Lev, Aryeh

Aryeh Lev

Aryeh Lev, born June 6, 1912 in Jerusalem, arrived in the U.S. in 1917 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Lev received his BS from Columbia University in 1934 and his Masters in Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1937, following which he held a post as rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania until 1939. In 1940, he briefly served as National Director of Young Judaea, until he was called up for active duty from the Army chaplain reserves. From November 1940 to November 1945, Lev served as assistant to the Chief of Chaplains for the Army in the War Department. In that position Lev specialized in planning, training and logistics; he also served as advisor on Jewish affairs and functioned as a liaison between the Office of the Chief of Chaplains and the National Jewish Welfare Board (NJWB). Following the war, Lev joined the NJWB's Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities, becoming Executive Director in 1946, a post he would hold until his death on May 2, 1975. Lev was in the Army Reserves in the rank of Colonel until his Army retirement in 1972, when he was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service with the Office of the Chief of Chaplains. He received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1954. Lev was active in the Boy Scouts of America for decades and was the Jewish Chaplain-General of numerous National Boy Scout jamborees in the 1950s and 1960s. Lev married Hazel Bernard on March 1, 1936, and they had two daughters, Barbara and Deborah, and one son, Martin.

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