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 whole work of the J. W. B. abroad culminated in the Passover of
1919. The most intense moment for us chaplains had come during the high
holydays when feeling was most profound and suspense at its deepest and
when, in addition, we had to carry the burden almost unaided. By
Passover the feeling had changed, the war was safely over, the men were
rejoicing at their imminent return home, and we had the Jewish Welfare
Board to arrange our celebration for us. Fully 30,000 of the Jews in the
A. E. F. ate the Seder dinners furnished by the Welfare Board. I have
already described our celebration at Le Mans, with its many features in
which the J. W. B. and I worked together. A similar program was carried
out everywhere. At Dijon Rabbi Schumacher of the local French synagogue,
who had been most active throughout in the interest of the American
soldiers, led a great congregation of 2,000 men through the rain to the
synagogue for worship and afterward to the Seder tables. In Germany, the
city of Coblenz became the leave area for soldiers of Jewish faith and
was closed for all other furloughs during the three days. The Y. M. C.
A. and the K. of C. assisted in giving proper honor to the Jewish
festival and proper pleasures to the Jewish men, and with their aid
boat rides on the Rhine, entertainments in the Festhalle, and all the
features of a full amusement program were provided.
Most striking of all was the great Seder at Paris, with its crowd of
American, Australian, English, French and Italian soldiers, some of them
former prisoners in Germany, all of them united in the great occasion of
their faith. Among the speakers and the guests of honor were some of the
great leaders of Jewry, as well as personal representatives of Marshall
Foch and General Pershing. Colonel Harry Cutler, Mr. Louis Marshall,
Judge Julian Mack, Dr. Cyrus Adler, and Dr. Chaim Weitzmann were there,
as well as many other celebrities. At that time and in that place the
highest honor for any man was to worship and eat side by side with the
soldiers, who had carried love of their country and loyalty to their
faith to the last extreme of service and of sacrifice.
Decoration Day of 1919, which was observed by all France together with
its American visitors, was another important ceremony for the Jewish
Welfare Board, together with its French hosts at the great synagogue on
the Rue de la Victoire. The sermon was delivered by Rabbi Voorsanger,
the service read by Rabbi Levy of Paris; and again the great throng of
Americans in uniform and their French friends joined in the common
worship of their faith and the common exaltation of their patriotism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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