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Rabbi Yehuda {Leonard} Blank MS, BCC
Vice President of Professional Development and External Affairs
Chair of the Chaplaincy Commission
Rabbinical Alliance of America/Igud HaRabbonim
917-446-2126  rablenblank@gmail.com,
*June 25, 2026, 10, Tammuz, 5786*
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TITLE AND THEME OF THIS ARTICLE,
I’M A PROUD JEW – I’M A PROUD AMERICAN
THE STORY OF THE COURT MARTIAL OF ONE OF THE MOST
FAMOUS JEWISH U.S. ARMY LIEUTENTANTS
THAT TURNED INTO A MAGNIFICANT KIDDUSH H.

“The judge stood up and said, “I have never had a soldier stand before the court without a statement and receive a verdict of innocence. You are the first because you put G before the US Army, as did the Founding Fathers.” 

The following story is from 102 Stories That Changed People’s Lives. An inspiring anthology that strengthens emunah and bitachon. Volume 2, Tfutza Publications, by Rabbi Tzvi Nakar

Chapter 50, Pages 188-190. The Court Martial. “Rabbi Meir Birnbaum lived in Brooklyn until his final years, when he moved to Yerushalayim to live out the rest of his time in This World in the Holy Land. After moving to Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Birnbaum liked to daven with the vasiim minyan at the Kosel. On the way, he would give rides to others who also wanted to daven at the Kosel at that hour.

When Rabbi Birnbaum was a younger man, he served in the US Army and was the first Jewish soldier to enter Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II. He was also the one who took the iconic photograph of the child with the suitcase, who turned out to be Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, the chief rabbi of Israel. 

When he was first conscripted into the US Army, Rabbi Birnbaum showed up at breakfast, sat down in the dining room, and found himself some kosher food he could eat. Now he had to make a bracha, but army regulations said that a soldier wasn’t allowed to wear a head covering indoors.

He debated what to do: should he put on a head covering or should he not put on the head covering to say a blessing?

My rabbi taught me that one always takes the first step with the right foot to establish how he means to go on, he thought.

He decided that he wasn’t afraid of anyone. His fear was reserved for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He took his yarlmulke out of his pocket, put it on his head and made a brachah.

As he ate, a voice behind him said, “Hey, Mike, how’d you get the nerve to put a yarmulke on your head?”

“I don’t know where the nerve came from,” Rabbi Birnbaum answered honestly. “ I just know I had it .”

One day, Rabbi Birnbaum’s sergeant walked into the dining room and practically burned him with his gaze. Eyeing  the yarmulke, the sergeant said. “Tell me, soldier Don’t you know that army protocol forbids you from covering your head inside an enclosed space?”

“Yes, sir”.

“Do you know which ordinance I’m talking about?”

The sergeant could barely contain his fury at  Rabbi Birnbaum’s obvious insubordination.

“See me in my office after breakfast.
“I have never encounted a soldier as insolent as you.” The sergeant said. 

“It would be one thing if you didn’t know the regulation. But you know the exact wording and number of the regulation against wearing a head  covering in an enclosed space. You’re being court- martialed. I suggest you find a lawyer to represent you. You’d better prepare a good defense, because if you’re found guilty, you’ll be in prison for a very long time.

Meir Birnbaum emerge from the sergeant’s office with a sense of trepidation. The next day he appeared in court. The judge took his seat. He flipped through Birnbaum’s case file and then told the prosecutor to start.

The prosecutor read the charge, and then the judge turned to the defendant’s lawyer and said, “Have you prepared your statement of defense.”

The lawyer shrugged and said. “I have no statement of defense.”

The judge was flabbergasted. He looked at Meir Birnbaum and said, “You didn’t prepare a defense? I don’t know if you realize how serious the charge against you is.”

Birnbaum kept his silence.

“Well, do you have an explanation for what you did?’ the judge asked him.

Suddenly emboldened, Meir Birnbaum stood up and said, “Yes, I do. When I was sworn into the United States Army, the oath I uttered said that I swore to be loyal to G and to the United States of America. The Founding Fathers place G before this country. I have done the same.” 

With that, he sat down, leaving the judge dumbfounded. The judge asked for a copy of the oath that every soldier must swear before joining the army and found that Meir Birnbaum was correct.

The judge stood up and said, “I have never had a soldier stand before the court without a statement and receive a verdict of innocence. You are the first because you put G before the US Army, as did the Founding  Fathers.”

The secret to a good life- every journey starts with one small step.”

I encourage everyone to read the book Lt. Birnbaum and the many articles that can be found online and elsewhere.  Even after his passing, he continues to be a tremendous inspiration. Lt. Birnbaum, by ArtScroll, Mesorah Publications  ArtScroll.com – Lieutenant Birnbaum

There are hundreds if not thousands of stories about the greatness of Jewish chaplains in the military, healthcare, corrections, police, fire, community and elsewhere that we can all be proud of.

We should all be able to say, “I am proud to be Jewish and I am proud to be an American”

Sincerely, Rabbi Yehuda (Leonard) Blank