Julie Schwartz was awaiting her orders for her historic Navy assignment as the first woman rabbi to serve on active duty as a chaplain in the United States military.
The Cincinnati native knew she would be the first woman rabbi in Department of Defense history, but she thought “everything will be fine” back in 1986, Schwartz says on PBS’ After Action, a seven-part series hosted by retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Stacy Pearsall about life before, during, and after active military service. The episode airs 10 p.m. Friday, May 10, in Cincinnati on WPTO-TV (Channel 14).
“I’m laying at home (in Cincinnati), taking a nap on the couch,” waiting for the Jewish Welfare Board to endorse her commission as a chaplain so she could get a Naval assignment, Schwartz explains in the episode called “God and Country.”
After getting their commissions, chaplains must be approved by a group of religious from their faith. It turned out the Jewish Welfare Board, consisting of reform, conservative and orthodox rabbis, could not agree on her approval.
“There was a big problem with it,” says Schwartz, director of the Clinical Pastoral Education Center and rabbi at Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati-Mercy Health.
Ordained in 1986 in Cincinnati at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she worked most of her career at HUC-JIR, including serving as associate dean, teaching human relations and creating the school’s Clinical Pastoral Education program until the school closed in 2022.
“They didn’t want to endorse me as a woman rabbi. The Orthodox had never done that . . . My medical exam got lost a couple of times. I had to go back and do it again. I went through that and waited, waited, waited, and they kept telling me to ‘Just be cool, Julie, it’s all going to work out.’ I was ordained, I was ready and waiting for orders. It was OK to have me in chaplain school . . . They were sure I would hate it and go away, but I loved it and wanted to come back.”
The stalemate over her situation prompted the Jewish Welfare Board to be revamped as the Jewish Chaplain’s Council, which endorsed her appointment. Schwartz served four years (1985-89) as a U.S. Navy lieutenant and hospital chaplain at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, Calif.
Pearsall notes that chaplains have been part of the U.S. military since 1775 supporting the spiritual needs of the troops and provided counseling on military issues, family troubles, and religious matters. For “God and Country,” she interviews Schwartz and two other chaplains at her South Carolina ranch: Rev. Addison Burgess, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church Itinerant Elder, and Imam Khallid Shabazz, the first Muslim brigade chaplain in Army history.
They talked about their unique role counseling and advocating for soldiers.
“We don’t really fit in anywhere. We’re officers, but we’re not the line officers. We’re non-combatant. We can’t carry a weapon. And we’re supposed to be there on behalf of the human beings we’re serving. And on behalf of the God that gives us faith. That doesn’t fit into the chain of command exactly,” Schwartz says.
The Walnut Hills High School graduate earned sailors’ trust at the Oakland hospital by doing her pastoral calls on Sunday afternoons, when guys were watching NFL games.
“I’d sit with them and watch football with them. After I sat there for a while watching football, one of the men would say, ‘Chaplain, can I talk to you?’ Because I joined them first,” she says. “The faith piece that we share is the notion that we’re created in the image of God. There’s something holy that we can share together. And that changes everything.
“It’s also about being a role model. Not what my particular faith is about, but what does faith do for me. How does it sustain me? If I can model that for others, they can find the way for what they can be.”
Two years ago, when the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion board voted to close the Cincinnati rabbinical school, she created a clinical pastoral education program at Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health in Kenwood.
Later in May on After Action, Pearsall interviews three veterans who served after a family member had been killed in action. Featured in the “Gold Star Service” episode is Dayton native and resident Joe Guy LaPointe III, son of Medal of Honor recipient Joseph Guy LaPointe Jr., an Army medic killed in 1969 in the Vietnam War. An auditorium at the Dayton VA Medical Center is named in his honor.
“God and Country” airs in Cincinnati on WPTO-TV (Channel 14) at 10 p.m. Friday, May 10; in Dayton on WPTD-TV (Channel 16) at 11 p.m. Wednesday, May 15; and on Cincinnati’s WCET-TV (Channel 48) at 10 p.m. Friday June 21.
“Gold Star Service” airs in Cincinnati on WPTO-TV (Channel 14) at 10 p.m. Friday, May 24; in Dayton on WPTD-TV (Channel 16) at 11 p.m. Wednesday, May 29; and on Cincinnati’s WCET-TV (Channel 48) at 10 p.m. Friday July 5 at 10 p.m.
