The faces tell the story: proud faces, many wearing military caps with insignia, medals and ribbons from a war fought over 60 years ago. Faces which gleamed with pride when they stood at attention as an Honor Guard presented the flag. The sound of their voices reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the National Anthem, was thunderous.

Over 1,000 people, a standing room-only audience, filled the sanctuary of Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park on Tuesday, June 6, 2006, participating in the Gratz College sponsored event entitled “The Finest Hour: WWII and the Jews Who Fought It.” Jewish veterans representing every branch of the United States armed services, in addition to Jewish veterans of the Soviet Army, gathered to share their stories, to receive a special medal commemorating the event from Gratz College, and to listen to a lecture by Bonnie Gurewitsch, Archivist and Curator of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.

The overwhelming response required moving the event, the largest in Gratz College’s 111 year history, from the Gratz College campus to the larger facility at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel located less than a mile away. The majority of the attendees were WWII veterans and families wishing to honor their loved ones posthumously. A medal specially designed and struck for the event by Gratz College was presented to all veterans registered with Gratz. A copy of a special proclamation by Governor Edward Rendell in recognition of the event is being sent to all veterans.

Shalom TV, the nation’s first Jewish cable television network, covered the event for future broadcast and interviewed a number of veterans during the pre-lecture reception. The network is scheduled to commence broadcasting in late summer, 2006.

The event was sponsored by Jay M. Starr and Family, Steven Fisher and Family and Praxis Capital, LP, in honor of their family members who served in the United States Armed Services during the Second World War. Jay M. Starr, President of Praxis Capital, LP, is Chairman of the Board of Governors of Gratz College; Steven L. Fisher, Esq., is a member of the Board of Governors and is President of PEI Genesis. Their family members honored as veterans were: Mr. Starr’s father and uncles, Dr. Irving Starr, SSgt, US Army 1942-45; Herbert Starr, Seaman 1st Class, US Navy, 1942-45; David Starr, US Army Medical Corps, 1942-43; and Mr. Fisher’s father, Murray Fisher, T3 Sgt., Radio Repairman, US Army, 1941-45.

Also present on the dais were Ralph Bell, Director of the National Service Officers of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States, and Julie Slavet, representing Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, 13th District, PA. Mr. Bell worked with Gratz College in organizing the event, serving as military advisory, and coordinating the Color Guard, under the leadership of First Sergeant Edward Hampton, the Leeds Military High School Junior ROTC Military Cadets.

Explained Steven Fisher, “We come together this evening to celebrate and honor the many contributions of the Jewish War veterans. I want to acknowledge that every veteran here tonight has their own story to tell.” He continued, “Our world of today, our great freedoms, we owe to each of you who served, the brave men and women who fought so unselfishly and paid such a high price. Tom Brokaw called you and all the men and women who served, the greatest generation, and I am proud that my father is one of you.”

The complete transcript of Mr. Fisher’s comments may be found in the attached document.

Jay M. Starr, in opening the evening, likened the mission of Gratz College, “Through memory, learning and teaching,” to the role served by the many veterans in attendance. Mr. Starr went on to say, “You, of course, all know that in the last few years, the WWII generation has become known as the “Greatest Generation”. By now, the label is almost a cliché. It’s a funny thing, though, how clichés speak to deeply felt truths. I think it’s especially true of the way the country pulled together during the war, how it must have felt when all Americans were one united people with one big job, pulling all together to get it done.”

“We remember tonight how you Jewish boys, most of you toughened by the Depression, went off to a long hard war against a ferocious enemy. We remember, too, how you came home, married and raised your kids, started new businesses, went into professions and opened up new opportunities for yourselves and for us, your children. That seems to me like a pretty good description of a great generation.”

Mr. Starr entreated the veterans to, “Gather up all your memories, cut through all the white-washed fairy tales we see on TV and in the movies, and tell your grand-children and great-grandchildren what you did, why you did it, and what war is really about.”

The event appears to have touched a nerve in the greater Jewish veteran community: as word of the event spread throughout the Philadelphia community, Gratz was contacted by representatives of Russian Jewish veterans of World War II who currently reside in the area. Over thirty Jewish veterans of the former Soviet army participated, many with chests covered in medals.

Jay Starr made note of their presence, saying, “With us tonight are Jewish war veterans of the Red Army. On their behalf, we remember how the Red Army broke the back of the Fascist war machine at Stalingrad, at Kursk, at the gates of Moscow and in the final drive to Berlin. We honor the huge sacrifice made by soldiers of the Red Army, their great courage and the blood they spilled fighting on their own soil and in their own towns and cities….We salute them, along with our veterans, as fighters and allies, as fellow Jews and -- most happily -- as fellow Americans of the Greatest Generation.“

The complete transcript of Mr. Starr’s comments to the veterans in attendance may be found in the attached document.

Dr. Jonathan Rosenbaum, President of Gratz College, spoke of the veterans. “They are typical of this bold yet humble generation. It is a generation that does not talk about wartime experiences. Its heroic World War II veterans eschew the title of hero and see their deeds of courage simply as duty. Everyone did it, they tell us. Yet this generation saved the world as we know it, facilitated democracy over tyranny, and thereby set a tone of freedom and mutual respect that characterizes the best of the era that has followed them."

He continued, “We of postwar generations will be in their perpetual debt, must ever seek to preserve the sanctity of their sacrifice, and should ever strive to be worthy of being called their heirs. Thus, tonight is truly a time of celebration and thanksgiving. In the Psalmist’s words, Let us rejoice and be glad within it.”

The complete transcript of Dr. Rosenbaum’s comments may be found in the attached document.

After providing a brief overview of the historical and societal place of Jews in the pre-WWII period, keynote speaker Bonnie Gurewitsch addressed the impact that impending war and subsequent national service had on the Jewish members of the armed services. Well-represented in every branch of the service, more than 550,000 Jews served, higher than their number in the general population at the time. Some felt that “this would be a Jewish war.”

Gurewitsch explained, “The Jewish men and women who entered the service shared the experience of training with white Americans of every ethnic background. Thrown together randomly in training camps, they lived in close quarters, suffered grueling physical training and challenging social issues, and discovered how much they really had in common. Most of them were second and third generation Americans. They shared popular culture and public school educations. They discovered that ethnicity mattered less than comradeship and skills. They learned to trust and appreciate each other despite previous prejudices, and determined to face the challenges of combat as Americans.”

The Jewish service men and women were also met with anti-Semitism, both institutionalized and outright, but “discovered that they could win the respect of non-Jews by standing their ground, doing their job, and not letting themselves be bullied.” By the time they faced combat, “anti-Semitism was usually not a factor any more. “ Said [veteran] Marty Silverman, “By the time we got into Normandy and were beginning to have casualties…there was no anti-Semitism. All we wanted to know is you’re wearing the same color suit, you’re firing in the same direction, and you’re in a foxhole next to me.”

Gurewitsch related anecdote after anecdote detailing the experiences of the Jewish serviceman, from the lone soldier making Shabbat for himself in a foxhole, to the soldier who searched for a kosher restaurant in Manila.

Once the concentration camps were discovered, the focus of many Jewish serviceman shifted to provide for the liberated prisoners. The role of the Jewish chaplain was never more important as when they recognized that there was a pressing need to provide not only medical, but also spiritual, assistance to both the living and the dead. Said Gurewitsch, “And they began to bury the dead. There were not enough Jewish chaplains for this task, which was taken up by chaplain’s assistants and chaplains of other faiths, who saw the need to provide at least a decent burial for those who had died an indecent death.”

One of the most striking moments of the evening came when Gurewitsch screened the second of two film clips. “Chaplain David Max Eichhorn was sent to Dachau a few days after it was liberated. Eichhorn understood immediately that although their physical needs were being addressed, the Jewish survivors of Dachau had another, pressing need: they needed to say Kaddish. They needed to mourn their losses as Jews, so they could begin to live again, as Jews. Famed Hollywood director George Stevens and his special photography unit filed this first Jewish memorial service, held on the central parade ground of Dachau concentration camp, May 6, 1945. The war was not over yet.”

As Chaplain Eichhorn led the memorial service, members of the audience audibly prayed along with the film.

Gurewitsch continued her lecture, recounting how relationships developed between Jewish soldiers and survivors; the soldiers compiled lists of survivors and sent the lists to the Jewish papers in the States, organized supplies and sent mail. They became involved in the organized rescue of Jewish orphans, as well as in reporting to the Jewish Welfare Board and American legislators. Towards the end of 1945, the focus shifted to the survival of European Jewish society, and many soldiers actively participated in enabling emigration to Palestine.

In conclusion, Jay Starr also recognized the fathers and grandfathers who worked in stateside defense industries, thus allowing the WWII men to go off and fight. Finally, in the heart and the real soul of the evening, he called upon veterans and families of veterans, both living and dead, to stand and be recognized by their branch of service.

Hundreds of veterans and family members stood, some holding photographs of their loved ones, some holding photographs of themselves as young soldiers sixty years earlier.

Dr. Rosenbaum offered a final benediction and audience erupted into applause in recognition of the many veteran present and those departed.

Benediction

"Between 1939 and 1945 millions of Allied soldiers sailors, airmen, and marines selflessly risked their lives and often sacrificed them to preserve civilization and the freedom of thought and deed under democratic law that characterize it. In doing so, they set the foundation of a future of human decency and self-respect for the generations that would follow them. They are represented tonight by hundreds of veterans of the United States and many from the former Soviet Union.

 L-rd of All Worlds, we have gathered tonight to give thanks to You for preserving the humane against the cruel, for as our prayers say, “You delivered the strong into the hands of the week, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous.” When the world turned dark, You allowed the light to triumph. Give us, O L-rd, the peace for which we yearn and give it to us amid a security that will ever preserve the freedom that banishes bigotry and honors the humane and humanity. May that too be Your will and let us say Amen.”

By Lisa Ben-Shoshan