{"id":7390,"date":"2013-05-30T11:33:10","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T17:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=7390"},"modified":"2013-05-31T04:22:26","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T10:22:26","slug":"jwv-post-hosts-memorial-day-minyan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/jwv-post-hosts-memorial-day-minyan\/","title":{"rendered":"JWV Post hosts Memorial Day minyan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Members of the Jules Lazard Post #580 of the Jewish War Veterans (JWV) gathered at Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation Sunday morning to take part in a minyan prayer service that was followed by a program and breakfast in the social hall.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7418\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7418\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7418 lazyload\" title=\"JWV's Forest McNeir\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7418\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7418 \" title=\"JWV's Forest McNeir\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261684-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7418\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acting vice-commander Forest McNeir speaks about the importance of the Machal to the formation of the State of Israel. (Photo by Jessica McNeir)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The breakfast program featured Captain Forest McNeir (U.S. Navy, ret.), acting vice-commander of the post. McNeir talked about the <em>Machal<\/em>, the foreign volunteers primarily composed of World War II veterans from the United States and Canada who helped to create the Israel Air Force at the start of the war for independence. This largely unreported chapter of Jewish American service was credited by Israel Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin as crucial to the survival of the fledgling Jewish State in the early days of the war and through 1949.<\/p>\n<p>McNeir distributed photos of a book &#8220;I Am My Brother&#8217;s Keeper: American Volunteers in Israel&#8217;s War for Independence&#8221; by Jeffery Weiss, which tells the story of the Machal in detail. He also showed a promotional video for &#8220;Above and Beyond,&#8221; one of three upcoming documentary films to be released in the coming year featuring interviews with Jewish American fighter pilots who were members of the Machal.<\/p>\n<p>The film is produced by Nancy Speilberg, the youngest sister of famous producer and director Stephen Spielberg. The younger Spielberg spent a year of her life living and working on a kibbutz in Israel some years back before moving back to the United States. She grew interested in promoting this largely unknown series of stories about American and Canadian veterans who, at great peril to themselves, illegally flew planes and fitted fighter planes to defend the tiny Jewish province that claimed its independence in May of 1948. Speilberg was even successful in soliciting a modest donation from her famous older brother towards the slated $1.3 million budget allocated for the film. &#8220;Above and Beyond&#8221; is expected to be released in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>McNeir detailed how the ragtag group of mostly American fighter pilots were able to secure a dozen twin-engine aircraft and three Lockheed Constellations passenger airplanes that were available at the end of World War II as military surplus. Because such actions were at the behest of the then-undeclared and unrecognized State of Israel, the federal agencies of the Treasury Department, the FBI and the Secret Service attempted to stop the pilots as they flew their planes out of the United States to Mexico on to Panama and eventually over to Brazil. From there the planes were flown to Africa and then to Palestine, while others piloted German Messerschmitt aircraft left behind in Czechoslovakia by the Nazis.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7419\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7419\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7419 lazyload\" title=\"JWV post members\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-1024x622.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/182;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7419\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7419 \" title=\"JWV post members\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/P5261698-1024x622.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7419\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">JWV Jules Lazard Post #580 members pose at the conclusion of the Memorial Day minyan breakfast on Sunday. (Photo by Jessica McNeir)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to McNeir, the Communist regime in place in 1947 sold several Messerschmitt ME-109 aircraft to the Jews in Palestine who were preparing to declare their independence. The original Dammler-Benz engines were lost in a fire, he explained, \u00a0so the Czechs replaced them with Junkers Jumo engines that were far less manueverable and less powerful than the original engines. Also, the gun sync that allowed the gunners to shoot rounds through the propellers had to be reset &#8220;or else they would shoot off their propellers,&#8221; McNeir stated.<\/p>\n<p>While the small air force inflicted some damage to the five million assembled Arab forces, the ability to rally the outnumbered and outgunned freedom fighters was far greater, he indicated. When the American airmen took to the skies to defend Israel at the outbreak of the war, the Egyptian army was located only 12 miles outside of Tel Aviv. &#8220;The psychological effect was huge because it stopped the Egyptians in their tracks,&#8221; McNeir boasted.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of the program post commander Judge Sol Gothard had a few welcoming remarks and then introduced McNeir. Before he spoke, McNeir called upon CCJN editor Alan Smason to talk briefly on Spielberg&#8217;s film as well as two others also being readied on the same subject of the Machal. Smason acknowledged he had learned of the three films and the importance of the fliers when he read a JTA article written by Tom Tugend that was later posted to the CCJN. That article that can be found <a title=\"Israeli Air Force beginnings\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/in-telling-story-of-fledgling-israeli-air-force-three-filmmakers-going-their-own-wa\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, a traditional egalitarian Shacharit morning service took place in the Chevra Thillim Chapel and drew nearly 40 participants. Gothard, who has been recovering from a neck injury, said he was very pleased with the attendance, noting that when he took over the post in 2009, it had only 17 members, all of whom were veterans. According to Gothard, it has now grown to over 170 members and 50 non-veteran &#8220;patrons.&#8221; The post received two awards from the National JWV in 2010, acknowledging it as the fastest growing post in the nation between 2009 and 2010 and Gothard as the post commander with the largest increase in membership.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"JWV%20Post%20hosts%20Memorial%20Day%20minyan\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2877,8790,8795,183,182,2845,2503,8788,281],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7390"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7424,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions\/7424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}