page_title: Arnold Resnicoff
section_title: Sixth Fleet and Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Arnold Resnicoff / Life and works / Military chaplaincy / Sixth Fleet and Israel
caption_attribution_description: English: Specially approved interfaith religious service, with men and women sitting together, at Israel's Western Wall (Wilson's Arch, at that time a newly-excavated area to the left of the outside portion of the Wall), led by Asst Sixth Fleet Chaplain Arnold Resnicoff. Story in Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post, Sep 5, 1983, and Jerusalem Post International Edition, Sep 11-17, 1983, "U.S. Navy Chaplain Conducts Western Wall Interfaith Litany." Also in the photo, next to Resnicoff, is Yonatan Yuval, representing the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs.
context_page_description: Arnold E. Resnicoff is an American Conservative rabbi who served as a military officer and military chaplain. He served in Vietnam and Europe before 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 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. After retiring from the military he was National Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee and served as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, serving at the equivalent military rank of Brigadier General.
  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, and the Chapel of Four Chaplains Hall of Heroes Gold Medallion.
context_section_description: In 1983, Resnicoff held the first interfaith service (and first service jointly attended by men and women) held at the Western Wall 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 ceremony, held in the President's residence.
  He helped establish the Haifa, Israel, USO 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, USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), to Israel's John F. Kennedy Memorial and Peace Forest.
caption: Leading 1983 religious service in Wilson's Arch at Jerusalem's Western Wall
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