To Repay Our Debt: A Jewish Reflection on Veterans Day

Every Veterans Day, Americans pause to honor those who have worn the uniform of the United States. We thank them for their courage, their discipline, their willingness to put themselves between danger and the rest of us. But for many Jewish Americans, that uniform has always carried an additional meaning — not only as a symbol of patriotism, but as an act of gratitude toward the nation that opened its arms when others turned us away.

Jewish military service is as old as America itself. In 1654, when the first Jewish settlers arrived in New Amsterdam, one of them, Asher Levy, fought for the right to stand guard at the local fort, even as the colony’s governor tried to bar Jews from serving. Ever since, Jews have stepped forward in every major conflict: from the 7,000 who fought for the Union during the Civil War, to the 550,000 Jewish men and women who served in World War II — an extraordinary figure given that Jews made up less than three percent of the U.S. population at the time. They fought on the beaches of Normandy, in the skies over Europe, and across the Pacific. Some helped liberate the death camps. Others bore witness to what humanity must never forget.

For my family, that legacy is deeply personal. My grandfather came to America as a ten-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany in 1936. Eight years later, he wanted to enlist in the Navy, but the U.S. government refused. Due to hang-ups in my family’s naturalization process his German birth classified him an “enemy alien.” My great-grandfather refused to accept that answer. He wrote to the U.S. government:

“Fred, with our consent, wished to prove his loyalty and devotion to the country of our adoption and to repay in this way his part of our debt, which we owe our adopted homeland.

A day before his eighteenth birthday, my grandfather raised his hand and joined the U.S. Navy. He served in the Pacific Theater aboard the attack transport USS Renville ferrying soldiers and supplies across dangerous waters.

That phrase “to repay our debt” has resonated with me ever since I first read my great-grandfather’s letter. It captures a truth about Jewish life in America: gratitude isn’t only spoken; it’s lived. My grandfather didn’t just thank his new homeland in words, he put on a uniform and served it. In doing so, he joined a long line of Jews who saw military service as both a duty and a mitzvah. A modern form of hakarat ha-tov, recognizing the goodness bestowed upon us by this nation.

Today, an estimated 10,000 Jewish Americans serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. They keep kosher in the field, light Hanukkah candles on bases overseas, and pray in makeshift chapels on aircraft carriers and desert outposts. Their commitment proves what generations of Jewish service members have always known: being a faithful Jew and a loyal American are not contradictory callings. They are, in fact, complementary.

Every Veterans Day, when we stand for the anthem or watch the American flags wave I think of that letter: A father’s plea, a son’s determination, and a family’s promise to a nation that gave them a second chance. It was a simple promise, but one that still defines what it means to serve:

To repay our debt to our new homeland.