FAITH AND FORCE
Below: The Jewish Worship
Pennant flies above the American
Flag aboard a U.S. Navy Ship,
symbolizing "One Nation, Under
God." Right: The three oldest
symbols of U.S.Military
Chaplains--Christian, Muslim, and
Jewish--on the arms of 3 Navy
Chaplains. Chaplains (left to
right): George Ridgeway, Shai
Noel, Arnold Resnicoff.
RABBI ARNOLD E. RESNICOFF
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Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff is a consultant on interfaith values and
interreligious affairs; a former line officer who served in Vietnam's
Mekong Delta, followed by assignments with Naval Intelligence
(Naval Security Group) before attending rabbinical school; a retired
Navy Chaplain who earned the Defense Superior Service Medal for
his work with military and civilian leaders throughout Europe,
Africa, and the Mid-East while serving as the Command Chaplain
for the U.S. European Command; and a former National Director of
Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee. From
June 2005 to June 2006, he served as Special Assistant (for Values
and Vision) to the Secretary and Chief-of-Staff of the U.S. Air Force,
with the equivalent military rank of Brigadier General.
Headquartered in the Pentagon, this appointment took him to Air
Force bases in more than ten countries around the world, including
those in Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. On June 16,
2006, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne presented him with
the USAF Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service--the highest
award that the Air Force can present to a civilian.
Chaplain Resnicoff was part of the small group of Vietnam Veterans
who helped create the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, delivering the
closing prayer at its 1982 dedication. He was present in Beirut,
Lebanon, on Oct 23, 1983, when a suicide truck bomb killed 241
Americans, and wounded 60 others. The report the White House
asked him to write about that tragedy was read in full by President
Ronald Reagan as his keynote address to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's
"Baptist Fundamentalism 1984" convention in Washington, DC.
His article, "Prayers that Hurt: Public Prayer in Interfaith Settings,"
has been used in many civilian and military chaplain training
programs, and two of his own prayers are included in "The Treasury
of American Prayer." He was the first chaplain to teach a course at a
military war college ("Faith and Force: Religion, War, and Peace," at
the Naval War College), was the recipient of the President's Honor
Graduate Award for his time there as a student, and helped establish
the annual conference on Leadership and Ethics. During an official
Commander Sixth Fleet visit to Israel, he led the first official
interfaith (and mixed gender) service at the Western Wall, and the
first ceremony in honor of Martin Luther King Day, held at the
Israeli President's residence. He was the first chaplain to conduct a
special conference on ethics for the Camp David staff. In 1986 he
was sent to Iceland to lead Yom Kippur services during the
Reagan-Gorbachev summit. He was the driving force behind the
military's decision to participate in the Days of Remembrance of the
Victims of the Holocaust, and involved in many issues of religion,
ethics, and morals in the military, including expanded policies of
military accommodation of the free exercise of religion, such as the
right of Jewish personnel to wear kippot/skullcaps while in
uniform. In addition to many other honors, Resnicoff has the
distinction of offering more Senate and House session prayers than
any rabbi in history.(Click for longer Bio.)

With Chiefs
of Chaplains,
MajGen
Fiume Gqiba,
South Africa;
and Sabelo
Maseko,
Swaziland--
1998.
SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE Faith and Force, Leadership and Ethics, Interfaith Relations, Memories and Dreams
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Captain, Chaplain Corps,USN (Ret)
Former
Special Assistant
(Values and Vision)
to the Secretary and
Chief-of-Staff
of the U.S. Air Force
Nov 11,2002--Standing next to Jan Scruggs, founder of the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial, Rabbi Resnicoff delivers the closing prayer at the
20th anniversary Veterans Day ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans
Wall--the same closing prayer he delivered at the Nov 82 dedication.
With General and Mrs. Wesley K. Clark,
USEUCOM Headquarters, Stuttgart
Left: With William Cardinal
Kasper, the Vatican's top
representative on Ecumenical
Affairs, and Jewish-Catholic
relations, 2002.
White House, Hanukka Reception,Dec 2005. Participated
in a number of non-political White House events, under
Presidents including Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Trump --
but most significant "Presidential meeting" was with Pres
George H.W.Bush in Beirut, 4 days after the Beirut
Barracks bombing -- when Resnicoff was invited to write
a report on the attack that was read by President Ronald
Reagan as a keynote speech in 1984. (Also offered prayer
at Presidential signing of Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal, but
ceremony moved from White House to Department of
Labor to allow increased number of attendees.)