For the first time in nearly a century, Germany’s military will consist of rabbis, making pastoral services available to some 300 Jews serving in the Bundeswehr. “This is an important signal at a time when anti-Semitism, religious polarization and narrow-mindedness are on the march in many places,” said Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
“It is a great development,” Yehuda Teichtal, rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin, told Jewish News Service (JNS). “It will surely have a positive effect not only on Jewish people, but on the entire military as well,” he said.

Nazi concentration camp survivor Petro Mishuk of Ukraine passes the camp entrance with the slogan “To Each His Own” prior to a minute of silence in memory of the victims at commemoration ceremonies for the 74th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, on April 11. On April 11, 1945, units of the 3rd U.S. Army reached Ettersberg Hill.

AP Photo/Jens Meyer