Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Veteran’s Day, 2013: Rabbi Abraham Avrech, My Favorite Veteran

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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 speaks of his Chaplaincy as the most important and fulfilling of his long and distinguished Rabbinic career.

Today we honor our veterans—the living and the dead.

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.

My father was born in Yanuv, a small town in Poland, June 4, 1919. He is the child on the left. His grandmother holds his hand. His older brother Chaim is to the right. Chaim passed away many years ago, but he was also in the Army and served in the Pacific. My grandmother, Miriam, is the lovely woman on the right.
My father was born in Yanuv, a small town in Poland, June 4, 1919. He is the child on the left. His grandmother holds his hand. His older brother Chaim is to the right. Chaim passed away many years ago, but he was also in the Army and served in the Pacific. My grandmother, Miriam, is the lovely woman on the right.

 

My grandfather, Rabbi Samuel Avrech, came alone to America, worked hard and sent money back to my grandmother, Miriam. She came to America with my father and Chaim and struggled to achieve the American dream. My father always said: “We had no idea we were poor. Everyone we knew was poor. But we were happy.” My father was quickly Americanized, becoming a fanatic baseball player. In this photo, taken in 1948, my father touches home after hitting a home run for his Brooklyn team.
My grandfather, Rabbi Samuel Avrech, came alone to America, worked hard and sent money back to my grandmother, Miriam. She came to America with my father and Chaim and struggled to achieve the American dream. My father always said: “We had no idea we were poor. Everyone we knew was poor. But we were happy.” My father was quickly Americanized, becoming a fanatic baseball player. In this photo, taken in 1942, my father touches home after hitting a home run for his Brooklyn team.

 

My father conducts High Holiday services during the Korean War.
My father conducts High Holiday services during the Korean War.

 

As an orthodox Jewish Chaplain, my father was frequently underestimated by his fellow officers. Dad took full advantage of this soft anti-Semitism, and cheerily accepted challenges to play ping-pong for small wages. At first, my father would fumble around, lull his opponent into a false sense of security, and then boom! he’d unleash a vicious overhead slam that left the other guy speechless — and a few bucks light. Dad was like Paul Newman in “The Hustler,” minus Piper Laurie and broken thumbs.
As an orthodox Jewish Chaplain, my father was frequently underestimated by his fellow officers. Dad took full advantage of this soft anti-Semitism, and cheerily accepted challenges to play ping-pong for small wages. At first, my father would fumble around, lull his opponent into a false sense of security, and then boom! he’d unleash a vicious overhead slam that left the other guy speechless — and a few bucks light. Dad was like Paul Newman in “The Hustler,” minus Piper Laurie and broken thumbs.

 

My father in a helicopter, 1956. As you can see, there is a coffin bolted to the chopper. My father never talked about the dead. He did tell me about young soldiers about to go into combat who talked to him about their fears. My father is a good, compassionate man who also counseled non-Jewish soldiers in the absence of a Christian chaplain. “We were all in it together,” said my father modestly.
My father in a helicopter, 1956. As you can see, there is a coffin bolted to the chopper. My father never talked about the dead. He did tell me about young soldiers about to go into combat who talked to him about their fears. My father is a good, compassionate man who also counseled non-Jewish soldiers in the absence of a Christian chaplain. “We were all in it together,” said my father modestly.

 

G-d bless my father and all our veterans, living and dead.

G-d bless the United States of America.

 

My father's GI siddur, prayer book. It is bound in leather and the pages are gilded to protect against wear and tear.
My father’s GI siddur, prayer book. It is bound in leather and the pages are gilded to protect against wear and tear.

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Comments

  1. זכר צדיק לברכה, may his righteous memory be a blessing.

    While I’m on the subject, does your last name “Avrech” derive from the root “ברך” for “blessing”?

    • Brianna:

      B’H my father is still alive.

      Avrech comes from the story of Joseph, when he was made minister of Egypt he was carried through the streets and “they procliamed of him: Avrech.” Rashi says: Av b’chachma v’reach b’shanim.’ A father in wisdom but tender in years.

  2. This is a day late, but I remember my Jewish grandfather, Col. Harry Pockras.  Pawpaw was in the Army from Student Army Training Corps days at the University of Cincinnati in 1917.  He saw no overseas service during WW1, but was commissioned on graduation in 1921, serving as an engineering officer.  He did a lot of district (flood control and navigation aid) work until late in WW2, when he was given command of a special service construction battalion in Manila.  After the war, he returned to district work until retiring as a full Colonel in 1957.  He has been gone since an auto accident in December, 1969.

    We have pictures of him with his family (he was the youngest kid) in east London ghettos in the late 1890s as a little kid, and later in Towanda, PA, where he grew to young manhood.  His family, Leviim, were originally from Zlatopol in Ukraine.  Only he and his next older sister were born in London.  He helped fight for freedom against Japan, and helped rear up my dear father.  He was a good man in many ways, and I am blessed to have had him for a grandfather.

  5. There are Americans of a certain political persuasion that scoff at our soldiers keeping us safe today because the battles are happening over there and no armies are poised to cross into the lower 48. And of course the conflicts that are occurring are of our own making. That’s the meme of Bush fighting wars of choice.
     
    But of course the reason we are safe is because we are willing to fight the enemy on their turf, not ours. It is always tougher to fight the enemy on their territory, a lesson we learned after Concord and Lexington. It is a task we have grudgingly taken on as the alternative is unacceptable.
     
    Your father and others were willing to fight Germany in Europe even though no German army was going to land on the beaches of Daytona and Miami. Hitler spared FDR of fighting a war of choice by declaring war on us after Pearl Harbor. But we still sacrificed a lot of lives to give Europeans freedom from the Nazis (and alas an easier path for socialism and communism).
     
    We live in a time that is far from the common fate of mankind and the world. Conflict and hunger were the norm until recent history. Even our climate is not normal – we have had at least 5 major ice ages totaling more than 500 million years. Surely part of the improvement in human existence is due to our willingness to confront evil. Do the Swedes and Dutch think they would be enjoying their level of prosperity if not for the U.S. military?
     
    Your father may not have wielded a rifle but he was an essential part of our army. Thank him for all us again Robert and let us that are sitting back so fat and happy never forget the sacrifices made by our servicemen and their families.

    • Sorry, but there was no sparing. FDR engineered the entry into the war from the beginning. The Lend-Lease fully brought us into the war before its declaration and purposely built up Stalin at the great cost of US citizens’ well-being. US shortages and rationing happened all while huge shipments went overseas to the Soviets. Furthermore, there is no doubt remaining that FDR drove the Japanese toward the Pearl Harbor attack and made it as open and available to that attack as possible. Yes, we were attacked leading us to fight them there. Cousin Franklin was not a hero but an instigator.

  6. In the last few years, I think of a great uncle, Peter Zouck, who was killed by a sniper in the trenches of WW1 a week before armistice. He used to write of the mud and the rats and the yearning to have a bath.
     
    My father was in Korea and WW2. He doesn’t talk much about Korea except a remark once seeing children rummaging though garbage piles.

    I am reminded, too, of the sacrifices not only veterans have made, but of the families they left behind. 

  7. There were lots of quiet heroes.  The guy I think of is named Ben Salomon, who is I think the only dentist awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII. (He was one of three) He was a USC graduate serving as a medical officer on Saipan. A Japanese attack over ran the aid station where he was acting medical officer.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_L._Salomon
     
    “Salomon was able to fend off the enemy in the tent and ordered the wounded to be evacuated while he stayed behind to cover their withdrawal.

    When an Army team returned to the site days later, Salomon’s body was found slumped over a machine gun, with the bodies of 98 enemy troops piled up in front of his position. His body had 76 bullet and many bayonet wounds, up to 24 of which may have been received while he was still alive.”
     
    His last words, according to the corpsmen who evacuated the wounded, were, “I’ll try to hold these guys off. See you later.”

    • That is an impressive story of valiance. I can visualize a movie made from the story of repeated efforts to obtain the posthumous award with the story told showing the incidents, finishing with the award finally presented all those decades later. Don’t even mind visualizing a bit of celebratory Cagney tap dancing down a long staircase while someone posts the award in its final resting place.

    • I’m curious about the top photo, Robert. The cap insignia is US Army and his Chaplain collar insignias and the 42nd (Rainbow) Division are both clearly visible, but I don’t see any officer bars on his epaulets and no name/branch designations above the pockets. Is that because he was a Chaplain?

      • Prophet Joe:
        I’m not sure why my father is not wearing his bars, but I suspect that he was feeling, y’know, casual on the day the photo was snapped.

        • I don’t think the bars were on the epaulets when wearing khakis (a uniform the Army abandoned to my disappointment).
          On his right collar look sorta like captains bars.
          One thing for sure – when in uniform the casual look is discouraged 😉

          • Those are Captain’s bars on the right collar.
            Officers wore their rank on the right side of the collar and their branch on the left. (Until they became generals. Then stars went on both sides of the collar.)

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