Letters Home: A Jewish Chaplain's Vietnam Memoir

Rabbi Lewis was deployed to Vietnam as an Army chaplain from 1970 to 1971 to be present with Jewish personnel in the Central Highlands. Serving men and women drafted into a morally fraught war with increasing protest back home, he tried to bring a listening ear and the comfort of Jewish tradition to lonely and conflicted people. Fifty years later, from letters sent home, he retells and relives the drama and agony of serving in that era. What others have said: "When I first met Rabbi Shelly Lewis in the jungles of Vietnam, I felt he was truly a man of God. Months later, that feeling was reinforced as he stood by my hospital bed where I struggled to survive." (Lloyd Kantor, wounded veteran)"As we traveled around Nam, I found that most soldiers just wanted to talk to someone who would listen and empathize with them. We were serving our country in a very confusing war, place, time, and circumstance which most of us did not understand and/or support. Chaplain Lewis learned this quickly, and his active listening skills and nurturing personality made him one of the most respected clergy in II Corps." (Ed Finkelstein, Chaplain s Assistant to Rabbi Lewis).