Monday, November 25, 2013

The Assassination of Rabbi Morris Adler- A National Leader

In February of 1966 nationally known Jewish leader, Rabbi Morris Adler was assassinated in his Detroit synagogue in front of a congregation of more than one thousand worshipers.

After WW2, Adler traveled to Occupied Japan where he established the Jewish Chapel Center in the city of Yokohama. Adler worked to assemble back the Jewish population in Japan searching for Jewish refugees. In Henry Mazel's book, RED CHRYSANTHEMUM- A Novel of Occupied Japan, Alex Rada, the protagonist, enlists Rabbi Morris Adler's help as he and his partner Jinno search for Rada's girlfriend Rachel.

1 comment:

John A. Phillips said...

Rabbi Adler was very close to my father during WW2, as a member of his staff during Japanese occupation. My father was the Corps chaplain for 11th Corps. The two of them carried the unanimous vote of the chaplains serving in Japan to General Macarthur,insisting that the "comfort women houses" be closed. He had invited my father to a reunion in Detroit, to take place a week or so after the assassination,I have some terrific pictures of the two of them together, horsing around in December of 1945 (I think their temperaments were very similar). My father never got over "Morrie's" death. My father died in 1995, at a military funeral in Buffalo NY attended by the third chaplain in their little brotherhood -- Harvey Smith, a Presbyterian. I'd love to provide information and artifacts to the right people. Any help?