ARNOLD E. RESNICOFF

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.

Beirut, Lebanon
Right: "Camouflage
Kippa"
(Click for newspaper
article on the story of the
kippa, which replaced his
skullcap after it became
dirty and bloody following
the 1983 Truck Bomb
Attack);

Below- Foxhole
Counseling, 1984, with the
Marines in Beirut. (Click
photos for more info.)

Click here for:
President Ronald Reagan's
1984 Keynote Speech --
reading Rabbi Resnicoff's
eye-witness report of the Oct
1983 Beirut Barracks
bombing
(Text and Video Options)

RABBI ARNOLD E. RESNICOFF

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 l onger Bio.)

SAMPLE WEEKEND
SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Faith and Force: Religion, War, and Peace
Friday evening
"Faith and Foxholes: Religion in the Military"
Saturday morning or lunch
"Swords and Plowshares:
Jewish Views of War and Peace"
Saturday evening or Sunday breakfast
"Dreams and Nightmares:
The Jewish Way to Remember"

More Lecture Info

Camp Hope Refugee Camp, Albania, 1999.

In Vietnam,
1969-70 on USS
Hunterdon County,
in the rivers of
Vietnam's
Mekong Delta as
part of "Operation
Game Warden."

First ship
into Cambodia,
May 12, 1970.
(Click for more info.)

Leading first
interfaith
service,
Israel's Western
Wall (Kotel),
Jerusalem,
1983. (Click
for more info.)

With Chiefs
of Chaplains,
MajGen
Fiume Gqiba,
South Africa;
and Sabelo
Maseko,
Swaziland--
1998.

International Chiefs of Chaplains Conference,Geneva,
February 2000. One of three led by Resnicoff: Geneva,
Luxembourg, and Vienna

SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE
Faith and Force, Leadership and Ethics, Interfaith Relations, Memories and Dreams

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.

Click for text or video.

Some files require
acrobat reader:
click for free copy.

Left: Delivering benediction,
Capitol Rotunda, 1987
Holocaust Days of
Remembrance Ceremony.
From the prayer: If the time
has not yet dawned when we
can all proclaim our faith in
God, then let us say at least,
that we admit we are not
gods ourselves. If we cannot
yet see the face of God in
others, then let us see, at
least, a face as human as
our own.

U.S. Senate: Being introduced by Senator
Stevens, to deliver the prayer to open the
session, Jan 22, 2003.

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.

Left: Clinton
White House
breakfast for
religious leaders,
discussing religious
approaches to
violence in our
schools, 1998. In
his remarks,
President Clinton
admitted he needed
to repent for his
actions with
Monica Lewinsky.

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.)