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
Due to the intense pressure of the situation, the actual volume of work
done by the J. W. B. was surprisingly large. The entertainments and
dances conducted at every center numbered fully 5,000, with an aggregate
attendance of 2,750,000. Among the conspicuous units which toured the A.
E. F. under Welfare Board auspices, was "Who Can Tell?" the Second Army
show, which was underwritten by request of the Welfare Officer and was
one of the most elaborate of the army musical comedies, with a full
complement of chorus girls acted by husky doughboys; this production
toured for five weeks and while in Paris was seen by President and Mrs.
Wilson. There was the "Dovetail Troupe," a vaudeville unit which
likewise went on tour. And there was the "Tuneful Trio," led by Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Gideon of Boston, which came to France under the Y. M. C.
A., and gave many excellent concerts under J. W. B. auspices; I heard
one of their programs in Le Mans and felt not only the musical
excellence of their work, but also the special appeal of their program
of Yiddish folk songs to the Jewish men; this troupe delivered 81
concerts to fully 60,000 men. The army educational work received much
support in the various huts, and two of the best equipped men in the J.
W. B. service were assigned to it, Dr. H. G. Enelow for the University
of Beaune, and Professor David Blondheim of Johns Hopkins, for a time
executive director of the overseas work, for the Sorbonne in Paris. The
bulk of the daily work in the huts throughout France appears from the
fact that 2,500,000 letterheads were distributed and refreshments served
without charge to a total of 3,000,000 men.
The records of religious work are equally imposing, as 1,740 services
were held, with a total attendance of 180,000 men. The constant
cooeperation with the chaplains meant that far more than these were
indirectly influenced and aided. Eighteen thousand prayer books were
distributed and ten thousand Bibles. On Passover of 1919 the J. W. B.
provided unleavened bread (matzoth), which had been furnished through
the Quartermaster Corps, for the Jewish soldiers in the American forces,
as well as for French and Russian soldiers. The J. W. B. even provided
matzoth for six thousand Russian prisoners in Germany during Passover of
1919. At the request of the military officials, the Jewish Welfare Board
took charge of welfare work for the sixty thousand Russian troops in
France, who had come originally as fighting units, but after the
withdrawal of Russia from the war had been transferred to agricultural
labor. No other welfare agency had provided for them and so they were
assigned to the J. W. B. which had a few workers who could speak
Russian. It was rather ironical that these men in Cossack uniform, most
of whom were non-Jews, received their only friendly service in France at
the hands of the despised Jew.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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