us-005578-irn65252-irn45308
type: RecordSet
biographical history: Judah Nadich was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 13, 1912. He was the oldest of four children of Isaac and Lena Nathanson Nadich, who had emigrated from Russia in the early 1900s. Isaac owned a neighborhood grocery store and was a socialist and member of the Workmen's Circle. Nadich's mother Lena died in 1919, and he was raised by his stepmother Nettie Gifter Nadich, an immigrant from Lithuania. Nadich was awarded a scholarship to study at the Yeshiva high school in New York City, and he then attended Yeshiva College, City College of New York, and Johns Hopkins University. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he enrolled in the rabbinical school of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and in a master's program in history at Columbia University. In 1936, he received his rabbinical ordination and his masters degree, and later earned a doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Between 1936 and early 1942, Rabbi Nadich served as a rabbi at Conservative synagogues in Buffalo, New York, and Chicago, Illinois. Shortly after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Nadich enlisted in the US Army as a chaplain. At the end of summer 1942, he was sent to Great Britain as the first Jewish chaplain in the European Theater of Operations. For the next two years, he was stationed in Northern Ireland and England. He was responsible for serving the religious needs of Jewish soldiers and officers and for training and assigning duties to new Jewish chaplains as they arrived in the United Kingdom. In 1944, Nadich was sent to France, where he was put in charge of procurement for all religious purposes. When Allies Forces marched into liberated Paris at the end of August, Nadich followed close behind. He sought out the Jewish community, driving his jeep with his Jewish chaplain's insignia, and a crowd soon gathered. Most had survived the war in hiding and he was the survivors' first contact with the outside Jewish world. They …
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn65252-irn45308/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Tallit, or prayer shawl with embroidered insignia worn by Rabbi Judah Nadich for his work as a Jewish chaplain in the United States Army from 1942-1946. Designed per US Army regulations, the tallit has the US coat of arms above the Jewish chaplain's insignia: a Star of David and the tablets of law. Nadich arrived in Paris just after its liberation on August 24, 1944. He conducted the first religious service after liberation in the rue de la Victoire synagogue, and preached to the assembled congregation of Jewish GIs and survivors in both French and English. On Passover 1945, Nadich conducted seders for 6000 Jewish troops in a Champs d’Elysee night club. In August 1945, Lt. Colonel Nadich, Senior Jewish Chaplain, European Theater, was stationed at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces, as the first Advisor on Jewish Affairs to General Eisenhower. He investigated the conditions of Jewish refugees at displaced persons camps. He found the living conditions horrifying and helped develop improvements. Nadich also convinced Eisenhower to reconsider the Allied policy of not admitting refugees from Eastern Europe, explaining how unthinkable it was for survivors to return to homelands where their entire families had been murdered.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
record resource extent: overall: Height: 70.000 inches (177.8 cm) | Width: 8.875 inches (22.543 cm)
identifier: irn45308
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn65252-irn45308/acquisitions/1
title: Tallit with Great Seal, Star of David and 10 commandments used by a US Army chaplain
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1946-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
is or was included in: us-005578-irn65252
archival history: The tallit was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by the Estates of Judah Nadich and Martha Hadassah Nadich.
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1942-01-01
has record set type: Item
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Long, narrow, rectangular scarf made from 2 panels of textured offwhite taffeta weave silk with a golden sheen. Each panel is folded in half, with a vertical back seam. The 2 panels are sewn together at 1 short end. Each end of the tallit has machine embroidered insignia in gold thread: a 3 in. Great Seal of the US, an eagle with an olive branch in its left talons and arrows in its right; below this, a 4 in. Jewish Chaplain's insignia: a Star of David, and a patch of the 10 Commandments: 2 tablets of law with Roman numerals 1-5 on the right and 6-10 on the left, a 6 inch margin, with a band of 5 inch golden brown fringe trim sewn to the end. A tzitzit, a golden white knotted tassel, is inserted through a finished hole in each corner, which is reinforced on the back with a square of the tallit cloth.