"The Day Is Short and the Task Is Great": Reports from Jewish Military Chaplains in Europe, 1945–1947

In Nov 1940, with war already underway in Europe and its clouds hanging over the US, Frank L. Weil, president of the Jewish Welfare Board, met with Assistant Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson to discuss the religious needs of the Jewish personnel in the armed forces. The burden of meeting the spiritual, religious, and material needs of Jewish soldiers and civilians fell directly on the Jewish military chaplains who served in the US Army and Navy. Feldberg presents excerpts of the reports of the chaplains who volunteered to serve in the Army and Navy.