First Chaplain Of German Army Since The Holocaust Did Not Know He Was Jewish Until He Was 9

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Until he was 9 years old, Rabbi Mordechai Eliezer Balla, who was recently appointed as the federal chaplain of the German army, did not even know that he was Jewish. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979 to a Jewish mother and gentile father who was a senior Hungarian officer, Balla spent his youth in military bases and did not even consider religion a part of his life.

When he was 9 years old he saw an invitation to a church and asked his mother if he could go there with her. His mother replied that “we need to talk.” It transpired that she and her parents were Holocaust survivors. The revelation was like “finding an old diary in the attic belonging to grandpa and grandma”, Balla says, explaining why he was fascinated by the discovery.

When Balla turned 12 and the Communist regime in Hungary fell, he began to study in a Jewish high school funded by Ronald Lauder, president of the WJC since 2007. Lauder invested significant sums in resurrecting Jewish life in Eastern Europe during this period.

Rabbi Balla met his wife, who is of Russian origin, in Berlin and they live in Leipzig with their three children. Rabbi Balla serves as the local rabbi after completing his rabbinical studies in Berlin and being one of the first rabbis ordained in Germany since 1938.

Chaplains “won’t solve the problems in one week”, Balla told CNN but added that “we need to work with a vision for the future, how we see German society and the army evolving in the next decade. We need to help Jews in the army live a full Jewish life, whether they are looking for kosher food or opportunities to pray.”

The last time that rabbis served as chaplains in the German army was during the First World War, when 100,000 Jews fought for Germany. German media reports say that the country has invested 5 million euro in the current army rabbinate, which will eventually include another ten rabbis who will serve the Jews currently serving in the German army.

Josef Schuster, the head of the central committee of German Jews, announced the appointment of Rabbi Balla as the first Federal chaplain of the army. Rabbi Balla, a member of the committee of German rabbis (ORD) will provide halachic advise and spiritual guidance and encouragement to the Jews serving in the army.