Spa City rabbis earn Four Chaplains Award
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Husband and wife, Rabbis Jonathan Rubenstein and Linda Motzkin of Saratoga Springs, have been selected to receive the 58th Four Chaplains’ Remembrance and Brotherhood Award.
Motzkin and Rubenstein, who recently retired from Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs after 36 years of joint leadership in the Capital Region’s religious community, will receive the award during a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5, at the First Reformed Church of Schenectady at 8 N. Church St., Schenectady.
The Albany Post 105 of the Jewish War Veterans’ award has been recognizing a local member or members of the community since 1966 in honor of the values and selfless service of the Four Chaplains who sacrificed their lives when the U.S. Army Transport Ship SS Dorchester was sunk in 1943 during World War II in the North Atlantic, said Richard Goldenberg, chairman of the award selection committee and adjutant of Post 105.
“The Four Chaplains Brotherhood Award exists to further the cause of “unity without uniformity” by encouraging goodwill and cooperation among all people,” Goldenberg said.
The nondenominational award honors people whose deeds symbolize the legacy of the Four Chaplains. The award commemorates the military chaplains who gave up their life vests and their lives so others could survive the sinking of the Dorchester after a German sub torpedoed the vessel near the coast of Greenland in the North Atlantic. Of the 902 troops, seamen and civilians aboard the ship, only 230 survived.
Clark Poling, who ministered at the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, had enlisted in the Army after the outbreak of World War II. The first lieutenant was one the four chaplains. The other chaplains were 1st Lt. Alexander Goode, a Jewish rabbi; 1st Lt. George Fox, a Methodist minister; and 1st Lt. John Washington, a Catholic priest.
Over the years the Jewish War Veterans of the Capital District have recognized civic leaders, community organizers and issue advocates, educators, health care providers and clergy for their humanitarian efforts that convey the spirit of the Four Chaplains, according to Goldenberg.
Rubenstein and Motzkin had been co-rabbis at the temple since 1986, serving the Jewish community of Saratoga Srpings as their synagogue grew from 60 to 190 families. In addition to their duties at the synagogue, they served as chaplains in the community, Motzkin at Skidmore College and Rubenstein at the Mt. Mcgregor Correctional Facility and Four Winds Hospital. Both were also on boards and committees of Saratoga Hospital, Saratoga Domestic Violence Services (now Wellsprings), Franklin Community Center, Saratoga NAACP, New York Interfaith Power and Light and Saratoga Hospital Ethics Committee.
Rubenstein led Temple Sinai’s Slice of Heaven project, a nonprofit bakery operated from the synagogue’s kitchen, which continues to produce baked goods to help those less fortunate.
Motzkin is among one of only 13 female scribes in the world and initiated the Community Torah Project, a long-term process of making a Torah scroll, which has involved more than 4,000 participants in the United States and internationally. The two combined their work in a project known as Bread and Torah in 2004, and continue to share their passions with interactive educational programs around the world.
The couple have been educators and ambassadors of goodwill to 15 states and Washington, D.C., and to Jewish communities in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Hungary and Poland.
“The rabbis are worthy of being co-recipients of the Four Chaplains Remembrance and Brotherhood Award that imparts the principles of selfless service to humanity without regard to race, creed, ethnicity, or religious beliefs,” Goldenberg said.
Reservations for the ceremony may be made by contacting Goldenberg at rgoldenb@nycap.rr.com or 518-727-7314.