Moddern Gideons

Modern Gideons

Many delicate questions face more than 150,000 U.S. soldiers & sailors who are Orthodox, Conservative or Reformed Jews. They must somehow adapt to war conditions the ancient precepts that rigidly prescribe the daily life of a Jew who lives by the Jewish Law. Last week these 20th-century Gideons got an adviser. To the Manhattan headquarters of the Jewish Welfare Board went Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein as executive director of the J.W.B.'s committee on Army & Navy religious matters.

Since 1926 Philip Bernstein has been rabbi of 94-year-old Temple B'rith Kodesh in Rochester. There he gradually edged his ultra-Reformed congregation back towards traditional Judaism, increased the ratio of Hebrew to English in the services, this year substituted services on Friday night (the age-old time that Jews have gone to their synagogues to greet the Sabbath) for his temple's long-established Sunday morning observances.

Some of Rabbi Bernstein's new responsibilities :

>To direct and advise some 100 Jewish chaplains (four times as many as served the same number of men in the last war) assigned to 18 overseas stations and dozens of U.S. camps.

>To assign civilian rabbis for High Holy Day services (Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur) and part-time work at stations where no Jewish chaplain is available.

>To provide Jews in the armed services with tallithim (fringed white-&-blue prayer shawls), haggadahs (Passover prayer-books), abridged Bibles and hymnals.

Chief problem Rabbi Bernstein must solve is the pious Jewish soldier's daily fear of violating the Mosaic dietary laws. The Jewish Welfare Board has already made kosher canned foods available at various post exchanges, provides them free for soldiers unable to buy. Jewish soldiers who cannot get kosher food are urged not to feel they are sinning, because they are under military compulsion.

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