The U.S. Army and the Talmud

By Dr. Alex Grobman, author of Rekindling the Flame: American Jewish Chaplains and the Survivors of European Jewry, 1944-1948.

The American Jewish Historical Society’s exhibit “Particular Responsibility: The Making of the U.S. Army Talmud,” has brought a very important part of the history of the Jews in post-war Europe to the attention of the public. The chapter they cover, however, is incomplete.

After the war, observant Jewish survivors were in need of religious articles– fringed garments (tzitzit) prayer shawls, phylacteries (tefillin), candles for candle lighting, holiday prayer books, daily prayer books, the Torah and religious texts.

There were very few of these items available. In the late 1930’s, the Nazis began confiscating Jewish books and artifacts in Germany. During the war, the Nazis extended the operation, using German military forces and other Nazi agencies and individuals to seize Jewish books, archives and ritual objects wherever they went–from “occupied Ukraine to the French-Spanish border, and from Greece to the British Isle of Man.”1 Rabbinical and communal libraries from Italy, an Axis power, were also looted. 2 Books were stolen from the Ecole Rabbinique, the Israelitische Gemeinde Bibliotek and the Verein fur Judische Geschicte und Literatur of Nurnberg, the Bibliotheca Polska, Alliance Israélite Universelle, and the Rothschild libraries.3

In January 1940, Hitler ordered the Party and State offices to assist Alfred Rosenberg, the official National Socialist ideologue, to secure these items for a future library that would be part of the Hohe Schule, the educational and research institute of the Party that would be located at the Chiemsee in Bavaria. A small fraction of the looted material was kept for research purposes. Many of the ceremonial objects were melted down and the books were burnt or made into pulp. 4

At the end of the war, the Allies found huge amounts of books randomly strewn in “makeshift depots.” They also found books and ceremonial objects in several other places, particularly in Frankfurt am Main in the Rothschild Library, in Hungen and Hirzenhain in Hesse, and scattered around Bavaria. 5

On March 2, 1946, the American military established the Offenbach Archival Depot (OAD) in conjunction with Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Wiesbaden, to house, protect and restore this enormous collection. Housed in a vast five-story warehouse across the river from Frankfurt, that had belonged to the I.G. Farben company, the OAD “processed – received and/or shipped – over 1.8 million items contained in 2,351 crates, stacks, packages, and piles” by March 25, 1946. By August 1947, 2,000,000 books and “identifiable materials” were returned and distributed to the survivors. The American Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC) received 24,000 volumes on loan, to distribute to the people in Displaced Persons Camps in Europe.6

These “supplies” from the JDC in Europe and the United States were insufficient to meet all of the needs of the observant survivors. Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz, president of the Mirrer Yeshivah in New York and a leader in Agudath Harabonim and in the Vaad Hatzala, tried to fill this vacuum. He asked General John Hilldring, Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas to help him publish “200,000 Bibles and Prayer Books in the U.S. Zone of Germany for use of Jewish children in Western Europe.” Rabbi Kalmanowitz needed a permit for paper, priority for using electricity, an export license, and a permit to send his personal representatives to the U.S. Zone of Germany to supervise the printing and distribution of the copies. 7 General Lucius Clay, Military Governor of Germany, rejected his request because there was an acute shortage of paper in late 1947 and only vital government documents could be published. 8

Rabbi Nathan Baruch, Director of the Vaad Hatzalah in Germany, began exploring ways to publish religious texts (seforim) himself. He was urged to do so by his assistant Rabbi Aviezer Burstin. The Vaad Hatzala had been established in November 1939 to save rabbis and yeshiva students in Poland and Lithuania from the Nazis. After the war, the Vaad sent Rabbi Baruch to direct their relief and spiritual rehabilitation program for observant Jews in Germany. The need to print the Talmud, the oral tradition, became especially important for the students who were being taught in the yeshivas that were established in various DP camps. Rabbi Burstein, who was from Lublin, Poland, wanted the Talmud so Jews could begin studying the Daf Yomi (Daily Page of the Talmud) again.

At the Congress of the Agudath Israel in Europe in 1923, Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin had proposed that Jews all over the world study the same page of the Talmud (Daf Yomi) simultaneously–as a sign of a unifying commitment to Judaism and Jewish learning. In this way, observant Jewish males could complete the study of the Talmud every seven years with a formal celebration marking the end of the learning cycle and the beginning of the new one. The proposal was accepted and a special calendar was created. Jews everywhere began to study the Daf. Rabbi Shapira participated in the first completion of the cycle in 1931. Observant Jews then integrated the Daf Yomi program into their lives. In 1947, the rabbinate in the Yishuv (Jews living in Palestine), led by Dr. Isaac Herzog (who became the first Chief Rabbi of Israel) and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and the rabbinate of England united to make the Daf Yomi a universal part of Jewish life. The Jews of Germany responded with enthusiasm, but few had any copies of the Talmud. 9

When Rabbi Baruch approached the military authorities for authorization and assistance to publish religious material, they responded that the function of the Army was not to be the nursemaid to the Displaced Persons (DPs), but to keep the order and to be a buffer against Russian encroachment. Rabbi Baruch was not deterred. He turned instead to those who had access to the Army warehouses. Since the military had an abundance of supplies–an assessment not shared by General Clay– Rabbi Baruch thought he might be able to “barter” for his supplies. Among his contacts was a Jewish girl working for the military and some non-Jewish quartermasters who were sympathetic and willing to provide paper and materials.

One of Rabbi Baruch’s contacts worked in the Army Post-Exchange (PX) and purchased whiskey for him. A number of officers who didn’t need their alcohol rations sold their rations to Rabbi Baruch at a fraction of their worth. The same was true of others who had coffee and cigarette rations. Thus, coffee, whiskey and cigarettes were traded for paper, ink, printing and binding. The rabbi and his associates found a photo-offset processing plant and went into the now financially viable business of publishing prayer books and other religious texts.

As soon as the books were printed and bound, they were sent to the DP camps and to leading rabbis and scholars throughout the world. Some people in Europe came to the Vaad office in Germany to collect their copies. Pincus Schoen, executive director of the Vaad Hatzala, asked that prominent donors and every Orthodox rabbi in the United States receive sets of these books (seforim) to induce them to fund the project. Regrettably, there was no quid pro quo. Baruch never recalled receiving any additional funds from the Vaad or anyone else who received copies of these special editions.10

To meet the demand for copies of the Talmud, the Vaad printed and distributed 10,000 conveniently sized pocket editions. These books provided challenging intellectual stimulus and channeled people’s energies into constructive and meaningful activity. By the end of 1947, the Vaad published some 240,000 religious texts and distributed them to camps and to the rest of the world Jewish community. These included “siddurim, Tehilim, Hagaddahs, Megilat Esther, Pirkei Avos, Mesilas Yeshorim, Or Israel, Shev Shemateso, Kesses Hasofer, Yiddish Leben, Kitzur Shulchon Orech, Shagath Aryeh, Taharas Hamishpocho, and the Bible.”11

Shortly after the seforim arrived in the U.S., Rabbi Baruch received requests for additional publications. Despite his many obligations, he complied. Pincus Schoen asked for 1,000 copies of Pirke Avos (Ethics of Our Fathers) with the following inscription:

“Dedicated to you and to all friends and supporters of Vaad Hatzala who in thick and thin realized their great moral obligation and responsibility and gave wholeheartedly to rescue their brethren and to rebuild their lives. May the Almighty bless you.”

The copies were shipped to America where they were sent to Vaad supporters with an appropriate thank you letter enclosed. Schoen was so impressed with the response he received that he declared that the publications were “… worth their weight in gold and propaganda and public relations for the Vaad.”12

On June 2, 1947, Pincus Schoen sent Rabbi Baruch another request for 200 copies of books to include the inscription: “In grateful acknowledgement to Mr. Louis Clark and to all members of Congregation Agudas Achim Bnei Jacob for their generous contributions to Vaad Hatzala during the past several years.” On another occasion, the New York office requested that thousands of Haggadahs be printed for Passover. They later complained that the package was so bulky, they had problems with the U.S. Customs Service. 13

Rabbi Baruch also printed texts requested by Rabbi Issac Lewin, a member of the Agudath Israel in the United States who worked with the Vaad. One of these was Avnei Hefetz, an important rabbinical work by the Rzeszow Rav, Rabbi Aaron Ben Nathan Lewin of Rzeszow, Poland. Rabbi Lewin was elected to the Polish Parliament (Sejm) in 1922. As a leader of the Agudath Israel, Reb Aaron succeeded his father as the rabbi of Rzeszow in 1926. When he attempted to flee to Lemberg after the Nazis took over his city, Rabbi Lewin was apprehended and killed. His all-important manuscript was lost during the Holocaust and fortuitously recovered after the war.

His son, Dr. Isaac Lewin suggested that Rabbi Baruch reprint Avnei Hefetz as part of the series of publications. Lewin offered to pay for additional 1,000 copies so that he could send them to rabbis in the United States and abroad. He viewed the publication “as a great credit for the Shearith Hapleita, [the surviving remnant] and [it] personally will give me great satisfaction for my share in the Hatzala work.”14

The publishing program was so successful that Rabbi Baruch decided to dedicate the book of Psalms, with an English translation, to General Lucius D. Clay. Before proceeding, he asked Abraham Hyman, assistant advisor on Jewish affairs to the Theater Commander of the U.S. Forces in Europe, to discuss the idea with Dr. William Haber, the Advisor on Jewish Affairs from January 1948 to January 1949. Haber agreed to the idea and said he would tell the general about the project at their next meeting. Haber also suggested that, in the dedication, it would be appropriate to mention what the general’s “sympathetic policies have meant” to the Jewish DPs.

Hyman quickly pointed out that Haber did not want to “make much ado” about the dedication by bringing in the press and photographing the event because of an existing agreement–signed on Sept. 11, 1946 between the JDC and the Rabbinical Council U.S. Zone Germany–to publish 750 sets of a 19-volume Talmud. That edition was supposed to be distributed jointly by authorized representatives of the JDC and the Rabbinical Council15 to three groups: the Theater Commander would receive a quantity for distribution to those he saw fit, educational institutions in the United States and Palestine would receive a finite number; the majority would be distributed to yeshivas and suitable libraries in the U.S. Zone of Occupation.16

The Army Talmud “would be of such importance that it will deserve special attention,” Hyman pointed out. Though the Vaad’s proposal had been “inspired by the best of intentions,” Haber and Hyman felt “it would be imprudent to have the spotlight thrown on an occasion such as that one.”17

Publishing the Talmud had been the “obsession” of Rabbi Samuel Snieg and his assistant, Rabbi Samuel Rose. Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, a Reform rabbi and the Advisor on Jewish Affairs from May 1946 to August 1947, liked the idea and convinced General Clay to approve its publication. The JDC agreed to underwrite part of the production costs, and the Army guaranteed that the Germans would contribute the rest of the funds–up to 250,000 DMs. The sets were subsequently printed and bound in 1949 and finally, in 1951, were sent to Jewish leaders and important libraries in the United States, Israel, Europe and Canada.

The Talmud was dedicated to the “United States Army for having played a major role in the rescue of the Jewish people from total annihilation, and after the defeat of Hitler bore the major burden of sustaining the DPs of the Jewish faith.” It was proffered that “this special edition of the Talmud published in the very land, where, but a short time ago, everything Jewish and of Jewish inspiration was anathema,” would “remain a symbol of the indestructibility of the Torah.” The Jewish DPs would “never forget the generous impulses and the unprecedented humanitarianism of the American forces, to whom they owe so much.”18

The Army was proud that it had made publication of this edition possible, but only printed a limited number of copies so there were very few available for distribution to the DPs. The original agreement indicated an earlier publication date, but a number of obstacles in 1947 and 1948, including a shortage of paper, lack of appropriate printing equipment and a weak German economy forced a delay. The first volumes were bound in 1949, but it was not until 1951 that the work was delivered to prominent individuals and libraries in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel. 19 The Talmud served little purpose for the survivors who needed it the most because by the time the volumes were available, the vast majority of the survivors were no longer in Europe. Between May 1948 and the end of 1951 about 304,000 Jewish survivors from Central Europe immigrated to Israel. Between July 1948 and 1952 about 58,000 Jews left for the United States. 20

As the Talmud project neared completion, Rabbi Solomon Shapiro, the JDC’s Director of Religious Affairs, informed his New York office that when they first began working on the Talmud, his staff in Paris knew very little about it: “…you would be interested to know that there has been a great amount of reading of books about the Talmud among members of our staff as a result of our involvement in the project…Many people became involved in one way or another in the Transportation Department, in the Accounting Department, in the Budget Department, and in turn those who are in close relationship with these departments have been requesting material on the subject and we have not enough to go around.”21

When Rabbi Baruch presented his book of Psalms to General Clay on behalf of the Jewish DPs, Clay remarked that he would “always cherish this book of Psalms among my most priceless possessions.” Copies were also given to General Clarence Heubner, Deputy Commander in Chief of the European Command and Robert Murphy, political advisor to General Clay. When Rabbi Baruch later sent General Clay a Bible, the general wrote that the Bible “will serve to remind me of the faith and courage of a people who refused to bow to the forces of evil which attempted their destruction.”22

Among those who received books published by Rabbi Baruch’s makeshift publishing company were: American generals in Europe, the Far East and the United States; American admirals; U.S. Secretaries of War, Labor, Treasury; the Mayor of New York; the Secretary-General of the United Nations; U.S. Supreme Court Justices and a number of Jewish celebrities. After thanking Rabbi Baruch for “remembering” him “with such a splendid gift,” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, then the Chief of Staff of the War Department, said he would pass along his report on the Vaad “to the appropriate agency of the War Department staff for information and study.”23

After they received Vaad publications, the Frankfurt Jewish GI Council made inquiries at several Jewish DP camps to determine their religious needs and submitted a list to the Vaad’s Frankfurt office. The Council was established in June 1946 by David Bar-El (Schacter) and Eliezer Dembitz, American citizens whose families were living in Palestine, and by Chaplain Yosef Miller, a 26-year-old Orthodox rabbi assigned to Headquarters Command for the United States Forces in Frankfurt.

The Council proceeded to visit camps in Zeilsheim, Bensheim, Wetzlar, Ziegenhain, Babenhausen, Schwatzenborn, Lindenfels, Dieburg, Lampertheim and Kibbutz Buchenwald. 24 They permitted Rabbi Baruch to make a presentation about Vaad activities so the Council could help. The Council also co-sponsored a learning contest in the yeshivas during Passover, allocating $50 to purchase fountain pens and pencils to be awarded as prizes.25

Harry A. Goodman, Secretary of Agudah Israel World Organization, asked Rabbi Baruch in early 1948 if the Vaad could supply the Agudah in London with copies of its publications. Goodman assured Rabbi Baruch that the books would to be distributed to institutions in England that “really need them,” and that Agudah would pay for the publications “if necessary.” 26 Goodman had received parcels of books from Rabbi Baruch less than a month before and was eager to secure more.27

Endnotes

1. “Offenbach Archival Depot–Antithesis To Nazi Plunder.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Online Interview with Colonel Seymour J. Pomrenze November 30, 1998. Martin Dean, “Cultural Looting: the seizure of archives and libraries by Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, 1940-45,” Online. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

2. Estelle Gilson. “The Fate of the Roman Jewish Libraries, ” in October 16, 1943: Eight Jews. By Giacomo Debenedetti. (South Bend, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001) 91-100.

3. Dean; Kopel S. Pinson. “Report on the Remains of the Sturmer Jewish Library in Nurnberg,” July 9, 1946 Yeshiva University Archives. COC Collection Box no.2 folder no.8.

4. Dean.

5. Pomeranze.

6. Pomeranze. What is the Use Of Jewish History Lucy S. Dawidowicz, Neal Kozodoy, ed. (New York: Schocken, 1992) 36-37.

7. Charles E. Saltzman to Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz, November 15, 1947. Author’s file.

8. Gerd Korman. “Survivors’ Talmud and the U.S. Army.” American Jewish History 73 March 1984, 262.

9. Interview with Rabbi Nathan Baruch; “Meir Shapira” in Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Jerusalem, Israel; Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd, 1972. Volume 14:1299.

10. Interview with Rabbi Nathan Baruch; Pincus Schoen to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, March 5, 1947; Pincus Schoen to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, March 20, 1947. Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s file.

11.Rabbi Nathan Baruch. “American Vaad Hatzala Emergency Committee, Munich: Amount Extended To Our Institutions During The Year 1947.” N.D. Yeshiva University Archives Vaad Hatzala Collection Box no. 13, file no.4.

12. Interview with Rabbi Nathan Baruch; Pincus Schoen to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, March 5, 1947; Pincus Schoen to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, March 20, 1947. Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s file.

13. Pincus Schoen to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, June 2, 1947. Nathan Baruch file.

14. Issac Lewin to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, October 30, 1947; Issac Lewin to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, December 17, 1947; Issac Lewin to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, May 6, 1948. Author’s file.

15. Abraham S. Hyman to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, July 20, 1948. Rabbi Nathan Baruch file.

16. Rabbi Samuel A. Snieg and Leo Schwarz Agreement Between The American Joint Distribution Committee And The Rabbinical Council, U.S. Zone Germany, Regarding The Printing Of The New Edition Of The Talmud September 11, 1946, YIVO Archives Leo Schwarz Collection Folder 245, Reel 22.

17.Hyman to Rabbi Nathan Baruch.

18.Herbert A. Friedman, Roots of the Future. (New York: Gefen Publishing House, 1999), 100.

19. Friedman, 99.

20. Korman, 273-274. Dinnerstein, America and the Survivors of the Holocaust, 251.

21. Korman, 272-273.

22. Lucius D. Clay to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, July 16, 1947. Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s file.

23. Dwight D. Eisenhower to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, July 22, 1947. Author’s file.

24. Alex Grobman, “Jewish GIs and Holocaust Survivors,” Jewish Spectator. Spring, 1979: 49-52

25. David I. Lippert to Rabbi Nathan Baruch, April 7, 1948. Author’s file.

26. H.A.Goodman to Rabbi Nathan Baruch 1.4.1948. Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s file.

27. H.A.Goodman to Rabbi Nathan Baruch 2.8.1948. Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s file.

4 comments

  • Chaplain Avrohom Horovitz

    To all readers of Jewsingreen that live in the Atlanta area:

    I have a copy of the Talmud printed by the US Army. If you would like to see it please contact me through my email avrohom.horovitz@us.army.mil

  • When it comes to mixing religion and war I have a strong opinion as in not to do it! It is good to be motivated by something spiritual but as wars are fought on political issues and not on religious ones(not talking here about the Jihad) I believe men should be motivated by the true cause of the conflict. Not to mention that each religion has statements that divide people into believers and “infidels” and this may give a distorted view of things when fighting a war.

  • The fact that most of the organizations mixing aid and religion are US based, no doubt inflames passions further particularly in Muslim countries. But I do think this is a useful illustration of how “mixing religion and politics” is hardly an exclusive province of those promoting conservative positions – as of course anyone who is familiar with the civil rights movement, the abolitionist movement, and various other movements in American history already knows. My view: People should be entirely free (both as a legal and a moral matter) to use religious and even theological arguments in favor or against a particular policy, whether it’s the war, abortion, homosexuality, slavery, alcohol, discrimination, or whatever else, just as they’re free to use secular philosophical arguments (including ones that rest on unprovable assumptions that many in the audience won’t share).

  • It’s interesting how current political party configurations can temper our historical view.

    The abolitionist movement in the US transcended “conservative” or “liberal” schools of thought, since it was comprised of political and moral/religious objectors from its inception in the Colonies/US. The strongest political voice of the abolitionist movement at the time of the Civil War was the Radical Republicans (including Salmon Chase and my hometown’s own Thaddeus Stevens). These are individuals who would be categorized as religious conservatives by today’s standards. I don’t disagree with your premise, however.

    As you say, this country’s principles, whatever they are, indulge the right of citizens to make whatever case, rooted in theology or secular reasoning. This should not be abhorrent to any American, as it’s a tradition entwined with the fabric of our existence.

    On the other hand, the peril exists when the state acts on the doctrine of a particular religion and deals ruthlessly with dissent. I don’t believe that’s in the cards for America.