Arnold E. Resnicoff (born 1946) is an American

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

who served as a military officer and

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

. He served in Vietnam and Europe beforeLester Westling, "All That Glitters: Memoirs of a Minister," Global Publishing Services, 2003, pp. 229–233 attending rabbinical school. He then served as a U.S. Navy Chaplain for almost 25 years. He promoted the creation of the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...

and delivered the closing prayer at its 1982 dedication. In 1984 the President of the United States spoke on his eyewitness account of the

1983 Beirut barracks bombing Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese ...

. After retiring from the military he was National Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee and served as Special Assistant (for Values and Vision) to the

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

and Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, serving at the equivalent military rank of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. Resnicoff holds several degrees, including an honorary doctorate. His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the

Department of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service The Department of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service is the highest award granted by the Secretary of the Air Force to civilian employees of the U.S. Department of the Air Force. It consists of a medal, lapel button, and cit ...

, and the

Chapel of Four Chaplains The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the Immortal Chaplains or the ''Dorchester'' Chaplains, were four World War II Military chaplain, chaplains who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship sank on February 3, ...

Hall of Heroes Gold Medallion.

Life and works

Early military career

Resnicoff's father, a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

veteran, encouraged Resnicoff to serve with the militaryLibrary of Congress Veterans History Project: Arnold Resnicoff collection, AFC/2001/001/70629, May 2010. as one way for the family to "pay its dues" to America. He served as an enlisted man in the Naval Reserves during High School, then after graduation from NROTC at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

served in the rivers of Vietnam (and a short time in Cambodia as well, when his ship became the first U.S commissioned vessel to cross the border) as part of "Operation Game Warden," the operation aimed at keeping the rivers free from Viet Cong, and then with Naval Intelligence in Europe before leaving the Navy to attend rabbinical school.

Military chaplaincy

Following ordination from JTS in 1976, Resnicoff returned to the Navy as a chaplain, serving in many locations in the United States and overseas. From 1992-1994, Resnicoff served as Command Chaplain for Recruit Training Command ("RTC"), Orlando, Florida, where he was part of the team headed by Captain Kathleen Bruyere that integrated men and women into basic training for the first time, and created a new chaplain message for the recruits: "Chapel helps you make it through Boot Camp; Faith helps you make it through life."

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Resnicoff was part of a group of

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and ot ...

s, led by Jan Scruggs, that worked to create the

, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Scruggs was an Army corporal with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade who had been wounded on the battlefield in Vietnam. On Nov 13, 1982, Resnicoff delivered the closing prayer at the official dedication of "The Wall."Moore, James P., Jr., The Treasury of American Prayer, Doubleday, 2008.

Beirut Barracks bombing

On October 23, 1983, while a chaplain for the

United States Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixth Fleet in ...

, Resnicoff was present in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, during the suicide truck bomb attack that took the lives of 241 American military personnel, and wounded scores more. He had arrived on Friday, Oct 21, to lead a Memorial Service for Sgt Allen Soifert, a Jewish American Marine killed by sniper fire. Transportation had been offered to return him to the Sixth Fleet flagship in Gaeta,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, on Saturday, but Resnicoff said he could not travel on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, and would remain in Beirut with the Marines until the following day, when the first truck bomb attack occurred at 6:20AM on Sunday, Oct 23, demolishing the Marine barracks. Four days after the attack, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

team that visited Beirut, led by

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

, George H. W. Bush, asked for a report on the attack and its aftermath—and on April 13, 1984, President Ronald Reagan read that report as his keynote address to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Baptist Fundamentalism '84" convention, in Washington, DC.The American Presidency Project, President Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at the Baptist Fundamentalist Annual Convention," Apr 13, 1984
Speech also reprinted in ''Modern Day Heroes: In Defense of America'', Anderson-Noble Publishing, 2004.] During the delivery of the speech, President Reagan was interrupted by a small group of protestors, armed with pre-printed banners, chanting, "Bread, not bombs." Reagan, at the height of his powers as "the great communicator," deftly handles the situation, at one point commenting, "Wouldn't it be nice if a little bit of that Marine spirit would rub off, and they would listen o the chaplain's wordsabout brotherly love?"

="Camouflage kippa" (skullcap)

During the rescue efforts following the bombing, a Catholic Chaplain named George Pucciarelli tore off a piece of his Marine camouflage uniform to make a skullcap (" kippah") for Resnicoff, after Resnicoff used his to wipe the blood from a wounded Marine's face. This widely reported story, recounted in President Reagan's 1984 speech, was entered into the Congressional Record. The story was credited with helping the passage of the ''religious apparel amendment'' allowing military personnel to wear head coverings for religious reasons (an amendment that had failed to pass in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for two years prior to the recounting of this story). This story was also quoted by some military leaders who had previously opposed the uniform policy change, but now supported it, including the Commandant and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. This amendment reportedly laid the groundwork for the directive (later, changed to a Department of Defense Instruction) that established wide-ranging changes to official military policies and procedures for the ''Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Services''.

Days of Remembrance of the Victims of Holocaust

In 1984, Resnicoff's efforts to convince the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

to participate in the national annual program for the

Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) is an annual eight-day period designated by the United States Congress for civic commemorations and special educational programs that help citizens remember and draw lessons from the ...

(DRVH) were successful. In 1984, the first official year of military involvement, Resnicoff coordinated a meeting between Rabbi

Seymour Siegel Seymour Siegel (September 12, 1927 - February 24, 1988), often referred to as "an architect of Conservative Jewish theology," was an American Conservative rabbi, a Professor of Ethics and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (J ...

, Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and Vice Admiral Edward Martin, Commander, United States Sixth Fleet, and then conducted the first shipboard Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony, on board , the Sixth Fleet Flagship.

Gay and lesbian rights

Resnicoff worked to support the rights of men and women of all sexual orientations, as well as those of all faiths.Domi, Tanya, “Lesbian Army Captain Remembers Those Who Fought Against Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” The newcivilrightsmovement.com, December 18, 2010.
/ref> His work has been recognized by long-time advocates of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

rights, including his work at the Naval War College as far back as the early 1990s.Domi, Tanya, “On the Eve of Christmas, A Navy Rabbi and Lesbian Army Captain Reunite to Bear Witness to DADT's End,” thenewcivilrightsmovement.com, December 24, 2010.
/ref> He was later chosen by the White House to deliver the prayer at the Presidential signing ceremony for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

United States European Command

From 1997 to 2000, Resnicoff was the first Jewish Chaplain to serve at the level of Command Chaplain for a

Unified Combatant Command A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, an ...

, serving as chaplain for the

United States European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russi ...

(USEUCOM), under the leadership of General

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree ...

. He served as a principal advisor to General Clark and the USEUCOM staff on matters of religion, ethics, and

morals Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

; coordinated religious support for more than 100,000 U.S. military personnel and families of all military branches and all faiths; and served as liaison to the chaplaincies of other nations throughout the USEUCOM area of responsibility (AOR), leading and coordinating three International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conferences in Europe, where he introduced a new vision of the potential role of chaplains as liaisons to religious leaders, and of religion as a force for peace and conflict resolution, and for reconciliation after the battles. During the time of American involvement in Bosnia and

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, he worked with U.S. and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

troops, civilian relief workers, political and military leaders, religious representatives, and refugees, and represented the military in the first conference of religious seminary students from

, Bosnia,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, and Macedonia; and led a delegation representing the four official religions of Bosnia—Catholic,

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

, Muslim, and Jewish—on an historic visit to the U.S.

Sixth Fleet and Israel

In 1983, Resnicoff held the first interfaith service (and first service jointly attended by men and women) held at the

Western Wall The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط � ...

since it came under Israel's control, conducted under the supervision of the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs, as part of a special welcome for the U.S. Sixth Fleet. He also led Israel's first official

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Mond ...

ceremony, held in the President's residence. He helped establish the

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Israel,

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

and a center for Sixth Fleet personnel on leave in Jerusalem; led the first official visit to Israel by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force Chiefs of Chaplains, as well as the first visit by officers and crew of the aircraft carrier, , to Israel's John F. Kennedy Memorial and Peace Forest.

1986 US-USSR Reagan-Gorbachev meetings in Iceland

In 1986, Resnicoff was sent to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

to lead

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

(Day of Atonement) services during the historic Reagan-Gorbachev pre-summit meetings. The symbolism of Resnicoff's participation in this initiative made an impression on many Americans. Senator

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

(D-RI) entered the text of the October 8, 1986, ''Providence Journal'' article, "Navy Rabbi To Join Iceland Team: Russian immigrant's grandson picked to lead staff services," in the October 9, 1986, Senate Congressional Record.

Special presentations, conferences, and prayers

Rabbi Resnicoff has lectured on pluralism, religious freedom, and ethics and values, at many civilian and military forums, including the Northeastern Political Science Association; the International Society for Military Ethics (ISME); the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute;Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
/ref> the

Pearson Peacekeeping Centre Established in 1994 by the Government of Canada as the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre (more commonly the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, or simply the Pearson Centre) was an independent, not-for-profit organizat ...

Clementsport, Nova Scotia Clementsport is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County. It is on the southern shore of the Annapolis Basin and is on Nova Scotia Trunk 1. The village was established originally as Clements Township by U ...

and the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, in Israel's

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

. He was the first chaplain to brief the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

and worldwide

commanders, at a Washington, DC, CINC's Conference, where he addressed issues of core values and quality of life.Chaplines,Summer 2001, Vol 16, No.2
. In 1996, he crafted and led the first Conference on Ethics and Leadership for the staff of the Camp David Presidential Retreat. He was the only military chaplain to attend the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual leaders, was one of 100 religious leaders at the Sep 11, 1988, White House discussion with then

President Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again f ...

on the way religion might combat violence in American schools, and represented the U.S. military at the 1999 Seventh World Assembly of the

World Conference of Religions for Peace Religions for Peace is an international coalition of representatives from the world's religions dedicated to promoting peace founded in 1970. The International Secretariat headquarters is in New York City, with regional conferences in Europe, As ...

, in

Amman, Jordan Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

. Resnicoff's February 2006 presentation on religion, the military, and church-and-state issues, presented at the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of International and Public Affairs The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. ...

(SIPA) was broadcast multiple times on C-SPAN. He presented an updated version of this talk—"Faith and Foxholes: Religion in the Military"—in May 2010 at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

(LOC). In the same month, the LOC Veterans History Project conducted a two-hour video oral history of Resnicoff for their permanent historical archives. Resnicoff, who has offered prayers at many public ceremonies, is "known for his work to sanctify moments of American trauma" through prayer, including his 2021 prayer on the floor of the House of Representatives that combined memories of 9/11 and the message of the Jewish High Holy Days. He has been referred to as "The Wall's rabbi" because of his many prayers for ceremonies at the

. Two of Resnicoff's prayers, delivered in 1987 at the first

ceremony in the U.S. Capitol and the 1982 dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial are included in the book, The Treasury of American Prayer. He has offered more Congressional prayers on the floor of the House and Senate than any other rabbi. His prayer for the House pro-forma session on December 30, 2019, the final House prayer for the decade, was featured that day on the

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

news show

Inside Politics ''Inside Politics'' is a political talk show, broadcast on CNN. Originally hosted by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, and then Shaw and Judy Woodruff, the show ran from 1992 – 2005 before being cancelled. The program was revived in 2014 with ...

, with host Nia-Malika Henderson introducing it with the words that "as 2019 winds down, a prayer this morning from Capitol Hill from a rabbi, marking the end of the year with a message of hope.
video

Views

Spiritual force protection

Resnicoff is frequently quoted on the impact of war and violence on the human spirit, including the distinction he makes between "outrage", a feeling we must value, because it is part of being human (and we must fight against the danger that war and violence can numb us against it), and "rage", where emotions take over, we lose our moral compass, and we become vulnerable to manipulation by others who want us to lose our way. While working for General Wesley K. Clark at the U.S. European Command, Resnicoff worked to expand the concept of

force protection Force protection (FP) refers to the concept of protecting military personnel, family members, civilians, facilities, equipment and operations from threats or hazards in order to preserve operational effectiveness and contribute to mission succes ...

to include ''Spiritual Force Protection'': protecting military personnel not only against physical danger, but against threats to their humanity, as well. The book, ''Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind''Nancy Sherman, ''Stoic Warriors:The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind'', Oxford University Press: 2007, 119.
/ref> quotes his position that "We don't want our people just to come home physically; we want them to come back as close to the human beings they were before they went in."

Expanded role of military chaplains in peace and reconciliation initiatives

Resnicoff believes chaplains have a role to play in the area of engagement: building ties and strengthening relationships with civilian religious leaders. He believes that "NATO chaplains should have a greater role in supporting Allied troops with personal moral conflicts, and in reducing misunderstandings about foreign religious beliefs ... it is important to move fast and establish regional cooperative programs in such potential hot spots as Eastern Europe and South Africa "so that we are ahead of the power curve before another Kosovo explodes.""

Personal life

The artist Joel Resnicoff was Arnold's younger brother. Descended from a long line of rabbis, his grandfather was Rabbi

Mnachem Risikoff Mnachem (Mendel) HaKohen Risikoff (1866–1960), was an orthodox rabbi in Russia and the United States, and a prolific author of scholarly works, written in Hebrew. Risikoff used a highly stylized and symbolic pen-name, יאמהדנונחהי� ...

and great-grandfather was Rabbi Zvi Yosef Resnick.

Awards and honors

Resnicoff has received numerous military awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals, the

Joint Service Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

, and two

Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

s (one with the

Combat V Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

, for Valor). For his service with the Air Force following retirement from the military, he was awarded the United States Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, the highest award that the Air Force can present to a civilian. Other special awards include The President's Honor Graduate Award, Naval War College; International Community Service Award, ''Moment Magazine''; The Rabbi Louis Paris Hall of Heroes Gold Medallion, Chapel of Four Chaplains; and the Commandant's Award, Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), Patrick Air Force Base,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In May 2013 Resnicoff was awarded the annual Daniel Webster Award for Distinguished Public Service, by the Dartmouth Club of Washington, D.C. In 1994, the Chaplain Arnold E. Resnicoff Scholarship Fund was established in his honor at The Jewish Theological Seminary to help rabbinical students who agree to serve at least one assignment as military chaplains, following ordination.Waligurski, Anita, "Rabbinical Scholarship Honors Chaplain Resnicoff, "The Dolphin," Naval Submarine Base New London, January 19, 1995.

Articles and books

* Foreword, Bryen, Stephen D., "Security for Holy Places: How to Build a Security Plan for Your Church, Synagogue, Mosque, or Temple" (Morgan James Publishing, 2020) * "Seeking God's Presence: Report from the Beirut Bombing," ''Military Chaplain's Review'', 1984 * "With the Marines in Beirut: A Holy Day Journal," ''Jewish Spectator'', Fall 1984 * "Retaliation: Self-Defense, Justice, or Revenge?": Moral and Legal Perspectives on an Anti-Terrorist Strategy," a paper written for the Naval War College, 1985 * "May It Be a Blessing: An Introduction to Judaism," ''Navy Chaplain's Bulletin'', Summer 1986 * "Since War Begins in the Minds of Man: Combat Ministry Away From the Battle," ''The Navy Chaplain'', Fall 1986 * "Prayers That Hurt: Public Prayer in Interfaith Settings," ''Military Chaplain's Review'', 1987; expanded and reprinted in ''Curtana: A Journal for the Study of the Military Chaplaincy'', inaugural edition (Vol 1, No. 1), Fall 2009. * "Jewish Views of War and Peace," ''Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly'', March 1989 * "From Vision to Action," ''The Navy Chaplain'', Volume 8, Number 2, 1996 * "Rules for Our Sake; Not for our Enemies," Living Words IV: A Spiritual Source Book for an Age of Terror, published by Sh'ma, JFL Books, 2002. * ''Horror and Hope: Americans Remember the Holocaust'', United States Navy Chaplain Resource Board (Chaplain Arnold E. Resnicoff, Project Officer), March 1987. * ''Days of Remembrance: A Department of Defense Guide for Annual Commemorative Observances,'' First Edition (96 pages), Office of the Secretary of Defense, March 1988 (Editorial Board, and U.S. Navy representative to the DOD Days of Remembrance Committee). * ''Days of Remembrance: A Department of Defense Guide for Annual Commemorative Observances,'' Second Edition (revised and expanded, 145 pages), Office of the Secretary of Defense, March 1989 (Editorial Board, and U.S. Navy representative to the DOD Days of Remembrance Committee).

References

External links

* President Ronald Reagan, reading Resnicoff's report of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing
text version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFA5f0n-Nak video version]
Library of Congress Veterans History Project video history interview (2 hours)Compilation of public prayers (texts and videos)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Resnicoff, Arnold 1946 births Living people 1983 in Lebanon American Conservative rabbis United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War Dartmouth College alumni Defense Language Institute alumni Jewish American military personnel Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Naval War College alumni People from Washington, D.C. Rabbis in the military Recipients of the Legion of Merit Salve Regina University alumni United States Navy officers University of Maryland Global Campus faculty United States Navy chaplains Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Rabbis from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis