JWB Rabbi Celebrates 50 Years of Service

The deputy director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, Rabbi Nathan Landman, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at the annual convention of the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis, in San Diego this week. Landman’s active-duty career began in 1956 in the US Air Force. After retiring in 1981, he was appointed to his current post in 1985.

The chaplaincy, Landman believes, exemplifies the clearest expression of our country’s commitment, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, to freedom of religion. “Because military chaplains are part of a team ministry, what bonds them, and builds mutual respect is their engagement in common tasks for the betterment of all those they serve,” Landman wrote in an article about his career. “Respect comes naturally when you are working on the same project together.”

Landman’s dedication to the chaplaincy, JWB, and the Reform movement was foreshadowed by family connections. His grandfather, Dr. Louis Hyamson Landman, emigrated from the Kiev region in 1887 to Cincinnati, where he enrolled in classes at Hebrew Union College. Two of Dr. Landman’s sons were later ordained there, Rabbi Isaac Landman and Rabbi Solomon Landman, Nathan Landman’s father. In 1917, while still a rabbinical student at HUC, Solomon Landman volunteered time at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Isaac Landman, Nathan Landman’s uncle, served as chaplain to General Pershing’s forces on the Mexican border in 1916, later helping to organize the National Jewish Welfare Board in 1917 as representative of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform Movement’s professional association. Landman’s aunt, Sara Landman, worked as a volunteer for the JWB in France, subsequently serving at the JWB center in Koblenz, Germany from 1918-1919.