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
To cover the enormous field before us was plainly impossible. The
chaplain could only work day by day, clearing a little pathway ahead of
him but never making an impression on the great jungle about. When I
first reached France, I grew accustomed to the greeting: "Why, you're
the first Jewish chaplain I've met in France!" That was hard enough
then, but it grew harder when the same words were addressed me in Brest
just before sailing and on shipboard on the way home. And yet it was
inevitable that twelve chaplains could not meet personally the hundred
thousand Jewish soldiers scattered through the two millions in the
American uniform through the length and breadth of France. Under these
circumstances we all feel a natural pride at the work accomplished
against adverse conditions. I for one feel that we did all that twelve
men similarly situated could possibly have done, and I gladly bring my
personal tribute to those others, chaplains, welfare workers, officers,
and enlisted men, whose cooeperation doubled and trebled the actual
extent and effectiveness of our work. This includes especially the
Christian chaplains and welfare workers; their own field was great
enough to take all their time and energy, but they were always ready to
turn aside for a moment to lend a hand to us, in order that the labors
of twelve men serving their faith in the great American army might not
be quite futile.
The first of the Jewish chaplains to reach France was Rabbi Elkan C.
Voorsanger, who gave up his pulpit in St. Louis in April, 1917, to join
the St. Louis Base Hospital as a private in the medical corps. As his
hospital unit was the third to reach France in May, 1917, Rabbi
Voorsanger was one of the first five hundred American soldiers in the
American Expeditionary Forces. In the medical corps he rose from private
to sergeant, gaining at the same time an intimate first-hand knowledge
of the problems of the man in the ranks. When the bill was passed by
Congress in November, 1917, ordering the appointment of chaplains of
sects not at that time represented in the army, Rabbi Voorsanger was the
first Jew commissioned under its provisions. He was examined by a
special board appointed overseas by General Pershing at the direction of
the Secretary of War; his commission was dated November 24th, 1917. In
January 1918 he was assigned to the 41st Division and in March to Base
Hospital 101 at St. Nazaire. While posted there he conducted his first
important service overseas in Passover 1918, the first official Jewish
service held in the A. E. F. He was assigned to the 77th Division in May
1918 on their arrival in France where he served with a most enviable
record, receiving the Croix de Guerre and being recommended for the D.
S. M. for exceptional courage and devotion to duty in time of danger.
The midnight patrol on the banks of the Meuse, by which he won these
honors, was both a courageous and a useful exploit. He was promoted to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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