Two Military Leaders Recognized at JCC Association Biennial
New York , NY , July 7, 2008 – JCC Association presented two distinguished military leaders with prestigious honors at the recent 2008 JCC Association Biennial, a gathering of Jewish Community Center volunteer leadership from across North America, held in Miami in May. Rabbi Philip Silverstein was named the 2008 Frank L. Weil Award winner for distinguished contributions to the welfare of Jewish armed services personnel, and Ronald D. Silverman , Major General, 3 rd Medical Command, U.S. Army, was awarded the JCCs of North America Jewish Military Leadership Award , for exemplifying authentic devotion to Jewish life and identity, combined with an extremely high level of military accomplishment.
The Frank L. Weil Awards were established in 1950 in the name of JCC Association's late leader, who served from 1940 to 1950 with brilliant distinction as president of the Jewish Welfare Board, as it was then known. The Jewish Chaplains Council of the JWB, founded in 1917 as the Chaplains Committee, today serves approximately 37 full-time military and Veterans Administration Jewish chaplains, 55 chaplains in the military reserves, 88 military lay leaders and thousands of Jewish armed services personnel stationed at more than five hundred domestic and foreign bases and in VA medical centers.
As the agency authorized by the U.S. government to meet the religious needs of Jews in the military since World War I, JWB, which now operates under the auspices of JCC Association, has a long, proud history. “Growing out of this tradition, it is appropriate to recognize individuals who have enhanced the JCC Movement's connection to the military. The Weil Award and the Jewish Military Award spotlight those who have brought honor to the Jewish community through their military service or their service to the military,” said Rabbi Harold L. Robinson, director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Robinson, who nominated both of this year's award winners, noted of Rabbi Silverstein, “He truly lives his ideals.” As chairman of the Jewish Chaplains Council, Rabbi Silverstein “was among the first to recognize that we are faced with a crisis in the Jewish chaplaincy with so few rabbis currently serving. Rabbi Silverstein first responded institutionally by creating a JWB rabbinic scholarship program at the Jewish Theological Seminary to give incentive to rabbinical students to enter the chaplaincy. Then, Rabbi Silverstein responded personally by fully funding the first four-year scholarship recipient at JTS.”
Major General Silverman, head of the army's 3 rd Medical Command, said Robinson, “embodies the highest ideals of our people by having healed the wounded and comforted the bereaved.” Now back home after completing his tour in Iraq in 2007, Silverman had “led a team of physicians and caregivers in the most arduous of circumstances, performing the most noble of missions,” Robinson added.
Reporters/Editors : Following is biographical information for the two award recipients. For interview opportunities, please contact Miriam Rinn, communications manager, at (212) 786-5092 or Miriam@jcca.org .
Frank L. Weil Award:
Rabbi Philip Silverstein
Rabbi Philip Silverstein has spent his life caring for young men and women in the military. Following rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1955, he served on active duty for two years as a chaplain in the United States Air Force at Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming . After serving several congregations in different parts of the country, in 1971, he began an 18-year active duty career as a United States Army chaplain. Rabbi Silverstein's duty stations have included Fort Bliss , TX ; Yongsan , Korea ; Fort Bragg , NC ; Heidelberg , Germany ; and Fort Knox , KY. In 1986, he received the Jewish Chaplain of the Year Award from the Association of Jewish Chaplains of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs. He retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1989.
In 1996, the Rabbinical Assembly appointed Rabbi Silverstein one of its representatives to the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council. He served in that capacity until 2007, chairing the Council for the past four years. During his tenure, as the need to re-energize recruitment for the chaplaincy became clear, Rabbi Silverstein initiated the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council rabbinic scholarship program. The program grants a full scholarship for four years of seminary study to rabbinical students who make a commitment to enter the military chaplaincy. With the scholarship established, Rabbi Silverstein demonstrated his own high level of personal commitment to its success by fully funding the first four- year scholarship recipient. Serving as a role model for others, his foresight and generosity ensured the program would get off the ground.
JCCs of North America Jewish Military Leadership Award:
Ronald D. Silverman
Ronald D. Silverman was the first Major General in the history of the US Army to serve as commander of all echelons above division-level medical forces in a combat zone. Born in Philadelphia , PA in 1947, Major General Silverman graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison , with a B.A. in history in 1969, and subsequently received a commission in the United States Army as a Medical Service Corps Officer. He graduated from Temple University School of Dentistry in 1972, and since 1976, has practiced dentistry in Alexandria , Virginia , where he has assisted local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in forensic dentistry.
Following graduation from Temple , Major General Silverman entered active duty in the United States Army as a General Dental Officer at Fort Belvoir , VA. After leaving active duty, he joined the United States Army Reserve in which he has held a number of prestigious positions. As Commander of the 804 th Medical Brigade, Major General Silverman was responsible for organizing and implementing numerous Medical Readiness Training Exercises (MEDRETE's) across the country and around the world. From 1998-2002, the 804 th Medical Brigade provided medical assistance to thousands of foreign and domestic civilians in locations including Ecuador, El Salvador and Paraguay, as well as providing health care to Native Americans in South Dakota, Minneapolis and Montana.
In March 2004, Silverman assumed command of the 3rd Medical Command, a multi-compo unit consisting of soldiers on active duty, in the Army Reserve and in the National Guard soldiers and the U.S. Army's only theater-level deployable medical headquarters. He soon deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where as the senior medical officer, Silverman was directly responsible for providing the complete spectrum of Level III healthcare for more than 150,000 soldiers throughout Iraq. He supervised a task force in the construction of a Level III hospital in the city of Al Asad , the first medical facility built from the ground up, which became the primary hospital for all service personnel in Al Anbar Province. The presence of the new hospital made it possible to dramatically reduce the time it took to get the wounded stabilized and into surgery and to develop strategies and methods for effectively combating one of the most common and dangerous injuries threatening US troops, traumatic brain injury.
Silverman's drive for excellence and dedication to offering the best possible medical care contributed to a battlefield survival rate of more than 90 percent for wounded service members in the Southwest Asia Theater, the highest rate in the history of warfare. Silverman and his staff provided vital assistance to many departments in the Iraqi government as well, to assist with development of the country's medical system.
Major General Silverman's military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of Merit with One Oak Leaf Cluster; Bronze Star; Meritorious Service Medal; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Armed Forces Reserve Medal (with Bronze Hourglass Device); and the Army Service Ribbon.
###
JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
Back to Press Releases |
Privacy policy | Contact
us | Home
|
