JCC Association Names First
Winner of JWB Chaplains Council Scholarship, in Bid to Enlarge
Jewish Chaplaincy Corps
NEW YORK, NY, JUNE 16, 2006 – A Lt.
Colonel in the US Army Chaplains Corps for 20 years, Rabbi
Philip Silverstein, now chair of the JWB Jewish Chaplains
Council, is keenly aware of the importance of providing religious
leadership to troops at home and abroad, particularly those
serving during wartime. Thus, when he learned of a critical
shortage of Jewish chaplains throughout the US military, Rabbi
Silverstein acted quickly. He pledged $60,000 in memory of
his late wife, Adinah, to a scholarship program established
by the Jewish Chaplains Council in an effort to provide incentive
to rabbinical students to commit to the chaplaincy following
ordination.
“Since the real issue was to get people, not money,”
he recalled, “I pledged on the spot to encourage the
Rabbinical Assembly [the professional association of the Conservative
rabbinate] to send candidates.”
While Silverstein has stipulated that his scholarship -- $15,000
a year for four years of rabbinical school tuition -- be used
to fund a student studying for the Conservative rabbinate,
Fani Magnus Monson, vice-president for support and development
at JCC Association, the nonprofit organization that oversees
the Jewish Chaplains Council, is optimistic that his example
will motivate others. “We are hopeful that additional
generous benefactors will enable us to expand this worthwhile
program” to include rabbinical students at seminaries
across the denominational spectrum, she said.
In the meantime, with assistance from Rabbi William Lebeau,
vice chancellor for rabbinic development and the Paula Resnick
Dean of the Rabbinical School at Silverstein’s alma
mater, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Joshua Sherwin, a
third-year rabbinical student at JTS, has been selected as
the program’s first scholarship recipient.
Sherwin said that he intends to join the U.S. Navy, a long-held
professional goal inspired by a close family friend and Navy
chaplain, Rabbi Maurice Kaplow. Sherwin is looking forward
to spending next summer in the Chaplain Candidate Training
Program in Newport, RI. Four weeks of classroom instruction
are followed by an internship on a Navy base.
The Navy in particular needs at least another five chaplains,
as more active duty clergy retire, said Rabbi David E. Lapp,
the Chaplains Council’s outgoing director. “There
are only six chaplains now serving, and they have to cover
the Marine Corps and Coast Guard as well,” noted Sherwin,
citing another compelling reason for his choice. Lapp added
that currently 27 active duty Jewish chaplains serve throughout
the branches of the military, with chaplains on reserve duty
called up exclusively to handle emergencies.
Silverstein was ordained in 1955 by JTS, the academic and
spiritual seat of the Conservative Movement. His military
service was bracketed by jobs as a congregational rabbi. Although
he retired about two years ago as spiritual leader of a Conservative
congregation in Columbia, SC, he continues to spend Sunday
mornings teaching and ministering to the troops at nearby
Fort Jackson.
A competitive swimmer growing up, Sherwin is life-guarding
this summer at Disney’s Discovery Cove Theme Park in
his native Orlando, FL, while preparing for his rabbinical
school year in Israel. He is a graduate of the University
of Central Florida where he majored in psychology, with a
minor in Judaic studies. The son of a Conservative rabbi,
he entered rabbinical school seeking alternatives to a career
in the pulpit.
Noncombatants, chaplains enter the service as officers, usually
first lieutenants. They are trained to respond to a variety
of situations and serve all over the world, ministering to
a diverse group of people. Being a rabbi in the U.S. Armed
Forces is one of the most interesting and stimulating ministries
imaginable, according to some. “My years as a chaplain
in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps at the start of the Vietnam
War were foundational to the fulfillment I derived throughout
my rabbinate,” said JTS’s Lebeau.
Reporters seeking to interview Rabbi Silverstein or Mr. Sherwin,
please contact Miriam Rinn, communications manager, at (212)
786-5092 or e-mail Miriam@jcca.org.
###
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
grounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also a 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.
The NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization
founded by the National Football League and NFL Players Association
in 1998 to use football as a catalyst to promote positive
youth development. Through the YFF, hundreds of thousands
of youngsters have been given the opportunity to learn the
game of football, get physically fit, and stay involved in
productive after-school activities with adult mentors. The
YFF also provides youth football participants with safe and
accessible places to play, as well as programs and initiatives
that address the importance of proper coaching, academics,
health and safety, and life skills development.
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