Customer Reviews

The Gi's Rabbi: World War II Letters Of David Max Eichhorn (Modern War Studies)

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This book captures an individual perspective of World War II from someone who was intimately involved. It provides glimpses that historians and even many of the contemporary books did not. It's also an easy book to read -- like reading letters from your family, only these letters are not just about personal matters but about matters of general interest and international importance. A good book to read, no matter what your age, especially in these times.

Rabbi Eichhorn's letters and diary entries portray a family man, soldier and rabbi. The book gives you not just a memoir of the war, but insights into his personal life (letters to his family), his own journals (detailed and much more frank about the war), and finally, reports to various Jewish agencies and the Army (the most disturbing ones of all). How he managed to experience all of this, and still retain his sanity and faith is astonishing. He is a man I wish I could have met, and I respect him highly for all that he did during his life.

"The GI's Rabbi: World War II Letters of David Max Eichhorn" is edited by Greg Palmer and Mark S. Zaid, and includes an introduction by Doris L. Bergen. The book brings together not just his letters, but also other documents that illuminate the wartime career of Rabbi Eichhorn, who served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army. His service included time in the European combat zone.

Other texts interspersed among the rabbi's letters are excerpts from his 1969 unpublished autobiography, as well as letters he received from family, friends, and colleagues. Altogether these texts create a vivid portrait of his travels and service. Also included in the book are photos that span the rabbi's entire life, including his wartime service; a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words and phrases he uses in his letters; an index; and an epilogue by coeditor Zaid, who is also the rabbi's grandson.

The letters and other texts cover the rabbi's travels in France and Germany, his encounters with important military leaders, and the living conditions he experienced in wartime. The book is full of interesting details about his duties as a chaplain. He discusses the horrors and inhumanity of war, as well as examples of kindness and courage that seemed to restore his faith in humanity. The personal touches on his letters to his wife and children are charming and sometimes humorous.

This is a marvelous book and a fine tribute to a man who, in his own words, strove "to be a good soldier and a good rabbi" during one of the most critical periods in American and Jewish history. Inspiring and educational, "The GI's Rabbi" is an outstanding contribution to both U.S. military history and Jewish studies. I strongly recommend this book for both academic and general audiences.