A kippah, yarmulke, yamaka, bullcap, or koppel is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish males to fulfill the customary requirement that the head be covered. It is the most common type of head-covering worn by men in Orthodox Jewish communities during prayers and by most Orthodox Jewish men at most other times. Among non-Orthodox Jewish individuals, some wear them at most times, while most wear them only during prayer, while attending a synagogue, or at other ceremonies, and others wear them rarely or never.
On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians, and two attackers.
The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the Immortal Chaplains or the Dorchester Chaplains, were four chaplains who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship SS Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943, in what has been referred to as the second-worst sea disaster of World War II.
The United States Navy Chaplain Corps is the body of military chaplains of the United States Navy who are commissioned naval officers. Their principal purpose is "to promote the spiritual, religious, moral, and personal well-being of the members of the Department of the Navy", which includes the Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Additionally, the Chaplain Corps provides chaplains to the United States Coast Guard.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., officially the Military Ordinariate of United States of America, is a Latin Church jurisdiction of the Catholic Church for men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces and their dependents.
A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.
The Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) was an international peacekeeping force created in August 1982 following a 1981 U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel to end their involvement in the conflict between Lebanon's pro-government and pro-Syrian factions. The ceasefire held until June 3, 1982 when the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to London. Israel blamed the PLO and three days later invaded Lebanon. West Beirut was besieged for seven weeks before the PLO acceded to a new agreement for their withdrawal. The agreement provided for the deployment of a Multinational Force to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces in evacuating the PLO, Syrian forces and other foreign combatants involved in Lebanon's civil war.
The April 18, 1983, United States Embassy bombing was a suicide bombing on the Embassy of the United States in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by. The victims were mostly embassy and CIA staff members, but also included several US soldiers and one U.S. Marine Security Guard. The attack came in the wake of an intervention in the Lebanese Civil War by the United States and other Western countries. While initially claimed by the Islamic Jihad Organization, the attack was found to have been perpetrated by Hezbollah with the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abraham Shemtov is a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi and a shaliach ("emissary") of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf was an American Reform Rabbi, and a longtime champion of peace and progressive politics.
Mnachem (Mendel) HaKohen Risikoff, was an orthodox rabbi in Russia and the United States, and a prolific author of scholarly works, written in Hebrew. Risikoff used a highly stylized and symbolic pen-name, יאמהדנונחהים, made up of the Hebrew letters of his first name, the Hebrew word for Lord, and the Tetragrammaton, one of Judaism's terms for God. It is not clear whether this pen name was used in conversation, or whether it was used only in his writings.
The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) is an annual eight-day period designated by the United States Congress for civic commemorations and special educational programs that help citizens remember and draw lessons from the Holocaust. The annual DRVH period normally begins on the Sunday before the Israeli observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and continues through the following Sunday, usually in April or May. A National Civic Commemoration is held in Washington, D.C., with state, city, and local ceremonies and programs held in most of the fifty states, and on U.S. military ships and stations around the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum designates a theme for each year's programs, and provides materials to help support remembrance efforts.
Seymour Siegel, often referred to as "an architect of Conservative Jewish theology," was an American Conservative rabbi, a Professor of Ethics and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), the 1983–1984 Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council," and an advisor to three American presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.
Jewish Americans have served in the United States armed forces dating back to before the colonial era, when Jews had served in militias of the Thirteen Colonies. Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in every major armed conflict to which the United States has been involved. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, as of 2006 there were currently 3,973 known Jewish servicemen and servicewomen on active duty.
Lester Leon "Wes" Westling Jr. was an American Episcopal priest, retired U.S. Navy chaplain, Vietnam veteran, and author. His more than fifty years of ministry have included service to parishes, missionary work in the Philippines, and twenty-six years as a navy chaplain, including two assignments in Vietnam: first with the Third Marine Division medical and infantry battalions, and later as a circuit riding chaplain for 65 combat units throughout the Mekong and Bassac Rivers and along the Cambodian border.
Religious symbolism in the United States military includes the use of religious symbols for military chaplain insignia, uniforms, emblems, flags, and chapels; symbolic gestures, actions, and words used in military rituals and ceremonies; and religious symbols or designations used in areas such as headstones and markers in national cemeteries, and military ID tags.
The Beirut Memorial is a memorial to the 241 American peacekeepers—220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers—killed in the October 23, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. It is located outside the gate of Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. It is the site of an annual commemoration of the victims of the suicide attack that took their lives.
United States military chaplains hold positions in the armed forces of the United States and are charged with conducting religious services and providing counseling for their adherents. As of 2011, there are about 2,900 chaplains in the Army, among the active duty, reserve, and National Guard components.
Gilla Gerzon, known to many United States military personnel as the "mother of the 6th fleet," is an Israeli who served as director of the Haifa, Israel USO for almost eighteen years, from the time it opened in December 1984 until it closed in September 2002 when U.S. security concerns for the region led to a sharp decrease in U.S. ship visits. In 1993, she was brought to Somalia to establish a temporary USO for U.S. service personnel deployed in support of Operation Restore Hope.
