Joshua L. Goldberg

Then Lieutenant Joshua Goldberg visits wounded Pharmacist's Mate Edward Bykowski, whose legs were broken when the USS Vincennes was sunk in 1942 during the Battle of Savo Island. Photo: February 10, 1943.

Joshua Louis Goldberg (January 6, 1896 – December 24, 1994) was a Belarusian-born American rabbi, the first to be commissioned as a U.S. Navy chaplain in World War II (and only the third to serve in the Navy in its history), the first to reach the rank of Navy Captain (the equivalent of Army Colonel), and the first to retire after a full active-duty career.

He had a highly unusual military background for a U.S. Navy chaplain, having been drafted into the Russian army when he was a teenager, then deserting to make his way to the United States where he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in an infantry unit in Europe during World War I before beginning rabbinical school studies in New York City after the war.

On January 16, 2025, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that a future Navy ship would be named the USNS Joshua L. Goldberg (T-AO 215), the first ship to be named after a Jewish chaplain.

Life and works

Early life Goldberg was born on January 6, 1896, in Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire), the son of a lumber merchant in Babruysk, and educated in Odessa, Ukraine and Tel Aviv (then part of Palestine).

He was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army when he was 18, serving as a private until deserting his unit to flee Russia after the collapse of the Russian western front.

He arrived in Seattle and traveled to New York, where he returned to the military, enlisting to serve with artillery units in the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

Goldberg recounted that when the army recruiter who enlisted him discovered that he spoke almost no English, he should "keep his mouth shut."

After the war, he returned to America to teach Hebrew, He was active in many other organizations and held numerous leadership positions during his career, including: Chaplain of the Department of Hospitals of New York City; Board of Trustees, Queens Public Library; Executive Council, Queens Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Vice President, Queens College Association; Board of Trustees, Jewish Institute of Religion; Board of Governors, Queens Committee for Jewish Social Service; National Secretary, American Jewish Congress; Executive member, Committee of Jewish Delegation in Paris, France; Vice-President, Queens Welfare Committee; and Vice-President, Queens Family Welfare Society. Along with Supreme Court Justice Charles S. Colden, Goldberg "was instrumental in the establishment of Queens College." When the small community expressed its desire for a permanent rabbi, Goldberg's involvement became a factor in the hiring of Rabbi David A. Jessurun Cordozo in 1953. "Being a Jew under the Czars was only a disability—not a calamity. Within these restrictions, the Jews developed a rich intellectual, cultural, and most importantly, religious life". Now, however, he continues,

United States Navy Upon his commissioning as a U.S. Navy officer on January 8, 1942, Goldberg became the first rabbi accepted as a Navy chaplain in World War II and eventually was promoted to the rank of Navy captain.

After the conclusion of World War II, Goldberg continued to work with chaplains of other faiths, including participation in two NATO conferences on "building ecumenism among the military clergy."

In 1949, Goldberg was assigned as chaplain to the Third Naval District—the first Jewish chaplain to serve as chaplain for a Navy district—responsible for the coordination of all Navy chaplains in New York, Connecticut, and a portion of New Jersey.

Looking back at his Naval career, Goldberg reflected that: If any man served his country beyond the call of duty, if any man served in a position all the hours of every day, knowing no time off and no private life, that man is Chaplain Joshua Goldberg, who once was called the Religious Diplomat of our time. And this can be said of him that every admiral who ever served over Chaplain Goldberg, that every man who was his Boss, is turning out to honor him on his retirement. It is a rare quality that wins for a sky-pilot the friendship and respect of hard-boiled Navy Admirals. "Josh" deserves the love he has gained.

Following his January 1, 1960 retirement from the Navy, Goldberg continued to support military personnel in many ways, including his decision to pay his own expenses in order to travel to Naples for a number of years in a row to lead services for the Jewish High Holy Days for overseas Jewish military personnel.

Goldberg retired to West Palm Beach, where he wrote the weekly column "Wisdom of the heart," in the Palm Beach Post.

That same year, Goldberg received the Gold Medal of Merit from the Jewish War Veterans of the United States. General Omar Bradley made the award presentation, with remarks by former Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas and Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis Spellman.

On February 10, 1995, the Captain Joshua L. Goldberg Memorial Chapel was dedicated in his honor at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington, D.C.