A Jewish Story We Need to Tell Again

Long before Atlanta became home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the South, a Georgia Jew named Mordecai Sheftall was helping defend a new country.

Born in Savannah to Jewish immigrants from England, Sheftall rose to the rank of colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. As a prisoner aboard a British warship, he refused to eat the pork he was given.

More than two centuries later, another Jewish soldier demonstrated that the tradition Sheftall represented was very much alive. Sgt. First Class Christopher Celiz was an Army Ranger based at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah. On July 12, 2018, in Afghanistan, Celiz and his Rangers came under intense fire. Celiz deliberately placed himself between the enemy and an incoming medical evacuation helicopter, returning fire and protecting the aircraft crew as a wounded soldier was loaded aboard. Celiz was wounded, but rather than delay the helicopter so that he could be evacuated, he motioned for the crew to leave. He died from his wounds at 32 years old. Celiz was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor.

The connection between Col. Sheftall and Sgt. Celiz is powerful. One was a Savannah Jew fighting for an America that had barely come into existence. The other was a Jewish American Ranger, serving from Savannah more than 240 years later, who gave his life protecting his fellow soldiers. They are separated by centuries, but they are part of the same story.

It is a story the American Jewish community once knew well: Jews have helped defend our country from its beginning. We have fought in every American conflict. More than 250,000 Jews served during World War I. During World War II, roughly 550,000 served — more than 11 percent of the American Jewish population at the time.

Today, though, only about 15,000 Jews serve in the active military, Reserve and National Guard combined — less than three-tenths of one percent of the American Jewish population. Military service has largely disappeared from the conversation in many Jewish homes, schools and communal organizations. We should change that.

At a time of rising antisemitism when many Jews are understandably asking difficult questions about our place in American society, our own history offers a powerful answer. For more than 250 years, American Jews have not merely benefited from this country. We have helped build it, defend it, and sacrifice for it.

Nineteen Jewish Americans have received the Medal of Honor. Jewish officers have risen to four-star rank in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

Today, though, only about 15,000 Jews serve in the active military, Reserve and National Guard combined — less than three-tenths of one percent of the American Jewish population. Military service has largely disappeared from the conversation in many Jewish homes, schools and communal organizations. We should change that.

Jewish chaplains have served American troops around the world. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Jewish men and women have put on the uniform without ever appearing in a history book. Their service should be a source of pride — not only for their families, but for all of us.

It is also why several Jewish organizations recently came together to create the American Jewish Military Service Initiative, or AJMSI. The founding organizations include the West Point Jewish Chapel Fund, Friends of the Jewish Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy, JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, and Hillel International.

The idea behind AJMSI is simple: we need to tell the story of American Jewish military service, and we need to introduce a new generation of Jews to the possibility of serving. AJMSI brings active-duty service members, reservists, cadets and midshipmen, veterans, and retired senior military officers into synagogues, Jewish schools, Hillels, and community organizations to share their experiences — at no cost to you. They tell stories about their service and their Jewishness — observing Shabbat while deployed, finding kosher food in the field, celebrating a seder aboard a ship, putting a mezuzah on a barracks-room door, and figuring out what it means to be both Jewish and an American service member.

Atlanta’s Jewish community should embrace this effort. We teach our children about Jewish history and Jewish identity. We should ensure that the American chapter of that story includes the Jews who served this country in uniform — and that military service is presented to the next generation as a path worthy of serious consideration.

Here in Georgia, we don’t have to look far to find that tradition. Mordecai Sheftall helped defend America before the country had even finished becoming the United States. More than two centuries later, Christopher Celiz gave his life protecting his fellow soldiers. They are part of the same American Jewish story. It is a story worth telling and a tradition worth continuing.

To learn more about the American Jewish Military Service Initiative or request a speaker, visit gijew.org.

Billy Medof is a 1994 graduate of the United States Military Academy, a U.S. Army veteran, and vice president for development of the West Point Jewish Chapel Fund.