Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains

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Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains by Abraham "Honest Abe" Lincoln on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 3:36pm Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains By Michael Feldberg

For Jews who wish to observe the rituals of their faith, wartime may pose seemingly insurmountable challenges. The exigencies of war can make the observance of the Sabbath, holy days and the kosher laws very difficult. Jewish soldiers must, on occasion, subordinate religious observance to combat. Despite the frequent priority of war over religion, there are times, such as the funeral of a fallen Jewish soldier or at the bedside of a wounded Jew, when religion can shape war policy. Abraham "Honest Abe" L… Browse Notes Friends' Notes Pages' Notes

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Jews could not serve as chaplains in the U.S. armed forces. When the war commenced in 1861, Jews enlisted in both the Union and Confederate armies. The Northern Congress adopted a bill in July of 1861 that permitted each regiment's commander, on a vote of his field officers, to appoint a regimental chaplain so long as he was "a regularly ordained minister of some Christian denomination."

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Only Representative Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, a non-Jew, protested that this clause discriminated against soldiers of the Jewish faith. Vallandigham argued that the Jewish population of the United States, "whose adherents are ... good citizens and as true patriots as any in this country," deserved to have rabbis minister to Jewish soldiers. Vallandigham thought the law, which endorsed Christianity as the official religion of the United States, was blatantly unconstitutional. However, there was no organized national Jewish protest to support Vallandigham and the bill sailed through Congress.

Three months later, a YMCA worker visiting the field camp of a Pennsylvania regiment known as "Cameron's Dragoons" discovered to his horror that the officers had elected a Jew, Michael Allen, as regimental chaplain. While not an ordained rabbi, Allen was fluent in the Portuguese minhagim (ritual) and taught at the Philadelphia Hebrew Education Society. As Allen was neither a Christian nor an ordained minister, the YMCA representative filed a formal complaint with the Army. Obeying the recently enacted law, the Army forced Allen to resign his post.

Hoping to create a test case based strictly on a chaplain's religion and not his lack of ordination, Colonel Max Friedman and the officers of the Cameron's Dragoons then elected an ordained rabbi, the Reverend Arnold Fischel of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, to serve as regimental chaplain-designate. When Fischel, a Dutch immigrant, applied for certification as chaplain, the Secretary of War, none other than Simon Cameron, for whom the Dragoons were named, complied with the law and rejected Fischel's application.

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Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains

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Fischel's rejection stimulated American Jewry to action. The American Jewish press let its readership know that Congress had limited the chaplaincy to those who were Christians and argued for equal treatment for Judaism before the law. This initiative by the Jewish press irritated a handful of Christian organizations, including the YMCA, which resolved to lobby Congress against the appointment of Jewish chaplains. To counter their efforts, the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, one of the earliest Jewish communal defense agencies, recruited Reverend Fischel to live in Washington, minister to wounded Jewish soldiers in that city's military hospitals and lobby President Abraham Lincoln to reverse the chaplaincy law. Although today several national Jewish organizations employ representatives to make their voices heard in Washington; Fischel's mission was the first such undertaking of this type.

Armed with letters of introduction from Jewish and non-Jewish political leaders, Fischel met on December 11, 1861 with President Lincoln to press the case for Jewish chaplains. Fischel explained to Lincoln that, unlike many others who were waiting to see the president that day, he came not to seek political office, but to "contend for the principle of religious liberty, for the constitutional rights of the Jewish community, and for the welfare of the Jewish volunteers."

According to Fischel, Lincoln asked questions about the chaplaincy issues, "fully admitted the justice of my remarks ... and agreed that something ought to be done to meet this case." Lincoln promised Fischel that he would submit a new law to Congress "broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites."

Lincoln kept his word, and seven months later, on July 17, 1862, Congress finally adopted Lincoln's proposed amendments to the chaplaincy law to allow "the appointment of brigade chaplains of the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish religions." In historian Bertram Korn's opinion, Fischel's "patience and persistence, his unselfishness and consecration ... won for American Jewry the first major victory of a specifically Jewish nature ... on a matter touching the Federal government."

Korn concluded, "Because there were Jews in the land who cherished the equality granted them in the Constitution, the practice of that equality was assured, not only for Jews, but for all minority religious groups.

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Michael Feldberg is the Executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society. Comment by clicking here. Chat (Offline)

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Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains

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Like · Comment · Share 49 people like this. 1 share John Edward Woleske Great line......how 'bout that JW Boothe guy...changing history again....those fringe folks...teddy kazins..a young charlie manson...right string?...wrong yo yo people...they are all in history books..those goofy assasin type folks September 11, 2009 at 9:02pm · Like Randy Philip Edward Orso I wish I had known of this while advocating for the inclusion of Rabbi into a local Clergy Association in my boyhood hometown. It certainly is an inspiring story. Thank you for sharing this. September 11, 2009 at 11:15pm · Like Carole Wilson John Wikes Booth shot Mr Lincoln at the theater in DC it is still there and they still do plays there it is very cold no heat January 9, 2010 at 4:39pm · Like Jean Agudelo that is true February 10, 2010 at 10:54am · Like Miriam Rubinoff The more things change, the more they stay the same... Now the U.S. military is struggling with the issue of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Our country is constantly evolving. February 15, 2010 at 2:01pm · Like Kenny Vu ugh tis is useless February 16, 2010 at 7:57pm · Like Nils Skudra One interesting thing is that there was more tolerance of Jews in the Confederate Army than in the Union Army, and the Confederate government permitted Jews to serve as chaplains before the Union government did. February 21, 2010 at 2:06pm · Like Diagne Dame There were only 25,000 Jews in the Confederate States during the Civil War as compared to 120,000 in the north. About 2,000 Jews fought in the southern army. March 19, 2010 at 5:41am · Like Tom Clark but could they observe the sabbath? March 26, 2010 at 10:20pm · Like Nils Skudra Yes, in the Confederate Army and in the antebellum South there was more religious tolerance, and Jewish Confederate soldiers could observe the Sabbath. In the Union Army, it took a while before the Union government permitted Jews to serve a...See More April 4, 2010 at 1:09am · Like Lorenzo Obama long live Abe...that said...there wasn't anything good about the confederates...they wanted people like me kept into slavery...they later evolved into KKK...talk about reverse evolution Chat (Offline)

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Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains

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April 14, 2010 at 11:06pm · Like Michael Campbell @Lorenzo...the civil war was not about slavery, when Lincoln himself and Grant both owned slaves. Read up on McCulloch vs The state of Maryland. That's what the civil war was about. April 17, 2010 at 12:41pm · Like Cyrus Howell How was that San Francisco Tea Party? April 19, 2010 at 7:01am · Like Muhammet Kaya köleliği kaldırmak heralde onu tam bir dunya lideri yapmıştır... April 19, 2010 at 5:07pm · Like Julia Parnossah Father Abraham. April 22, 2010 at 9:31am · Like ·

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Elizabeth Shubsda What a great man; freedom for all!! June 29, 2010 at 6:04pm · Like · 2 Dan Abernathy I always thought of Lincoln as the great hypocrite. Secession was not only legal, it was one of the founding principles of this nation. Lincoln acknowledged this fact himself in 1848 when he said, “Any people anywhere, being inclined and ...See More August 14, 2010 at 1:43pm · Like Charles Malone Well, President Lincoln obviously changed his mind on whether it was right to seceed from the Union. None of us should be held to beliefs we had ten years or so in the past. Anyway, having a right does not make that action the right thing to do. August 15, 2010 at 11:29pm · Like · 3 Dan Abernathy But the right of secession isn't really a gray area, it's either constitutional or it isn't. Secession had been discussed within state legislatures for decades prior to the Civil War. For instance, during the War of 1812 the northern New En...See More August 22, 2010 at 8:31pm · Like Delgado Fitzhugh The ONLY all Jewish military cemetary outside of Israel is in Richmond, Virginia, they are all Jewish Confederates. The U.S military wouldn't even grant them that much. Considering Lincoln was an agnostic or atheist, I am sure it had strictly political motives behind it. August 24, 2010 at 6:49pm · Like David Schout Confederate wannabes, just get over it. You lost the war, thank God almighty. October 21, 2010 at 7:39pm · Like · 3 Joseane Targonski Seriously? I will tell you it is in people's nature to complain. How can anyone say anything bad about Lincoln is beyond me (roll eyes) Yes, he was not perfect, nobody is, but he was the most perfect any man could be. October 25, 2010 at 7:47pm · Like · 1 Chat (Offline)

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Lincoln's fight for Jewish chaplains

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Nina Davidovich Litvak michael campbell: just to set the record straight, Lincoln NEVER had slaves. November 2, 2010 at 9:18pm · Like · 1 Zewdinesh Taye Gebru ...any leader rather. November 21, 2010 at 12:54pm · Like Joseane Targonski @ David Schout, I second that! November 21, 2010 at 1:28pm · Like Telly Innasya Hmm..gg ngrtii,,, but s0mebody can u add me ??! November 26, 2010 at 5:15am via mobile · Like Write a comment...

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