World War II

Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech, Fifth Yahrtzeit

March 20, 2019 by Robert J. Avrech Leave a Comment

My father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech. An Army Chaplain in the 42nd Rainbow Division, my father served this great nation through World War II, The Korean War and Vietnam. Retired as a full Colonel, my father often speaks of his Chaplaincy as the most important and fulfilling of his long and distinguished Rabbinic career. — My father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech. An Army Chaplain in the 42nd Rainbow Division, my father served this great nation through World War II, The Korean War and Vietnam. Retired as a full Colonel, my father often spoke of his Chaplaincy as the most important and fulfilling of his long and distinguished Rabbinic career.

My father, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech, z’l, passed away on March 15, 2014, which the Jewish calendar translates into the 13th of Adar. Thus, last night — Jewish holidays begin after sundown — commenced the fifth Yahrzeit, memorial, without my father’s physical presence in this world. My father was 94 years old when he died.

He is gone, but he is certainly not forgotten.

I ponder the astonishing trajectory of my father’s life. Born in a tiny impoverished Polish town, my father and his family emigrated to America where they found the liberty to live as Jews and Americans.

Veteran’s Day 2018: My Favorite Veteran Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech, z’l

November 13, 2018 by Robert J. Avrech 1 Comment

My father, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech passed away on March 15, 2014. This is the fifth Veteran’s Day without my father’s physical presence in this world.

He is gone, but like all veteran’s certainly not forgotten.

Take a moment to ponder the enormous sacrifices made by our nation’s heroes and their families.

10 Must See War Movies

November 8, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 20 Comments

myrna loy sailors — Alas, not a single Myrna Loy film shows up here. But I just can’t resist posting this uplifting photo of Loy serving coffee to American sailors in the Hollywood Canteen during World War II. Lucky guys.

There is no subject as well suited for the movies as war.

In war there is conflict, love, and of course lots of action. Movies, said Hitchcock, are just like life, but with the boring parts cut out. Thus, movies about war delete the incredible boredom of most war-time experiences in favor of the hyper-drama that characterizes training, combat, and the bursts of romance and friendship that invariably help define characters within a blasted landscape.

Seraphic Secret would like to draw your attention to ten spectacular war movies. Each film seethes with a specific national and regional point of view. And yet war and man’s experiences in war are universal, and each film left yours truly horrified, enlightened and deeply moved.

Memorial Day Weekend, 2017

May 28, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 1 Comment

My father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech, 42nd Div. U.S. Army, Colonel, Ret., conducts services during the Korean War. — My father, Chaplain Rabbi Abraham Avrech, z’l (1919-2014) U.S. Army, 42nd Div., Colonel, Ret., conducts services during the Korean War.

On Memorial Day, we remember all the members of our armed services who paid the ultimate price in service to this great country.

Our eternal gratitude.

The Ten Greatest War Movies of All Time

September 14, 2016 by Robert J. Avrech 23 Comments

Movies about war are ideally suited to the kinetic energy of motion pictures. The eternal themes of love, courage, and loyalty are given full range in the theater of war. Readers will immediately notice the absence of silent films and movies from Hollywood’s golden age. Yes, in spite of our love of classic cinema we are the first to admit that sound and modern special effects have rendered most older war movies tame and stylized.

We have also excluded war movies that treat war as “senseless killing” or set forth a pacifist narrative. As far as Seraphic Secret is concerned, a just war is the only method by which moral states can triumph over evil nations. War is too serious a business to be intellectually castrated by fuzzy minds who traffic in moral equivalence.

We concentrate on movies that feature intense warfare, yet whose narrative line does not neglect the more intimate, personal stories. We have eliminated home-front movies, fantasies of good Nazi soldiers ( Auf Wiedersehen, Das Boot), movies about Holocaust victims, tales of spies, and POW movies, sub-genres that—except for good-Nazi movies, historically suspect and morally loathsome—deserve and will receive ten best lists all their own.

As always, we invite our readers to list their own ten best war movies.