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
In addition to the overseas commission and the men in the field, several
of the prominent officers of the Jewish Welfare Board went to France at
various times and took personal part in the work. The first was Mr.
Mortimer L. Schiff, who spent the months of December 1918 and January
1919 in France as a member of the commission of eleven of the United War
Work Organization, which had just completed its great financial drive.
In that capacity Mr. Schiff was equally interested in all the welfare
agencies; naturally, he gave the full benefit of his advice to the J. W.
B. In February 1919 Colonel Harry Cutler, chairman of the Jewish Welfare
Board, came to France. Although burdened with duties for other
organizations as well, he accomplished wonders for the work of the J. W.
B. during his four months in France. His enthusiasm and vigor showed at
once, as in any matter he ever undertook. He traveled throughout the A.
E. F., observed conditions for himself, and then accomplished two
important pieces of work. First he obtained an order from the General
Headquarters releasing the J. W. B. from its former dependence on the Y.
M. C. A. and allowing it to work directly in cooeperation with the
military authorities; this was certainly advisable under post-armistice
conditions, and many others felt with me that it would have been the
preferable system at all times. Second, he persuaded Chaplain Elkan C.
Voorsanger, then completing his second year overseas, to allow his
division to return home without him, while he stayed on from April to
September as Overseas Director of the J. W. B. Together with Chaplain
Voorsanger, Colonel Cutler administered the J. W. B. during the period
of growth, and then left him to carry it on successfully during the time
of retrenchment, until finally he also returned home with the Paris
Staff, and the only representatives left in France were those working in
cooeperation with the Graves Registration Service.
Another important worker for the J. W. B. was Dr. Cyrus Adler,
vice-chairman of the national organization, who reached France in March,
1919 as a representative of the American Jewish Committee. On Colonel
Cutler's return in May, Dr. Adler took over his duties for the Welfare
Board, and worked with Chaplain Voorsanger until the end of his mission,
in July 1919.
One necessary part of the work of the Jewish Welfare Board, after all
its efforts on behalf of the men in the service had been accomplished,
was to care for the graves of those Jews who gave their all in the
service of America. The Graves Registration Service, later called the
Cemeterial Division of the War Department, had a great and necessary
work. The Jewish Welfare Board obtained in February, 1918 a War
Department order that all graves of Jews should be marked with the Magen
David, the double triangle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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