JCC Association Names New Director of
JWB Jewish Chaplains Council Amid Plan to Expand Support for
Military Families
Rabbi Harold L. Robinson Tapped from
Leadership Ranks of Naval Reserve
Formal Announcement Due at JCCs of North America Biennial
in Philadelphia, May 7-10
NEW YORK, NY, MARCH 24, 2006 – Rabbi
Harold Robinson, a Rear Admiral who serves as the Navy’s
Deputy Chief of Chaplains for Reserve Matters, as Director
of Religious Ministries in the Marine Corps Reserve, and as
a congregational rabbi in Shreveport, Louisiana, will be the
next director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, said Allan
Finkelstein, president of JCC Association. JCC Association’s
JWB Jewish Chaplains Council is accredited by the U.S. government
to serve the religious and social needs of Jewish military
personnel, their families, and patients in VA hospitals. Rabbi
Robinson will work as a consultant to JCC Association following
a formal announcement expected at the agency’s Biennial
in Philadelphia, May 7-10, joining the JWB Jewish Chaplains
Council full time in September. He replaces Rabbi David Lapp,
who announced his retirement last month after 25 years.
“We are delighted that he has agreed to take on this
leadership role,” Finkelstein asserted. “We envision
a greater outreach to military families to inspire their Jewish
journeys, as we do to people throughout the JCC Movement.
With his extensive military experience and years of building
Jewish community as a congregational rabbi, Rabbi Robinson
will undoubtedly build on the successes of the past to achieve
our new goals in the years ahead.”
With more than thirty years in the rabbinate and in the military,
Rabbi Robinson brings the right skills and temperament to
the task. “Caring about these [service members and families],
working with them and for them has been part of my lifelong
passion. I hope I can bridge the gap between civilian and
military life at a time when people again understand why this
matters,” he said.
Describing how our world changed after the terrorist attacks
on the United States on 9-11, Rabbi Robinson noted in an interview
that the civilian population in general has become much more
supportive of military personnel, showing increased concern
for the safety and welfare of the young men and women who
have left their homes and communities to participate in the
fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
For Rabbi Robinson, this shift signals a return to a time
before the Vietnam War, when, he said, “Everyone knew
something about military life, and everyone was really invested
in what was happening to our boys and understood the importance
of having a chaplain available.” Back then, mustering
support for Jews in the military was easy. “People were
happy to do it,” he said. But the elimination of the
draft during the 1970s, he continued, created a gap between
the armed services and Americans who had never experienced
military life, resulting in greater difficulty in engaging
the civilian and American Jewish communities in support of
the troops.
Despite this renewed understanding, he said, it remains challenging
for Jews in the armed services to maintain a connection to
their heritage, which is why the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council
aims to reinvigorate and expand its services. In addition
to providing cultural as well as spiritual resources to servicemen
and women scattered across 24 time zones on both the northern
and southern hemispheres, Robinson wants to pay much more
attention to the needs of military families left behind on
bases–men, women, and children who feel isolated and
abandoned when their loved ones are deployed. “We intend
to tap into the existing resources of the Jewish community
to connect with military personnel and their families,”
declared Rabbi Robinson. As an example, he said, JCCs throughout
the U.S. could invite families located on nearby bases to
participate in communal holiday observances. “We want
to say to them, ‘We are your Jewish home, your Jewish
connection, and, at the same time, we’re sending food
for the holiday to your husband or wife overseas,’”
he explained.
Rabbi Robinson will retain his positions with the Naval and
Marine Corps Reserves, designating a distinct schedule for
those responsibilities, in accordance with military regulations
designed to avoid potential conflicts of interest. He is,
however, retiring in June as spiritual leader of B’nai
Zion Congregation after eight years in that pulpit.
Biography – Rabbi Harold L. Robinson
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Rabbi
Harold L. Robinson earned a bachelor’s of arts degree,
with a concentration in history and political science, from
Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1968. Following graduation,
he continued his studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, the academic center of Judaism’s
Reform movement. There, he earned a bachelor’s of Hebrew
letters in 1972 and a master’s of arts and rabbinic
ordination in 1974. That year, he began his pulpit career
as spiritual leader of Temple Israel in Gary, Indiana, remaining
until 1977 when he left to become rabbi of the Cape Cod Synagogue.
His next move, to B’nai Zion Congregation in Shreveport,
Louisiana, took place in 1998.
Rabbi Robinson was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval
Reserve through the Seminarian Student Program in 1971; in
1975 he received a superseding commission as a chaplain. As
part of the Naval Reserve, he’s been a training officer,
an executive officer, a commanding officer, regimental chaplain
with the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, and group
chaplain for the Marine Corps’ 4th Force Service Support
Group. He participates in all Chaplain Corps planning conferences;
directs mandatory training sessions for active duty chaplains;
served as chair of the corps’ policy board; and represents
the Navy or Chaplain Corps at official military functions.
He has been stationed for up to three months on overseas active
duty in: Naples, Italy; Holy Lock, Scotland; Keflavik, Iceland;
Okinawa, Japan; and Manama, Bahrain. Domestically, he has
been assigned to bases in Newport, RI; New London, CT; Portsmouth,
NH; Orlando, FL; and Great Lakes, IL and has worked at the
Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. His military
service has earned him prestigious recognition, including:
the Legion of Merit; Meritorious Service Medal; the Naval
Commendation Medal with two Gold Stars; the Fleet Marine Force
Service Ribbon; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; and
the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Deployment Ribbon.
Throughout his parallel military and civilian careers, he
maintained an intensive commitment to community activities,
encompassing local and national leadership positions in Jewish
and secular organizations, work with youth and teaching college.
He’s been a member of the National Rabbinic Council
of United Jewish Communities (formerly United Jewish Appeal)
since 1986; served as vice president of the Jewish Welfare
Board of Cape Cod (1995-97); and was founding chair of the
Jewish Community Relations Committee of Cape Cod (1990-92).
Within the Reform movement, Rabbi Robinson has served on the
Commission on Religious Living of Reform Judaism (1992-98);
the Resolutions Committee of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations (1983-95); and on the Joint Social Action Commission
of Reform Judaism (1980-92). During his 21-year tenure on
Cape Cod, he was a visible presence in key communal and social
service agencies battling discrimination and domestic violence
and advocating interfaith relations and human rights. He served
on the boards of United Way; the Cape & Islands Advisory
Council of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination;
the Massachusetts Religious Coalition on Abortion Rights;
and Barnstable Clergy Association. In 1992, the Cape Cod Chapter
of the NAACP presented Rabbi Robinson with its Joseph P. Daluz
Award for Community Service. When he relocated to Shreveport,
LA in 1998, he joined the Rotary Club and since 2000, has
served on the internal review board of the city’s Willis
Knighton Health System.
Rabbi Robinson’s teaching experience includes faculty
positions at: Camp Henry S. Jacobs Union Camp Institute (1998-99);
NFTY Winter Leadership Institutes (the Reform movement’s
National Federation of Temple Youth, 1977-98); Joseph Eisner
Union Camp Institute (1986-88); Calumet College, East Chicago,
IL (1975-766); and Centenary College, Shreveport, LA (2002-03).
For 10 years, from 1978-88, he also served as trustee of the
Joseph Eisner Union Camp Institute and was elected in 1993
to a three year term of the Barnstable High School, MA, Education
Reform Act Advisory Council.
Married in 1970 to Miriam Gariani of Holon, Israel, Rabbi
Robinson is an avid sailor and enjoys marathon running. He
has competed in the last 11 Boston Marathons and several ultra-marathons
(race courses that exceed 26.2 miles). The Robinsons have
two grown children. Their son, Yair, 30, is assistant rabbi
of Sher Ami in Bucks County, PA. Their daughter, Dori, 28,
is pursuing a career in theater.
###
JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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