Arnold E. Resnicoff, at The Blogs

Sep 11, 2023, 3:28 AM

9/11 prayer: May unity then unite us today

Two years ago, I had the honor of delivering the prayer in the US House of Representatives on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. My words of prayer recalled the way Americans united following the attack,...

Aug 22, 2023, 10:15 AM

The camouflage kippa: Memories of the1983 Beirut barracks bombing

Plaque from the chapel in Beirut: peacekeeping, above, the ideal; charred wood below: the reality, the attack

As this year's October 23 40th anniversary of the attack approaches, I pray that some of my memories can be used in programs, ceremonies -- and sermons. I pray we remember this attack, mourn the victims, and celebrate the...

Aug 18, 2023, 5:53 AM

On Yom Kippur, the rabbi went to Iceland

As holy days approach many of us think back to special observances we've experienced. With almost 30 years of active duty in the US military, I have many unusual memories, including the seders I led on a ship off...

Aug 10, 2023, 5:42 AM

Featured Post

‘Open when I die’: My in-progress ethical will

Sharing lessons of the Holocaust in the Capitol Rotunda, 1987. (courtesy)

I started a final letter to my daughter with life lessons and a last word of love after the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983

Jul 4, 2023, 7:07 AM

USS CARL M LEVIN: US Navy’s newest ship has a Jewish name and a rabbi’s blessings

In 2007, Senator Carl Levin visited the aircraft carrier USS HARRY S. TRUMAN for a ceremony to add a Holocaust Torah to the ship’s chapel, donated by the Jewish Federation of Tidewater. (It is on loan to the ship...

Jun 5, 2023, 1:01 PM

Stand and be counted: 1st Jewish service at USMC’s oldest post

Commandant of the Marine Corps, parade leaders and parade guests of honor, 19 May 2023.

On May 19 we began the Torah portion BaMidbar with the story of the census that counted Israelites of military age. That night we made history at the Marine Barracks in Washington DC, the oldest post in the U.S...

About Me

Rabbi Resnicoff is a retired U.S. Navy Chaplain, former National Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, Special Assistant to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force for Values and Vision (with the military equivalent rank of Brigadier General), and Command Chaplain for the United States European Command. His Naval career started in the rivers of Vietnam followed by Naval Intelligence in Europe before rabbinical school and ordination. He was part of the small group of Vietnam veterans that worked to create the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and personally convinced the US military to participate in the US Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. He was the first chaplain to teach a course at a U.S. military war college: "Faith and Force: Religion, War, and Peace," at the Naval War College, in Newport, RI, where he was also a frequent guest speaker at the annual “Ethics and Military Leadership” conference he helped create. His numerous military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, and his academic degrees include a masters in International Relations, and another in Strategic Studies and National Security Affairs. On Oct 23, 1983, he was present in Beirut, Lebanon during the 1983 terrorist attack that took the lives of 241 American military personnel. His report of the attack and its aftermath, written at the request of the White House, was read as a keynote speech by President Ronald Reagan. Click here for text. Click here for video. Click here for more background information.

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