Local Resident Instrumental in Honoring Jewish Chaplains

Currently no memorial has ever been erected for this country’s fallen Jewish chaplains.  Sol Moglen of Caldwell, NJ is working to change that.

Through persistent efforts, Moglen has succeeded in having monuments erected in his native Brooklyn to the police and firefighters who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

After September 11, 2001, he felt driven to create a unique memorial to honor the courageous firefighters who lost their lives that day.

Now the Caldwell resident has helped honor another group of heroes at Arlington National Cemetery, where a memorial in honor of the 13 Jewish chaplains killed in wartime will be established.

Chaplains Hill

The monuments at Arlington National Cemetery are in a section called Chaplains Hill. The first monument was created on May 5, 1926, by a group of chaplains who served in World War I, and dedicated to 23 chaplains who died in that war.  

In 1981, a memorial to 134 Protestant chaplains was dedicated, and in 1989, a monument to 83 Catholic chaplains who died in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam was created.

Of the 311 Jewish chaplains who served during World War II, eight rabbis died.  Two rabbis lost their lives in the Vietnam War.  No Jewish chaplains are known to have died while serving during the World War I or the Korean War, although research is still being done to confirm that.

Congressional Approval

The U.S. Senate, with the help of Senator Chuck Schumer, unanimously approved the construction of a memorial at Arlington’s Chaplains Hill on May 25, 2011 following approval by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 23, 2011.  No House members voted against the resolution.  

Admiral Harold Robinson, retired from the US Navy and current Director of Jewish Chaplains Council, was instrumental in helping to get all the resolutions passed in Washington.

Fundraising Efforts and Memorial Design

Moglen co-chaired the fund-raising efforts to erect a memorial along with Ken Kraetzer of White Plains, NY.  Moglen learned of the missing Jewish memorial last year from Kraetzer, who is a member of the Sons of the American Legion.  Now the two of them are heading up a fund-raising effort through The Association of Jewish Chaplains of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs.

They plan to create a memorial, designed by Moglen and Brooklyn artist Debora Jackson, dedicated to the Jewish chaplains who died in World War II and Vietnam. 

“This way the whole country knows about what we’re doing,” Moglen said. “It’s the cemetery of our presidents.  It’s the cemetery of so many special people and now we have a chance to put something special there to honor our chaplains.  Now, Jewish Americans and all Americans visiting Arlington Cemetery, forever in history, will be able to pay tribute to our fallen chaplains.”

They have collected more than $50,000 of their $60,000 goal needed to build the memorial, a granite slab that will be erected on Chaplains Hill at Arlington, where memorials for Protestant and Catholic clergy already stand.  They also plan to build a pathway for the disabled to make it up the hill.  

They plan to erect the monument at Chaplains Hill in October of 2011. The response, according to the fund-raisers, has been tremendous.  

Moglen has been working with Jewish War Veterans posts around the country.  Many of national and locally based Jewish and veterans’ groups — led by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Welfare Board Jewish Chaplains Council of the JCCs Association of America — have been working for nearly three years to establish the memorial.  

Local agencies, including the Joint Chaplaincy Committee of MetroWest and the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest, successfully advocated for the memorial among NJ legislators.

Moglen's Military Experience and Inspiration

Moglen, who joined the army in 1957 and served in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s, recalled meeting a Jewish chaplain while stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  It was just before Rosh Hashanah, and the chaplain arranged dinners for Moglen to attend.  “The chaplain made it possible for me to attend services on Friday nights in Fayetteville,” he said. “He made me feel at home.  Chaplains are doing wonderful mitzvahs that should not be forgotten,” Moglen added. “We need to put up this monument to honor their work.” 

How to Help:

For more information about or to contribute to the memorial fund, call Sol Moglen at (201) 415-1141 or write to The Association of Jewish Chaplains of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, 520 Eighth Ave., 4th floor. New York, N.Y. 10018.