Yanuv Poland

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, 2017: My Favorite Veteran, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech z’l

November 10, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 7 Comments

My father, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech passed away on March 15, 2014. This is the fourth 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.

Veteran’s Day, 2016: My Favorite Veteran, Rabbi Abraham Avrech z’l

November 11, 2016 by Robert J. Avrech 8 Comments

My father, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech passed away on March 15, 2014. This is the third 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.

Millions and millions of people all over the world are forever in their debt.

Keep in mind that the U.S.military has freed more people on this earth from tyranny and evil than any other force. Certainly, American servicemen have done more for the cause of freedom and democracy than any so-called peace movement.

Whenever I see the brain-dead bumper sticker, “War is not the Answer,” I cringe, for war is frequently the only answer, the only moral response to evil.

Because if the forces of good do not defeat evil, evil prevails.

Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech, First Yahrzeit

March 4, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 11 Comments

My father, Rabbi Chaplain Abraham Avrech passed away on March 15, 2014, which in the Jewish calendar translates into the 13th of Adar. Thus, this is the first Yahrzeit, memorial, without my father’s physical presence in this world. My father was 94 years old.

He is gone, but he is certainly not forgotten.

During Prime Minister’s Netanyahu’s historic address to Congress yesterday, I pondered the astonishing trajectory of my father’s life. Born in a tiny impoverished Polish town, my father and his family emigrated to the Goldeneh Medinah, the Golden Country, where they found the liberty to live as Jews and Americans.

My father reveled in Americanism, even as he lived the life of a Torah Jew, and a religious Zionist.

Like most New York Jews, my father was a lever-pulling Democrat for most of his life. But in his later years, he realized that the Democrat party had changed into something all too recognizable: a crypto-socialist organism.

My father was appalled by Obama and could not quite believe that America elected such a man to its highest office.

As we head into Purim, the holiday in which Jews remember an ancient Persian regime that sought to annihilate the Jewish people, I will read Megillat Esther and proudly remember my father: a pious Jew and a proud American.