was assigned to Brest, Dr. Kohn to Chaumont, and I was
sent to Nevers.
I spent a single busy day in Tours after leaving Chaumont. I met the
wife and father-in-law of Rabbi Leon Sommers and inspected their little
synagogue with its seventy-five seats. The Rabbi was on duty in the
French army where he had been from the very beginning of the war. I went
to the army headquarters and arranged for the proper notices to be sent
out to troops in the district, then with two or three Jewish families
whom I met I discussed arrangements to accommodate the large number of
Jewish soldiers who would come in. I was empowered to offer them the
financial assistance of the Jewish Welfare Board in providing such
accommodations as were possible.
One surprise of a kind which I afterward came to expect, was meeting an
old friend of mine from Great Lakes, a former sergeant in the Canadian
Army, mustered out of service because of the loss of several fingers and
now back in France again as a representative of the Knights of Columbus.
When he left Great Lakes for overseas, I had parted with one of the two
knitted sweaters I possessed, that if I did not see service at least my
sweater would. Now I met the sweater and its owner again for a few brief
moments. These fleeting glimpses of friends became a delightful but
always tense element in our army life. Men came and went like an
ever-flowing stream, now and then pausing for a greeting and always
hurrying on again. A single day sufficed for my work in Tours and then
to my own city for the holydays.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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