title: Bandai Namco Filmworks

text: Sunrise has been involved in many popular and acclaimed anime television series, including "Mobile Suit Gundam" (and its spin-offs and sequels since 1979), the "Magic God Hero Legend Wataru" series (1988–1997), the Brave (1990–1997) and "Eldran" series (1991–1993), both of which were co-produced with Takara Tomy, and the "Crest of the Stars" series (1999–2001). They produced the apocalyptic "Space Runaway Ideon" in 1980.


title: Bandai Namco Filmworks

text: The company have co-produced a number of series with Toei Company, including "Majokko Tickle" (from episode 16), the "Robot Romance Trilogy" ("Chōdenji Robo Combattler V" (1976), "Chōdenji Machine Voltes V" (1977), "Tōshō Daimos" (1978)), "Daltanious", and "Cyborg 009" (a 1979 co-production with Toei Animation). Sunrise is well known for their mecha anime series (including "Gundam"), such as "Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3" (1978), "Fang of the Sun Dougram" (1981), the "Armored Trooper Votoms" and "Aura Battler Dunbine" series (1983), "Blue Comet SPT Layzner" (1985), "" (1989), "The Vision of Escaflowne" (1996), "The Big O" (1999/2003), "Overman King Gainer" (2002), "Zegapain" (2007), "Code Geass" (2006/2008), "Tiger & Bunny" (2011), and "Valvrave the Liberator" (2013), and worked with Tsuburaya Productions to animate "The Ultraman" (1979).


title: Bandai Namco Filmworks

text: On April 1, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings adopted a new logo that had been initially revealed in October 2021, and with it, a major organization shuffle occurred, resulting in Sunrise subsuming the visual arts division of Bandai Namco Arts, which was dissolved that same day. Following this, the company has adopted the same logo as its parent, and adopted the name of Bandai Namco Filmworks. Its music division, Sunrise Music, has similarly subsumed Bandai Namco Arts' music operations, including Lantis, and changed its name to Bandai Namco Music Live. The Sunrise name has been kept as one of the major brands of the company.


title: Bandai Namco Filmworks

text: Most anime produced by Sunrise and Bandai and licensed by Bandai Visual in Japan was licensed and distributed in the United States by Bandai Entertainment and in Europe by Beez Entertainment, but both companies shut down in 2012 after Bandai Entertainment's restructuring. In North America, distributors such as Funimation, Viz Media, Sentai Filmworks, NIS America and Aniplex of America, as well as Sunrise USA, have licensed Sunrise properties. In Europe, Anime Limited and Manga Entertainment (in the UK) and Kazé (in France) have begun to distribute titles distributed by Beez and other unreleased Sunrise productions. In Australia, Sunrise productions are licensed and distributed by Madman Entertainment. At Anime Boston 2013, Sunrise confirmed that they would begin licensing anime in North America and were negotiating with Sentai, Funimation, and Viz to distribute their titles on DVD and Blu-ray. Right Stuf agreed to distribute and re-release "Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn" on DVD in North America. In 2014 the deal expanded, releasing the Gundam previously licensed by Bandai Entertainment ("Mobile Suit Gundam", "Turn A Gundam") and several works not released in North America (including "Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ") in 2015.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: In car design, ground effect is a series of effects which have been exploited in automotive aerodynamics to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic focus on streamlining. The international Formula One series and American racing IndyCars employ ground effects in their engineering and designs. Similarly, they are also employed in other racing series to some extent; however, across Europe, many series employ regulations (or complete bans) to limit its effectiveness on safety grounds.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: In racing cars, a designer's aim is for increased downforce and grip to achieve higher cornering speeds. A substantial amount of downforce is available by understanding the ground to be part of the aerodynamic system in question, hence the name "ground effect". Starting in the mid-1960s, 'wings' were routinely used in the design of race cars to increase downforce (which is not a type of ground effect). Designers shifted their efforts at understanding air flow around the perimeter, body skirts, and undersides of the vehicle to increase downforce with less drag than compared to using a wing.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: This kind of ground effect is easily illustrated by taking a tarpaulin out on a windy day and holding it close to the ground: it can be observed that when close enough to the ground the tarp will be drawn towards the ground. This is due to Bernoulli's principle; as the tarp gets closer to the ground, the cross sectional area available for the air passing between it and the ground shrinks. This causes the air to accelerate and as a result pressure under the tarp drops while the pressure on top is unaffected, and together this results in a net downward force. The same principles apply to cars.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: The Bernoulli principle is not the only aspect of mechanics in generating ground effect downforce. A large part of ground effect performance comes from taking advantage of viscosity. In the tarp example above neither the tarp nor the ground is moving. The boundary layer between the two surfaces works to slow down the air between them which lessens the Bernoulli effect. When a car moves over the ground, the boundary layer on the ground becomes helpful. In the reference frame of the car, the ground is moving backwards at some speed. As the ground moves, it pulls on the air above it and causes it to move faster. This enhances the Bernoulli effect and increases downforce. It is an example of Couette flow.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: While such downforce-producing aerodynamic techniques are often referred to with the catch-all term "ground effect", they are not strictly speaking a result of the same aerodynamic phenomenon as the ground effect which is apparent in aircraft at very low altitudes.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: American Jim Hall developed and built his Chaparral cars around the principles of ground effects, pioneering them. His 1961 car attempted to use the shaped underside method but there were too many other aerodynamic problems with the car for it to work properly. His 1966 cars used a dramatic high wing for their downforce. His Chaparral 2J "sucker car" of 1970 was revolutionary. It had two fans at the rear of the car driven by a dedicated two-stroke engine; it also had "skirts", which left only a minimal gap between car and ground, to seal the cavity from the atmosphere. Although it did not win a race, some competition had lobbied for its ban, which came into place at the end of that year. Movable aerodynamic devices were banned from most branches of the sport.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: Formula One was the next setting for ground effect in racing cars. Several Formula One designs came close to the ground effect solution which would eventually be implemented by Lotus. In 1968 and 1969, Tony Rudd and Peter Wright at British Racing Motors (BRM) experimented on track and in the wind tunnel with long aerodynamic section side panniers to clean up the turbulent airflow between the front and rear wheels. Both left the team shortly after and the idea was not taken further. Robin Herd at March Engineering, on a suggestion from Wright, used a similar concept on the 1970 March Formula One car. In both cars the sidepods were too far away from the ground for significant ground effect to be generated, and the idea of sealing the space under the wing section to the ground had not yet been developed.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: At about the same time, Shawn Buckley began his work in 1969 at the University of California, Berkeley on undercar aerodynamics sponsored by Colin Chapman, founder of Formula One Lotus. Buckley had previously designed the first high wing used in an IndyCar, Jerry Eisert's "Bat Car" of the 1966 Indianapolis 500. By proper shaping of the car's underside, the air speed there could be increased, lowering the pressure and pulling the car down onto the track. His test vehicles had a Venturi-like channel beneath the cars sealed by flexible side skirts that separated the channel from above-car aerodynamics. He investigated how flow separation on the undersurface channel could be influenced by boundary layer suction and divergence parameters of the underbody surface. Later, as a mechanical engineering professor at MIT, Buckley worked with Lotus developing the Lotus 78.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: On a different tack, Brabham designer Gordon Murray used air dams at the front of his Brabham BT44s in 1974 to exclude air from flowing under the vehicle. Upon discovering that these tended to wear away with the pitching movement of the car, he placed them further back and discovered that a small area of negative pressure was formed under the car, generating a useful amount of downforce - around . McLaren produced similar underbody details for their McLaren M23 design.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: In 1977 Rudd and Wright, now at Lotus, developed the Lotus 78 'wing car', based on a concept from Lotus owner and designer Colin Chapman. Its sidepods, bulky constructions between front and rear wheels, were shaped as inverted aerofoils and sealed with flexible "skirts" to the ground. The design of the radiators, embedded into the sidepods, was partly based on that of the de Havilland Mosquito aircraft. The team won five races that year, and two in 1978 while they developed the much improved Lotus 79. The most notable contender in 1978 was the Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B Fancar, designed by Gordon Murray. Its fan, spinning on a horizontal, longitudinal axis at the back of the car, took its power from the main gearbox. The car avoided the sporting ban by claims that the fan's main purpose was for engine cooling, as less than 50% of the airflow was used to create a depression under the car. It raced just once, with Niki Lauda winning at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix. The car's advantage was proven after the track became oily. While other cars had to slow, Lauda was able to accelerate over the oil due to the tremendous downforce which rose with engine speed. The car was also observed to squat when the engine was revved at a standstill. Brabham's owner, Bernie Ecclestone, who had recently become president of the Formula One Constructors Association, reached an agreement with other teams to withdraw the car after three races. However the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), governing body of Formula One and many other motorsport series, decided to ban 'fan cars' with almost immediate effect. The Lotus 79, on the other hand, went on to win six races and the world championship for Mario Andretti and gave teammate Ronnie Peterson a posthumous second place, demonstrating just how much of an advantage the cars had. In the following years other teams copied and improved on the Lotus until cornering speeds became dangerously high, resulting in several severe accidents in 1982; flat undersides became mandatory for 1983. Part of the danger of relying on ground effects to corner at high speeds is the possibility of the sudden removal of this force; if the underside of the car contacts the ground, the flow is constricted too much, resulting in almost total loss of any ground effects. If this occurs in a corner where the driver is relying on this force to stay on the track, its sudden removal can cause the car to abruptly lose most of its traction and skid off the track.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: After a forty-year ban, ground effect returned to Formula 1 in 2022 under the latest set of regulation changes.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: The effect was used in its most effective form in IndyCar designs. IndyCars did not use ground effect as substantially as Formula One. For example, they lacked the use of skirts to seal off the underbody of the car. IndyCars also rode higher than ground effect F1 cars and relied on wings for significant downforce as well, creating an effective balance between over the car downforce and ground effect.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: "Porpoising" is a term that was commonly used to describe a particular fault encountered in ground effect racing cars.


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: Racing cars had only been using their bodywork to generate downforce for just over a decade when Colin Chapman's Lotus 78 and 79 cars demonstrated that ground effect was the future in Formula One, so, at this point, under-car aerodynamics were still very poorly understood. To compound this problem the teams that were very keen to pursue ground effects tended to be the more poorly funded British "garagiste" teams, who had little money to spare for wind tunnel testing, and tended simply to mimic the front-running Lotuses (including the Kauhsen and Merzario teams).


title: Ground effect (cars)

text: This led to a generation of cars that were designed as much by hunch as by any great knowledge of the finer details, making them extremely pitch-sensitive. As the centre of pressure on the sidepod aerofoils moved about depending on the car's speed, attitude, and ground clearance, these forces interacted with the car's suspension systems, and the cars began to resonate, particularly at slow speeds, rocking back and forth - sometimes quite violently. Some drivers were known to complain of sea-sickness. This rocking motion, like a porpoise diving into and out of the sea as it swims at speed, gives the phenomenon its name. These characteristics, combined with a rock-hard suspension, resulted in the cars giving an extremely unpleasant ride. Ground effects were largely banned from Formula One in the early 1980s until 2022, but Group C sportscars and other racing cars continued to suffer from porpoising until better knowledge of ground effects allowed designers to minimise the problem. At the first pre season test in Barcelona ahead of the 2022 Formula One World Championship, George Russell said extreme porpoising could lead to safety issues and later stated he was suffering from chest pain due to extreme porpoising during the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. At the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton struggled to get out of the car after the race.


title: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals

text: Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals is a list of the top musicals in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute at the Hollywood Bowl on September 3, 2006. Unlike most of the previous lists, it only includes 25 winners and was not presented in a televised program.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey International (originally SoftKey Software Products, Inc.) was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey played a major role in the dissolution of the edutainment industry by the turn of the millennium. Contributing factors include its reduction of the market price by releasing shovelware discs of freeware and shareware, hostile takeovers of major edutainment software companies, reduction of these acquisitions to a skeleton staff, and questionable financial practices to maintain its stock price.


title: SoftKey

text: In 1999, the company was acquired by Mattel in what "Businessweek" called one of "the Worst Deals of All Time". It was subsequently folded into Mattel Interactive.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey published and distributed CD-ROM-based personal computer software for Windows and Macintosh computers during the late 1980s and 1990s. Its lineup consisted of software intended for home audiences, specifically shovelware discs containing various freeware or shareware game software. The company enjoyed great success by offering "jewel-case only" products, dubbed its "Platinum" line.


title: SoftKey

text: As a home and small office software publisher, SoftKey bought the rights to application packages from their authors and distributed them under its own "Key" label. By late 1992, SoftKey was distributing 35 different products in this manner. SoftKey began to develop its own software by 1994, and had branched out to include edutainment games and CD-ROMs in its line of products.


title: SoftKey

text: In 1986, SoftKey released specialized graphics package KeyChart for the IBM PC and compatibles, designed to make time-consuming plotting easier. In 1993, it was selling KeyMap, a DOS-only software that offered maps, route planning, and a database tool for annotating maps. Around this time, Computer Associates acquired Easy Tax (DOS) from SoftKey and sold it as Simply Tax.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey's acquisition of The Learning Company added the Reader Rabbit and Math Rabbit educational video games to its collection. Its acquisition of MECC added The Oregon Trail, Word Munchers, Number Munchers and Storybook Weaver. With the acquisition of Broderbund, it obtained multiple award-winning brands including Carmen Sandiego, The Print Shop, Living Books, Family Tree Maker, Arthur, and KidPix.


title: SoftKey

text: According to founder Kevin O'Leary, SoftKey's business model was to market its retail products "no different from cat food or any other consumer good." It was one of few companies to rent space in stores to better manage distribution. O'Leary stated, "When we approach a retailer, we can offer them a wide range of titles that diversifies their risk. So if they give us five or 10 square feet of store space, we’ll guarantee X dollars of sell-through." He also said, "It<nowiki>'s not about technology anymore. It's about marketing, merchandising, brand management, and shelf space. In the cat food business, that's all that matters. And in the software business, that's all that matters."</nowiki>


title: SoftKey

text: The company pioneered revolving racks with software packaged in standard CD jewel cases, allowing them to display three times as much product. It took products out of niche software businesses and into general stores with more traffic such as Office Depot, Radio Shack, Willson Stationers and SmithBooks. It used eye-catching graphics on the boxes and made all of its packaging uniform. O'Leary believed that "What's inside the box is important, but it's not as important as how it's marketed." He stated that "It is truly a packaged goods philosophy that's taken over this industry. It's about facings and shelf space and advertising dollars and driving sales through the door and profit per square foot in gross margin."


title: SoftKey

text: In October 1995, SoftKey had 10 centers in cities in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States. It sold its products through more than 18,000 outlets, including grocery stores, hardware stores, and airport gift shops, and had distributors in 47 countries.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey's pricing strategy was to prioritize the number of copies sold over the price per unit. As such, SoftKey listed its titles for lower prices, generally between $40 and $100, with minimum profit. "The Christian Science Monitor" stated that the move could "transform the industry," leading to lower software prices but more variety in the types of stores that sell software.


title: SoftKey

text: The corporate mission of SoftKey International, Inc. was "to be the leading electronic publisher of value-priced consumer software-worldwide." One analyst dubbed its products "coasterware", since they were so cheap that "if you don't like the actual software you can use the CD-ROMs as drink coasters".


title: SoftKey

text: O'Leary wanted to "produce products to service that 40 percent of the market that hasn't bought educational software because of pricing issues." He stated, "In the last two years, we've moved from an industry that sells primarily to businesses to an industry that's going through a violent change to become a commodity.<nowiki>"</nowiki>


title: SoftKey

text: The company became known for aggressively driving down the development costs of products and laying off employees of the companies it acquired. Casey Dworkin, publisher of Retail Price Week, said that SoftKey appeals to companies that want to "sell software by the pound, appealing to impulse purchases by customers who are intrigued but don't want to drop $40 for a piece of software." They compared SoftKey's practices to a laundry-detergent maker marketing a premium-brand version, a lower-end brand, and a generic version of the same product.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey built a business by acquiring struggling software companies, repackaging and repricing its products. "SoftKey believes that much consumer software is overpriced and therefore cannot reach a broad market. It's a philosophy that clashes with the artistic sensibilities of many in the multimedia software business—but is nonetheless likely to become increasingly influential in the volatile software world."


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey Software Products was the fastest growing company in Canada in 1992, with sales of $36.8 million and profit of $6.1 million. Its most profitable products were its tax-software and processing service. By April 1995, SoftKey's stock was valued at $25.50, about 20 times the year's earnings. A public offering of 2.3 million common shares was priced at $28.875.


title: SoftKey

text: SoftKey products were sold in more than 19,000 stores in over 40 countries In June of that year, Montgomery Securities raised more than $60 million for the company. In October, SoftKey raised another $350 million in an unrated private offering. On November 28, 1995, SoftKey rose from 3.2 million to 4.7 million shares, the largest increase in open positions among Nasdaq issues.


title: SoftKey

text: In August 1998, the stock exchange halted trading in The Learning Company, as the company issued a statement to clear up questions about its accounting practices. Shares of The Learning Company (NYSE: TLC) fell 1 15/16 to 26 3/8 and Mattel (NYSE: MAT) plunged 20 percent to 23 11/16. The company continued to grow, with revenue of $800 million despite an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion by the end of 1998.


title: SoftKey

text: In 1986, Canadian businessman and investor Kevin O'Leary along with John Freeman started SoftKey Software Products, Inc. in O'Leary's basement with a loan of $10,000 from his mother. He convinced other companies to bundle SoftKey's products with their own, later licensing software from other firms, which proved more cost-effective than internal development.


title: SoftKey

text: In 1993, SoftKey International was created out of a three-way merger between SoftKey Software Products, WordStar International, and Spinnaker Software. Shareholders of Softkey Software represented about 53 percent of the new company's shares. After the merger, the company moved to Spinnaker's offices in Cambridge, Mass.


title: SoftKey

text: In October 1995, SoftKey initiated a bidding war against Broderbund for Learning Company, launching a hostile offer valued at $606 million. SoftKey also announced it had agreed to buy the Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation (MECC) for $370 million, throwing wrench into Broderbund's offer. O'Leary commented, "They're working on the economics of yesterday", stating that "Learning's premium-priced products were out of step with trends in the market."


title: SoftKey

text: After the acquisition of The Learning Company, SoftKey changed its name to "The Learning Company". A substantial percentage of the staff were let go, reducing it to a skeleton staff. MECC' senior vice president of product development Susan Schilling stated: "[O'Leary] had an interest in earning money. I'm not sure he had a desire to help children learn."


title: SoftKey

text: On September 14, 1994, SoftKey acquired privately held Software Marketing Corp., Phoenix, for about 600,000 shares of SoftKey common stock and the assumption of $1.6 million in long-term debt.


title: SoftKey

text: On November 30, 1995, the original Learning Company announced that it had sued the Tribune Company for violating securities laws as a "strategic partner" of SoftKey International. The next day, SoftKey agreed to acquire Compton's New Media Inc. from Tribune for stock valued at $106.5 million.


title: SoftKey

text: In March 1998, Softkey, now called The Learning Company, acquired Mindscape Inc. from Pearson PLC for $150 million in cash and stock. Broderbund's Red Orb Entertainment was moved to Mindscape.


title: SoftKey

text: In June 1998, Learning Co. agreed to buy rival Broderbund Software Inc., maker of the blockbuster game Myst, in a stock deal valued at about $416 million.


title: SoftKey

text: According to Information technology consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton, two of SoftKey International's acquisition deals rank among the ten worst U.S. acquisitions during 1994–1996 as measured by shareholder value two years after the deal.


title: SoftKey

text: In the fall of 1998, Mattel agreed to acquire The Learning Company in a stock-for-stock merger valuing the company at approximately $4.2 billion. The merger was finalized and unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors on December 14. A few weeks after the sale, the Center for Financial Research and Analysis forensic accounting firm published a report critical of Mattel. O'Leary, who had been hired as president of Mattel's new TLC digital division, sold his stock for $6 million a few months before $2 billion in shareholder value was lost in one day.


title: SoftKey

text: Despite owning software titles through their Mattel Media division, Mattel lost $82.4 million in the year of 1998 because of several problems with the acquisition, including a loss of a key distribution deal and a high return of unsold products from retailers. The total financial losses to Mattel have been estimated to be as high as $3.6 billion.


title: SoftKey

text: On May 7, 1999, shareholders of both companies voted to approve the merger. The merger was completed on May 13, 1999. Jill E. Barad, Mattel's chairman and chief executive officer stated "This merger gives Mattel a $1 billion software division with an unparalleled portfolio of branded content and profit margins exceeding that of our traditional business," The company was placed under Mattel's new Mattel Interactive division.


title: SoftKey

text: The sale proved to be fraught. The Telegraph deemed it "one of the worst takeovers in recent history". Toy analyst Margaret Whitfield of Tucker Anthony Cleary Gull called it "a disaster for Mattel". Bloomberg, Businessweek, and CNBC all described it as one of the worst mergers of all time.


title: SoftKey

text: In the fourth quarter of 1999, Mattel reported a loss of $184 million, reportedly due to poor sales and inventory problems. Michael Perik and Kevin O'Leary, founders and heads of the Learning Co, left the company. Reports from the Center for Financial Research and Analysis later highlighted the "lack of proper due diligence by Mattel during the Learning Co. acquisition."


title: SoftKey

text: In January 2000, Mattel brought on software executive and former Sega of America president Bernie Stolar to assist with their financial troubles. On February 3, 2000 Chairman and CEO Jill E. Barad resigned from Mattel. The 1999 Annual Report began, "The bad news for 1999 unfortunately has overshadowed the good news. We are all painfully aware of the negative effect the acquisition of The Learning Company and its subsequent performance had on our results for 1999"


title: SoftKey

text: The acquisition saw the end of the mid-1990s edutainment boom. Former Learning Company educational design department manager, Toby Levenson, said that edutainment had become "a toxic word". Blake Montgomery of EdSurge wrote, "For many years, people making educational products didn't want them to be entertaining because that could be called "edutainment" and that would hurt your funding.”


title: SoftKey

text: On April 3, 2000, Mattel announced its plan to dissolve its assets related to the software business. Gores Technology Group acquired The Learning Company to create their entertainment, productivity and education divisions, which became GAME Studios, The Learning Company, and Broderbund respectively.


title: SoftKey

text: GAME Studios was sold to Ubisoft in 2001. Gores subsequently sold most of the other holdings – including the edutainment series and the brand name The Learning Company – to Irish company Riverdeep Interactive Learning, which later became Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Harcourt released several book sets under The Learning Company brand umbrella, including "Oregon Trail Adventures," "The Little Box of Love," and "The Little Box of Laughs".


title: Niddah

text: Niddah (or nidah; ), in traditional Judaism, describes a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood (most commonly during menstruation), or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a "mikveh" (ritual bath).


title: Niddah

text: In the Book of Leviticus, the Torah prohibits sexual intercourse with a "niddah". The prohibition has been maintained in traditional Jewish law and by the Samaritans. It has largely been rejected by adherents of Reform Judaism and other liberal branches.


title: Niddah

text: In rabbinic Judaism, additional stringencies and prohibitions have accumulated over time, increasing the scope of various aspects of niddah, including: duration (12-day minimum for Ashkenazim, and 11 days for Sephardim); expanding to prohibition against sex to include: sleeping in adjoining beds, any physical contact, and even passing objects to spouse; and requiring a detailed ritual purification process.


title: Niddah

text: Since the late 19th century, with the influence of German Modern Orthodoxy, the laws concerning "niddah" are also referred to as "Taharat haMishpacha" (, Hebrew for "family purity"), an apologetic euphemism coined to de-emphasize the "impurity" of the woman (a concept criticized by the Reform movement) and to exhort the masses by warning that niddah can have consequences on the purity of offspring.


title: Niddah

text: "Niddah" has the general meaning of “expulsion” and “elimination”, coming from the root ndd, "to make distant" (the Aramaic Bible translations use the root rhq, "to be distant"), reflecting the physical separation of women during their menstrual periods, who were “discharged” and “excluded” from society by being banished to and quarantined in separate quarters. Later in the biblical corpus, this meaning was extended to include concepts of sin and impurity, which may be related to ancient attitudes towards menstruation.


title: Niddah

text: Literally, the feminine noun "niddah" means "moved" (i.e. "separated"), and generally refers to separation due to ritual impurity. Medieval Biblical commentator Abraham ibn Ezra writes that the word "niddah" is related to the term "menadechem" (), meaning "those that cast you out".


title: Niddah

text: The noun "niddah" occurs 25 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The majority of these uses refer to forms of uncleanliness in Leviticus. For example, in Leviticus, if a man take his brother's wife, then that is "uncleanness", "niddah." The five uses in Numbers all concern the red heifer ceremony () and use the phrase "mei niddah", "waters of separation". includes a single exhortation of Hezekiah to the Levites, to carry forth the "niddah" (translated: "filthiness"), possibly idols of his father Ahaz, out of the temple in Jerusalem. Usage in Ezekiel follows that of Leviticus. Finally, the Book of Zechariah concludes with an eschatological reference to washing Jerusalem: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin ("ḥaṭ’at") and for uncleanness ("niddah")" ().


title: Niddah

text: The copious laws of "niddah" contained in the Jewish rabbinic writings are almost entirely made-up of "fences" (), or safeguards, built around the Torah. The general rule which applies is that a woman is clean from the standpoint of the Torah until she feels uterine blood discharge from its source within her body. However, the rabbis have declared a woman to be unclean although she has not felt any discharge of blood, but has merely seen either a red or black blood stain on her body, or on her white garment or sheet, and which blood stain is larger in diameter than a fava bean (about 20 mm), in which case she must separate herself from her husband until she can complete seven clean days and can be purified in a ritual bath (mikveh). A blood stain that is a dark brown color leaning towards the color of coffee and the color of chestnuts defiles a woman and renders her "niddah", on the condition that she feels its discharge. However, if she saw the same color while checking herself with an inspection cloth, but had not felt any discharge of blood, she is clean. Conversely, a vaginal discharge that is white in color, or either light yellow, green or blueish in color, do not render the woman "niddah". There are, yet, many other conditions that need to be met, by rabbinic ordinances, in order to render uncleanness to a blood stain.


title: Niddah

text: The daughters of Israel have behaved stringently with themselves, insofar that even if they should see a drop of blood as a mustard grain, they would wait over it seven days of cleanness


title: Niddah

text: Although the Written Law () explicitly enjoins women to count seven days of cleanness (see "infra") when they have seen irregular blood sightings (the irregularity occurring only from the eighth day of the start of her regular period and ending with the conclusion of the eighteenth day), the Sages of Israel have required all women who have experienced even their regular and natural purgation to count seven days of cleanness before they can be purified.


title: Niddah

text: The Leviticus description of "niddah" is essentially composed of two parts: the ritual purity ("tumah and taharah") aspect "and" the prohibition of sexual intercourse aspect.


title: Niddah

text: The Biblical regulations of Leviticus specify that a menstruating woman must "separate" for seven days (). Any object she sits on or lies upon during this period is becomes a "carrier of tumah" ("midras uncleanness"). One who comes into contact with her "midras," or her, during this period becomes ritually impure () In addition, a man who has sexual relations with her is rendered ritually impure for seven days—as opposed to one day of impurity for coming into contact with her or her "midras" ().


title: Niddah

text: While the purity laws still exist in theory, in modern times there is generally no practical consequence to becoming impure (as, e.g., the Temple in Jerusalem cannot be visited), so the laws have no practical expression.


title: Niddah

text: Some later rabbinic authorities encouraged (but did not require) avoiding the "midras" of the "niddah", as a remembrance for diasporic Jews so as to not forget the purity laws. This encouragement was only for the biblically prescribed seven-day period, not for the latter days that were added as part of certain rabbinical stringencies. The Lubavitcher rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson discouraged abstaining from the "midras" of a "niddah" in modern times.


title: Niddah

text: Leviticus further prohibits sexual intercourse with a woman who is in her "niddah" state. "And to a woman in her (state of) "niddah" impurity you should not come close (with intent to) reveal her nudity" ().


title: Niddah

text: The Torah concludes by imposing the punishment of "kareth" on both individuals (man and woman) if the prohibition is violated () This "issur" (prohibition) component of physical relations with the "niddah" is considered in full effect and mandatory for all children of Israel.


title: Niddah

text: According to rabbinical law, a woman becomes a "niddah" when she is aware that blood has come from her womb, whether it is due to menstruation, childbirth, sexually transmitted disease, or other reasons. If menstruation began before she sees evidence of it, the rabbinic regulations regard her as not being "niddah" until she notices. Until this point, the regulations do not come into force.


title: Niddah

text: It is not necessary for the woman to witness the flow of blood itself; it is sufficient for her to notice a stain that has indications of having originated in her womb; bloodstains alone are inadequate without such evidence, for example, if she finds a stain just after cutting her finger, she does not become a "niddah", as the blood is not obviously uterine. If she notices a bloodstain of uncertain origin, for example on her underclothing, there are a series of complicated criteria used by rabbinical law to determine whether she is "niddah" or not; the woman herself is not expected to know these criteria, and must seek the assistance of a rabbi.


title: Niddah

text: According to the Torah, the "niddah" period is 7 days; however, in Ashkenazi communities, the Rabbis added a stringency increasing the minimum duration period to 12 days. (See section "Seven days of cleanness" for differences in custom).


title: Niddah

text: The Biblical definition of "niddah" is any blood emission occurring within seven days from the beginning of the menstrual period. After this seven-day period, the woman may immerse in the mikveh immediately (if she has stopped menstruating). Any blood found after these seven days is considered abnormal ("zavah") blood and is subject to more stringent requirements, depending on the duration of said abnormal blood flow.


title: Niddah

text: In the days of the Amoraim, because of possible confusion in determining when menstruation began and ended and hence whether blood was normal menstrual ("niddah") or abnormal ("zavah") blood, it became the accepted practice and practical halacha, that all women treat any emission as a continued abnormal flow ("zavah gedolah"—זבה גדולה), which requires counting seven abnormal-discharge-free days from the end of menstruation. This lengthening of the "niddah" period is known as Rabbi Zeira's stringency. All Orthodox and some Conservative authorities rule that these "seven clean days" must be observed.


title: Niddah

text: In the Orthodox Jewish community, women may test whether menstruation has ceased; this ritual is known as the "hefsek taharah". The woman takes a bath or shower near sunset, wraps a special cloth around her finger, and swipes the vaginal circumference. If the cloth shows only discharges that are white, yellow, or clear, then menstruation is considered to have ceased. If discharge is red or pink, it indicates that menstruation continues. If it is any other color, like brown, it is subject to further inquiry, often involving consultation with a rabbi. The ritual requires that the cloth used to perform this test is first checked carefully to ensure that it is clean of any marks, colored threads, or specks; the cloth itself can be any clean white cloth, although there are small cloths designed for this ritual, known as "bedikah cloths" (meaning "checking").


title: Niddah

text: In the Orthodox Jewish community, further rituals are practiced toward assurance regarding the cessation of the menstrual flow. After the "hefsek taharah", some women insert a cloth (or, in modern times, a tampon), consequently known as a "moch dachuk", for between 18 minutes and an hour, to ensure that there is absolutely no blood; this must be done carefully, as it could otherwise irritate the mucous membrane, causing bleeding unrelated to menstruation. If there is any fear of irritation causing bleeding, a rabbi may waive this practice. The "bedikah" is repeated each morning and evening of the seven days after the end of menstruation. Another tradition is the wearing of white underwear and use of white bedding during this period; conversely, the rest of the time, when not counting the "seven clean days", some women who suffer from spotting deliberately use coloured underwear and colored toilet paper, since it is only when blood is seen on white material that it has any legal status in Jewish law. When not during their seven "clean" days, all women are advised to wear colored undergarments, for this reason. It is furthermore strongly recommended that women make an effort to refrain from looking at the toilet paper after wiping to avoid possible resultant questions.


title: Niddah

text: As with most forbidden relationships in Judaism, all physical contact in an affectionate or lustful manner is rabbinically forbidden when a woman is in her "niddah" status. Such contact is forbidden whether or not the man and woman are husband and wife.


title: Niddah

text: In the case of husband and wife, however, the sages added on extra restrictions, including touch that is not in an affectionate or lustful manner, passing of objects even without touching, and sleeping in the same bed; these restrictions are to avoid the risk of leading to sexual contact. These laws are termed "harchakot", meaning "the laws of separation," and imply the prohibitive rules regulating the passing of objects from hand to hand, as well as to taking distinctive measures used to remind them of their separation, such as placing some object at the dinner table which is not ordinarily placed there. The laws of separation ("harchakot") are derived from a biblical command: "You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness so long as she is separated for her [menstrual] uncleanness" (). Some have suggested that by physically distancing oneself from his spouse there is an enhanced need for relationships to develop in non-physical ways, such as emotional and spiritual connections.


title: Niddah

text: Some Conservative poseks are considerably more lenient in reference to the "harchakot" than Medieval or contemporary Orthodox authorities. In a responsum written in the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, Miriam Berkowitz ruled that the ""harchakot" are to be observed as much as possible, but left up to the discretion of each couple". In another responsum for the committee, Susan Grossman stated that touching that would be appropriate between siblings is permissible.


title: Niddah

text: When blood from a menstruant ("niddah") has ceased altogether, shortly before sunset she performs on herself a "cessation of uncleanness", known by its Hebrew euphemism "hefseq be-ṭaharah" ( = lit. "cessation of purification"), during which time she checks herself to verify that all uterine bleeding has indeed stopped. This is done by bathing, and, afterwards, inserting a clean piece of white cotton or linen cloth within her vagina and examining it after swiping the area inside, followed by leaving in that place a snugly fitting cotton wad for the duration of about 20 minutes (preferably during the evening twilight). When there are no signs of blood, the woman begins counting seven days of cleanness on the following day, during which seven days she is still prohibited to have any physical contact with her husband. During each of the seven days, the woman checks herself once in the morning and once in the evening, by using a soft and white, absorbent cotton cloth.


title: Niddah

text: In Sephardic Jewish tradition, a woman who has had no physical contact with her husband within the 72 hr. period (3 days) prior to the start of her menstruation, she is permitted to immediately conduct the "hefseq be-ṭaharah" (see "supra") after all uterine bleeding has stopped, and, on the following day, she begins to count seven days of cleanness, which culminate in an immersion. Differences in custom, however, exist between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardic Jewish communities as to when to begin the counting of seven days of cleanness if she cohabited with her husband within those 72 hours (three days) prior to her seeing blood.


title: Niddah

text: For the Sephardic Jewish community, waiting four days before beginning to count seven days of cleanness only refers to when there were conjugal affairs between a man and his wife, leading up to her menstrual period. If, however, there was no sexual intercourse between the couple in the days leading up to her menstrual cycle, and, subsequently, there was no fear of her body discharging of her husband's copulative seed that had been mixed with her menstrual blood, there is no need for her to wait four days, but she may presently begin her "hefseq be-ṭaharah" (see "supra"), followed by counting seven days of cleanness. Another factor used to determine when to begin the counting of seven clean days (among Sephardic Jews) is that, had the woman merely found on her an unclean blood stain (where there was no sensation of any active blood flow), after concluding that all such sightings have stopped, she can begin to count seven days of cleanness after two days have passed since the last time she cohabited with her husband. However, among Ashkenazim, even if a woman merely saw an unclean blood stain, when the blood has ceased to appear, she waits 5 days before beginning to count her seven days of cleanness.


title: Niddah

text: Maimonides mentions a former custom where the menstruants of some Jewish communities would wait a standard 7 days before beginning to count seven days of cleanness, even if the woman had seen blood for only one or two days. This custom, though widely practised in the 20th century among the Jews of Yemen, Djerba, parts of Morocco, as also with a few families in Baghdad, was later rejected and abandoned by many, as Maimonides calls it an errant practice.


title: Niddah

text: Because the night that the woman ritually traditionally immerses is about 12 days after menstruation began, it often coincides with a woman's ovulation, and thus improves the chances of successful conception if sexual relations occur on that night. However, for certain women, this period extends far past the date of ovulation, and in combination with the ban on sexual relations during the "niddah" state, effectively results in the woman being unable to conceive, a situation sometimes called "halachic infertility". In the case of this effective infertility, rabbis try on a case-by-case basis to relax halakhic strictures in order to facilitate conception. There have been some calls within Orthodox Judaism for the custom to be modified so that the time between the end of menstruation and the end of "niddah" is shorter for these women. Another suggestion is to take hormone tablets to lengthen the ovulation cycle.


title: Niddah

text: The "bedikah" cloth or "checking cloth", called an "eid" ["witness"] in Hebrew, is a clean piece of white cloth used in the process of purifying a "niddah". It is used by observant Jewish women to determine whether they have finished menstruation. The cloth is inserted into the vagina, and if no blood is found, the woman may start counting the seven blood-free days. On each of these days, she performs this examination in the morning and in the later afternoon before sunset. If no blood is found, she may go to the "mikveh" on the eighth evening after nightfall, and then engage in intercourse with her husband. Such cloths are about two by four inches, and are available at local Judaica stores, the local mikveh, stores in Orthodox neighborhoods in Israel, or may be cut from clean all-white soft cotton or linen fabric.


title: Niddah

text: This practice is also occasionally used by Jewish men to check if he has gotten blood on himself from his wife after intercourse to determine whether she menstruated during intercourse.


title: Niddah

text: After a woman has counted seven days of cleanness (see "supra"), she is then required to immerse in a ritual bath ("mikveh") that has been constructed in accordance with the Jewish laws of ritual purity. After concluding her seven days of cleanness, she is not allowed to immerse during the daytime, even on the eighth or ninth days, because of a rule introduced on account of her daughter's immersion () and which was enacted for the sake of conformity, so that the daughter will not see her mother immerse during the daytime and wrongly presume that it was her mother's seventh day of counting, and think that it was alright to immerse on the seventh day before nightfall, without realizing that her mother had already concluded her seven clean days. This enactment, therefore, was to prevent an occasion for miscalculation and stumbling. Even if a woman has no daughter, this rule of immersing only in the night still applies, as the Sages did not make any distinction, but have prohibited all women from immersing themselves during daylight hours of the eighth day, or of any day. Under extenuating circumstances, however, the rabbis have also permitted to immerse in the day, after fully completing seven days of cleanness.


title: Niddah

text: There are differing customs about how many immersions are performed at each visit to a "mikveh". It is the custom of many in the Orthodox community to immerse at least twice. Accordingly, they would immerse, recite the blessing, then immerse again. The other opinion states that like other commandments, here too the blessing should be recited before performing the commandment.


title: Niddah

text: Immediate preparation for a "mikveh" includes a bath or shower wherein every part of the body (including the ears and underneath the nails) is thoroughly washed; plus other routine hygiene practices which include trimming fingernails and toenails, brushing and flossing the teeth, and combing the hair. Prior to every immersion, the woman is required to inspect herself to make sure that there is nothing clinging to her skin and hair that would obstruct the water from making contact with it during her actual immersion, or what is known as "ḥaṣīṣah" = "interposing objects" (e.g. clay, dough, paint, gum resin, etc.). At the "mikveh" itself, a female attendant is present to make certain that the woman immerses herself fully, including her hairs. Though that is the attendant's foremost duty, she may also help by checking a woman's back or answer questions regarding proper ritual protocol.


title: Niddah

text: The classical regulations also forbid sexual relations on the day that a woman expects to start menstruating. Generally speaking, there are three days that fall under this regulation, known as the "veset", namely the same day of the month, (according to the Hebrew calendar), as her previous menstruation began; the day exactly 30 days after the previous menstruation started; and the day that is of equal distance from the day of her previous menstruation as the menstruation before the last. For instance: If the interval between her last two periods was 28 days - the couple must refrain from sexual relations on the 28th day. According to most Orthodox authorities, this is measured from the beginning of the former period to the beginning of the latter. Yet some authorities, espeically in Chabbad circles, rule that this is measured from the end of the preceding menstruation to the beginning of the following one.


title: Niddah

text: If the woman is not actually menstruating during a "veset" day, then there are certain circumstances wherein sexual activity is permitted according to most authorities, for example, if a woman's husband is about to travel, and will return only after menstruation has begun.


title: Niddah

text: According to all Orthodox authorities, the first time a virgin has intercourse, she also becomes "niddah" as a result of her "dam betulim" (Hebrew: "hymenal blood flow"). This is observed even if no blood was discovered. However, a bride counts only four days before performing a "hefsek taharah" (Hebrew: lit. pause of purity), instead of the usual five. The "hefsek taharah" simply entails a woman checking herself to make sure that all uterine bleeding has stopped, by inserting a piece of inspection cloth within her vagina and having it come out clean, in order to begin on the following day her seven days of cleanness. Some Conservative authorities rule that a woman is not a "niddah" in such a case unless uterine bleeding is observed.


title: Niddah

text: Out of "tzniut" (Hebrew for "modesty"), many Orthodox Jews and some Conservative Jews follow a custom of keeping their times of "niddah" secret from the general public.


title: Niddah

text: Conservative Judaism authorities teach that the laws of family purity are normative and still in force, including the requirement to refrain from sexual relations during "niddah", yet there is a difference of opinions over how much other strictures need to be observed, such as whether there should be complete prohibition on any touching during "niddah" and whether women are required to count seven "clean" days before immersing in the "mikveh".


title: Niddah

text: In December 2006, the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards passed three responsa discussing the extent of Biblical requirements and continuing applicability of rabbinic prohibitions concerning niddah for Conservative Jews. Each responsum advocated different standards of observance; three responsa were passed as majority opinions - one by Susan Grossman and one by Avram Reisner, the third responsum, by Miriam Berkowitz.


title: Niddah

text: The majority of orthodox rabbis contend that the seven days of cleanness still apply to all menstruant women today, even though it is only a rabbinic injunction. According to two lesser opinions representing the movement of Conservative Judaism, one by Grossman and the other by Reisner, whose views are not shared by orthodox Jewish circles, the "seven clean days" need not be observed today and women may immerse and resume sexual relations after seven days from the beginning of menstruation, or after its cessation, if it lasts longer than seven days. Grossman and Berkowitz ruled that women may rely on their own discretion about when menstruation has ended, and need not routinely engage in "bedikah" as described above.


title: Niddah

text: Despite the official stance, the practices related to family purity have often not been widely followed by Conservative Jews. However, in an issue of the "United Synagogue Review" that focused on issues of "mikvah" and "niddah" (published in conjunction with the passing of the responsa mentioned above, in Fall/Winter 2006), Rabbi Myron S. Geller, a member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, wrote about an upswing in the observance of the laws of family purity within the Conservative Jewish community:


title: Niddah

text: Conservative Judaism has largely ignored this practice in the past, but recently has begun to reevaluate its silence in this area and to consider the spiritual implications of mikvah immersion for human sexuality and for women.


title: Niddah

text: Reform Judaism and other liberal denominations have largely rejected many of the rituals and prohibitions associated with menstruation, particularly the use of a "mikveh".


title: Military chaplain

text: A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.


title: Military chaplain

text: Although the term "chaplain" originally had Christian roots, it is generally used today in military organizations to describe all professionals specially trained to serve any spiritual need, regardless of religious affiliation. In addition to offering pastoral care to individuals, and supporting their religious rights and needs, military chaplains may also advise the executive on issues of religion, and ethics, morale and morals as affected by religion. They may also liaise with local religious leaders in an effort to understand the role of religion as a factor both in hostility and war and in reconciliation and peace.


title: Military chaplain

text: Military chaplains normally represent a specific religion or faith group but work with military personnel of all faiths and none. Some countries, like Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium,


title: Military chaplain

text: also employ humanist or non-faith-based chaplains who offer a non-religious approach to chaplain support. From 1918 to 1942, political commissars in the Soviet Red Army monitored and shaped the beliefs, loyalties and enthusiasms of Soviet soldiers and officers in a context of official state atheism.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Defence employs chaplains, but their authority comes from their sending church. At the present time there are no non-religious chaplains. Royal Navy chaplains undertake a 16-week bespoke induction and training course, including a short course at Britannia Royal Naval College, and specialist fleet time at sea alongside a more experienced chaplain. Naval chaplains called to service with the Royal Marines undertake a commando course at Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Lympstone and if successful serve with a front-line Royal Marines unit. British Army chaplains undertake seven-weeks training at The Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre Amport House and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Royal Air Force chaplains must complete 12 weeks Specialist Entrant course at the RAF College Cranwell followed by a Chaplains' Induction Course at Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre Amport House of a further 2 weeks. Amport House was sold by the MOD in 2020.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the United States, the term, "nomination", is not generally applied to the process of becoming a military chaplain. Individuals volunteer, and if they are accepted, they are "commissioned" as military staff officers in the Chaplain Corps. Members of the clergy who meet the qualifications for service as an officer in the military are free to apply for service with any of the three United States Chaplain Corps: the Army, Navy, and Air Force each has a Chaplain Corps, with Navy chaplains also assigned to serve with Marine Corps units, Coast Guard units, and the Merchant Marine Academy. Some clergy, like rabbis, can apply without permission from any individual or organization within their faith group; others, in faith groups that have a hierarchy established to make decisions on the postings or positions of their members, must be granted permission from the appropriate official, such as the appropriate Bishop. As the application process proceeds, and the military determines whether the applicant will meet standards in areas such as health, physical fitness, age, education, citizenship, past criminal history, and "suitability" for service, which includes supporting the "free exercise of religion" for men and women of all faiths, an "endorsement" from an "endorsing agency" that is recognized by the Department of Defense, representing one or more faith groups in the United States, will be required, in part to ensure that the separation of church and state is honored. Neither the government as a whole nor the military in particular will be put into the position of determining whether an individual is a "bona fide" priest, minister, rabbi, imam, etc. (The requirement for such an endorsement has been in force since 1901, and today many of the various religious endorsing agencies work together under such non-governmental voluntary umbrella groups as the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces.) Although ordination is usually required for chaplain service, some "equivalent" status is accepted for individuals from religious groups which do not have ordination, such as the Church of Christ. Additionally, in cases where an endorsing agency is not yet established for an individual's religion, it is possible for him or her to be endorsed by the endorsing agency of another group, a process which was followed for the first Muslim chaplains in the military. In any event, this endorsement is recognized as "necessary, but not sufficient" for acceptance as a chaplain: in other words, the military will not accept an individual for service as a chaplain, nor allow him or her to continue to serve, without such an endorsement remaining in force; however, the decision as to whether to accept that individual remains with the military service, and the individual can be rejected for a number of reasons, including the needs of the military, even with the endorsement of an endorsing agency.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Geneva Conventions are silent on whether chaplains may bear arms. However, the Conventions do state (Protocol I, 8 June 1977, Art 43.2) that chaplains are non-combatants: they do not have the right to participate directly in hostilities.


title: Military chaplain

text: It is generally assumed that during World War II, chaplains were unarmed. Crosby describes an incident where a US chaplain became a trained tank gunner and was removed from the military for this "entirely illegal, not to mention imprudent" action. At least some British chaplains serving in the Far East, however, were armed: George MacDonald Fraser recalls "the tall figure of the battalion chaplain, swinging along good style with his .38 on his hip" immediately behind the lead platoon during a battalion attack. Fraser asks, "if the padre shot [an enemy], what would the harvest be ... apart from three ringing cheers from the whole battalion?"


title: Military chaplain

text: The Reverend Leslie Hardman, the British Second Army's senior Jewish chaplain, who became well known for his work amongst the liberated prisoners after the capture of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, was another who insisted on being armed while on active service.


title: Military chaplain

text: In recent years, both the UK and US have required chaplains, but not medical personnel, to be unarmed in combat, although the US does not prohibit chaplains from earning marksmanship awards or participating in marksmanship competitions. Other nations, notably Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and also Australia, make it an issue of individual conscience. There are anecdotal accounts that even US and UK chaplains have at least occasionally unofficially borne weapons: Chaplain (then Captain) James D. Johnson, of the 9th Infantry Division, Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam describes ("Combat Chaplain: A Thirty-Year Vietnam Battle") carrying the M-16 rifle while embedded with a combat patrol. Since 1909 US chaplains on operations have been accompanied by an armed chaplain assistant. However, perhaps on this occasion it was felt that an unarmed uniformed man would draw unwelcome attention.


title: Military chaplain

text: Captured chaplains are not considered prisoners of war and must be returned to their home nation unless retained to minister to prisoners of war.


title: Military chaplain

text: Inevitably, serving chaplains have died in action. The US Army and Marines lost 100 chaplains killed in action during World War II: the third highest casualty rate behind the infantry and the Army Air Forces. Many have been decorated for bravery in action (five have been awarded Britain's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross, and nine have received the Medal of Honor). The Chaplain's Medal for Heroism is a special US military decoration given to military chaplains who have been killed in the line of duty, although it has to date only been awarded to the famous Four Chaplains, all of whom died in the sinking in 1943 after giving up their lifejackets to others.


title: Military chaplain

text: In 2006, training materials obtained by US intelligence showed that insurgent snipers fighting in Iraq were urged to single out and attack engineers, medics, and chaplains on the theory that those casualties would demoralize entire enemy units. Among the training materials, there included an insurgent sniper training manual that was posted on the Internet. Among its tips for shooting US troops, there read: "Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested as a means of psychological warfare."


title: Military chaplain

text: Military chaplains are often supervised by a chaplain general or chief of chaplains, on the staff of the leader of the nation's military forces. In some countries, like Israel, Canada, and South Africa, one chief of chaplains/chaplain general serves in that position for all chaplains of all religions, in all branches of the military. In many other countries, such as France, there is a separate chaplain general/chief of chaplains for each faith group represented by chaplains. In other countries, like the United States and United Kingdom, there is one chaplain general/chief of chaplains for each branch of the military. So, for example, in the United States, there is an Army, Navy, and Air Force chief of chaplains. They meet on as representatives to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, to discuss issues that cross service lines, but each reports as a staff officer of his or her service, to the Chief of Staff of the Army or Air Force, or the Chief of Naval Operations of the Navy. (In the United States, Navy chaplains serve Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel. Navy chaplains also assigned to the Merchant Marine Academy, for Merchant Marine personnel.)


title: Military chaplain

text: The International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference grew out of a conference NATO chiefs of chaplains organized by the United States European Command (USEUCOM) in 1990. It welcomes any chief of chaplains (or "chaplain general", an equivalent term used by many nations).


title: Military chaplain

text: Catholic chaplains are generally organized into military ordinariates, such as the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Potential Roman Catholic chaplains must seek permission from their diocesan bishop or religious superior to serve as a military chaplain. While serving as a chaplain, the priest or deacon remains incardinated in his home diocese, but is temporarily under the direction of the prelate of the ordinariate for the duration of his service.


title: Military chaplain

text: Each of the various Protestant Christian denominations may set its own requirements for certification as a minister.


title: Military chaplain

text: Besides the Military Rabbinate of Israel, today, military rabbis serve throughout several countries of the world, most notably in the US military forces, and various European armies.


title: Military chaplain

text: Since the rise of the Christian religion in Europe and worldwide, as a matter of course Christians fought against Christians over and over again. During World War I, for the first time a substantial number of Jews served on all sides of the war, and so did military rabbis. As a result of 18th and 19th centuries` emancipation, "military field rabbis" served on all fronts and in all combating nations.


title: Military chaplain

text: Badges and insignia vary widely across nations and services; though generally include some form of symbol specific to the individual chaplain's religion.


title: Military chaplain

text: In addition to badges and insignias for individual chaplains, certain nations, including the United States, fly a Church or Worship Pennant during the time a chaplain leads a religious worship service, especially on ships at sea. On United States Navy ships it is the only pennant that flies above the United States flag.


title: Military chaplain

text: Due the requirement to "witness" and make independent decisions without a generals/divisions head potencial to deny, the rank of a chaplain is minimally Warrant Sergeant 1st class.


title: Military chaplain

text: Roman Catholic military chaplains served in the Argentine armed forces since the early nineteenth century, and wore officers´ uniforms and ranks.


title: Military chaplain

text: However, the use of these was discontinued in the 1970s in the Army and the Air Force, and in the 2000s in the Navy, due to allegations of some chaplains supposedly abusing their military position and thus discouraging their subordinates to approach them when in need. Nevertheless, chaplains continue to wear combat uniform (but no rank insignia) when accompanying the troops in field operations or exercises, and are still considered as a part of the officers corps.


title: Military chaplain

text: No specific provisions exist for the spiritual support to non-Catholics, mostly due to their -still- low numbers, but it remains an open issue.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Armenian Army has a sponsored chaplaincy program which is jointly funded by the Ministry of Defence of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Church. More than 50 clergymen serve as chaplains in the Armed Forces of Armenia. They often organize religious programs and offer opportunities for prayer, especially before each military exercise conducted by the armed forces. The clergy program was created in 1997 on the initiative of Karekin I and the directive of Minister of Defense Vazgen Sargsyan. A combined clergy company will usually take part in the quinquennial Independence Day Parade on Republic Square. All military chaplains are commissioned army officers.


title: Military chaplain

text: Chaplains in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have almost the same status as chaplains in the British armed services. Chaplains in the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) are commissioned officers and wear the uniform of officers of their particular branch of the services as well as the rank to which they are qualified. Chaplains in the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force begin their commission as a Captain (Army) or Flight Lieutenant (RAAF) respectively. There are five levels or "divisions" for the seniority of chaplains in the Australian Army and Air Force with each division corresponding to a worn rank. The highest "division" is Division 5 who are "principal chaplains," of which there are three per service representing the three major Christian denominations: Catholic, Anglican and Protestant. The principal chaplains of the Army wear the rank of brigadier and in the RAAF, air commodore. Australian Army chaplains, whatever their rank, are mostly referred to as "Padre" by officers and soldiers alike. The title is also widely used in the RAAF for their chaplains.


title: Military chaplain

text: Like chaplains in the Australian Army and RAAF, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) chaplains are commissioned officers and wear the uniform of an RAN officer, but like chaplains in the British Royal Navy (RN) they do not wear a rank. Rather they wear the same cross and anchor emblem worn by RN chaplains on their shoulder rank slides and do not have gold braided rings or executive loops on their winter sleeve coat or summer shoulder boards. Like other chaplains in the ADF, Navy chaplains have five divisions of seniority. Whilst Australian Navy chaplains do not wear rank, they are accorded a certain rank for protocol and ceremonial occasions and for saluting purposes. Division 1, 2 and 3 Australian Navy chaplains are accorded the rank and status as commander (lieutenant colonel equivalent in the Australian Army). Division 4 Australian Navy chaplains are accorded the rank and status of captain (equiv. of Colonel). Division 5 Australian Navy chaplains are "principal chaplains," and these three chaplains, representing the three major Christian denominations: Catholic, Anglican and Protestant, are accorded the rank and status of commodore. The title "Padre" for chaplains is less common and not officially encouraged in the Royal Australian Navy, although it is known to be used by some sailors and Navy chaplains in preference to the more formal title of "chaplain" or form of address towards an officer such as "sir." Like British Royal Navy chaplains, Royal Australian Navy chaplains wear a slightly different peaked cap to other Navy officers which apparently was designed by Winston Churchill.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the Australian Defence Force (ADF), the heads of military chaplaincy for those Christian denominations and of the Jewish faith that have an official association with the ADF, are also members of the ADF's "Religious Advisory Committee" (RAC). With respect to the Catholic and Anglican churches, their Bishops are members of RAC and they and the other members of RAC have the status of a two star General (US) or Major General (Australian Army), or Rear Admiral (RAN) or Air Vice-Marshal (RAAF).


title: Military chaplain

text: The Anglican and Roman Catholic strands of Australian Defence Force Chaplaincy have websites that explain their church's mission within the Australian Defence Force. While the Protestant strand does not have a website, one of their chaplains has a representative blog site.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Brazilian constitution in its article, 5-VII, guarantees religious assistance in civil or military institutions of collective detention, such as prison, hospital or any other institution. The Brazilian government hires a chaplain for every two thousand soldiers of a religion.


title: Military chaplain

text: Brazilian law is not complied with, as there are only Catholic and Protestant chaplains, ignoring the Kardecist Spiritism religious group that has the minimum number required by law to have a chaplain. The inclusion of Afro-Brazilian religions was discussed in the judiciary, distinguished black militants asking for military chaplains in the Brazilian Armed Forces.


title: Military chaplain

text: Brazil has a gigantic religious variety with Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Kardecist Spiritism, afro-Brazilian religions, Brazilian animist religions, Brazilian Syncretic Religions, but in the Brazilian Armed Forces only Catholics and Protestants have chaplains. Brazil adopted professional military chaplains only in World War II, during which 25 Catholic priests and 2 Protestant reverends gave religious assistance to 45,000 Brazilian soldiers in the Italian campaign.


title: Military chaplain

text: During the Paraguayan War, a German reverend enlisted as a soldier to provide religious assistance to Protestant soldiers, at the time 90% of Brazilians were Catholic.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy has approximately 192 Regular Force chaplains and 145 Reserve Force chaplains representing the Protestant, Roman Catholic, Muslim and Jewish faiths. The mission of this Branch is to "support and enhance the effectiveness of the CF as a whole – its leadership, the individual men and women who serve and their families – through the provision of comprehensive religious and spiritual support, advice, and care." The vision of the Chaplaincy is to "be an operationally relevant Chaplaincy that supports and cares for all CF personnel and their families, wherever they live and serve, empowering them spiritually and morally to meet the demands of military service."


title: Military chaplain

text: When offering prayers during parades and ceremonies, it is customary that the order to remove headdress be given to those on parade. In November 2004, Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada ruled that this order was "not lawful" since it unjustifiably required all attendees to show participation in a prayer that may not believe. Following this ruling, non-believers are now permitted to retain their headdress just like Jews and Sikhs do in accordance with their faith.


title: Military chaplain

text: Known in Danish as "Feltpræsten ()", there are 95 Church of Denmark military chaplains serving in the Danish armed forces, ministering to all personnel regardless of their particular faith or lack of faith.


title: Military chaplain

text: Chaplains are uniformed, and the chaplaincy service has a system of internal grades separate from the usual ranking system, allowing each chaplain to be regarded as equal in rank to the person he is addressing.


title: Military chaplain

text: In most countries non-combatant personnel carry no weapons, but Danish chaplains are permitted to carry a sidearm for purposes of self-defence.


title: Military chaplain

text: During the Second World War or to Finland the Winter War, Continuation War, and Lapland War Finland was unique among German allied Axis powers in including Jewish soldiers in its military as well as having field chaplaincy services available for them.


title: Military chaplain

text: During the Middle Ages, the cloak of Saint Martin of Tours, ("cappa Sancti Martini"), one of the most sacred relics of the Frankish kings, would be carried everywhere the king went, even into battle, as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. The clergyman who served as custodian for the cloak in its reliquary was called a "capellānus", and, by extension, all clergymen who officiated in reliquaries, sanctuaries, or chapels were eventually called "cappellāni". This eventually gave "chapelain" in Old French and was borrowed into English.


title: Military chaplain

text: Saint Louis was the king who gave legal status to the military chaplains, since chaplains serving under their lord in the Crusades were the first to be militarized. In 1531, during the Battle of Kappel, the Swiss reformist Huldrych Zwingli became the very first Protestant military chaplain to be killed on the battlefield.


title: Military chaplain

text: The modern French "Aumônerie militaire" (military chaplaincy) was created and instituted by a 8 July 1880 Act of Parliament, which sets forth how the chaplaincy functions with regard to the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths. The Secularism Act (1905), which establishes a strict separation of church and state in the French government, does not however apply to the military. The defense minister appoints three command-level military chaplains—one per faith—in charge of all chaplains. The chaplains, serving in the army, are assigned by one of these three military chaplains. The first Muslim chaplain-general, Abdelkader Arbi, was commissioned in 2006.


title: Military chaplain

text: French military chaplains wear a uniform since World War II, but have no rank or rank insignia. The modern military chaplaincy is rooted in that war, where military chaplains were incorporated in almost every Free French Forces fighting unit and made up of personnel from England, France, or any of its imperial domains. After the war, military chaplains were sent to occupation zones in Germany and Austria.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the 1950s, military chaplains were sent in the French Union's territories, including Indochina and Algeria. In 1954, pastor Tissot was one of the last paratrooper volunteers to jump over the besieged Dien Bien Phu fortified camp in northern Vietnam. On 7 May, he was made prisoner of the Viet Minh and sent to a re-education camp, deep in the jungle.


title: Military chaplain

text: Since 1984, French military chaplains are involved in every military operation—including the Gulf War—from Rapid Reaction Force ("Force d'Action Rapide") units to navy ships.


title: Military chaplain

text: In France, the existence of military chaplains has come under debate because of the separation of church and state; however, their position has been maintained .


title: Military chaplain

text: Initially only Christian chaplains worked in German armies. Only after the French Revolution did Jews become citizens with equal rights in Germany for the first time. An integration of Jewish soldiers within the army gave the German Reich the opportunity to recognize the Jewish urge to fight for the German "Fatherland". The times of common Christian suppression and supremachy status changed and more and more German Jews served in the liberal French Armies of the German territories under French influence, e.g. in the Bavarian army.


title: Military chaplain

text: In Prussia, king Frederick the Great also showed religious tolerance, but in case of the Jews he exerted intolerance. The Jews were divided into six classes, and only the privileged first class had "de facto" equal rights as citizens. Very few Jewish soldiers in the Prussian army of the 18th century left historical traces, e.g. Konstantin Nathanel of Salomon, who was promoted to general in 1760. Although the Jewish presence in Germany is older than Christianity, the first "field rabbinat" was introduced during World War I. The German Kaiserreich appointed c. 30 military rabbis. Field rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck wrote the "Israelite Field Prayer Book".


title: Military chaplain

text: Germany had a tradition of appointing Catholic and Evangelical military chaplains and Jewish military field rabbis. This was continued in the Army and Navy of the Wehrmacht, for the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations only. A total of 95% of all Germans being Christian, German soldiers during Nazi times continued to belong to the churches and had the words "Gott mit uns" ("God with us") on the belt buckles of every Army and Navy enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. Despite this proportion of Christians, the totalitarian national socialistic government of the German Reich tried to weaken the authority and influence of the churches over their German adherents. Besides the international "Jewish question", the international character of the Catholic church was another challenge. A few Catholics who devoutly resisted the Nazis, suffered imprisonment and hardship. The case was solved by the Reichskonkordat (1933) between the Holy See and Nazi Germany. The government of the German Reich early established an pastoral ministry for the German Army and the Reichskonkordat settled the appointment of an Army bishop. Therefore, the military chaplains could more freely operate out of the Catholic hierarchy. Franz Justus Rarkowski, S.M., became ordained the Catholic military Field Bishop ("Feldbischof") of Nazi Germany in 1938 until 1945.


title: Military chaplain

text: German military chaplains who served the Wehrmacht were part of the German mainstream and lent the Nazi war effort legitimacy. The Christian military chaplains served between strange poles. While the Nazi ideology was at its core pagan (the elite SS units never allowed chaplains), 95% of Germans were baptized Christians. German soldiers during the Nazi era continued to belong to the churches and had the words "Gott mit uns" ("God with us") on their belt buckles. "Being a chaplain in the German army had always been a prestigious position and the Nazis wanted people who represented that old military tradition (..) and not sow discord or division. They wanted people who were not troublemakers." The German military chaplains mostly wanted to bring the word of the Christian God to men in the field and to deliver the sacraments, make their families proud and serve their country. “The motives of the chaplains were not unusual, (..) their noble, personal and professional motives turned them into a legitimating force in a war of annihilation.” Military chaplains in Nazi Germany were rigorously screened. First, names were put on the desks of the local civilian bishops, and then the names had to be approved by the according Ministry for Church Affairs. Eventually the names were cleared by the military's chaplaincy office and the Gestapo ("Secret State Police").


title: Military chaplain

text: Throughout the Third Reich period, only the Army and Navy had military chaplains. When needed, other branches of the armed forces acquired chaplains from the Army or Navy or from nearby parish. In the Heer (Army), military chaplains were organized into Group 3b (Pastoral Group) of the General Army Office under the Army High Command. In mid 1935, four groups of military chaplains were introduced. In 1936, similar groups were introduced for the Kriegsmarine although the evolution over time was different. The groups are as follow.


title: Military chaplain

text: German military chaplains did not get into the ordinary military rank system, but received privileges like any other regular officers. Army chaplains had four different types of clothing:


title: Military chaplain

text: No weapon was permitted to be carried by chaplains, but one photographic evidence shows a chaplain with a pistol holster on his left waist.


title: Military chaplain

text: All the buttons, national eagles, cockades, Gothic crosses, and cap chinstraps were silver for military chaplains and gold for Field Bishops.


title: Military chaplain

text: The collar patches had violet underlay and violet piping for Catholic chaplains, and field grey underlay and violet piping for Protestant (Evangelist) chaplains.


title: Military chaplain

text: For the Kriegsmarine, the uniform was identical to naval jacket of regular officers, but without sleeve laces and with chaplain collar patches. The collar patches were different to those of the Army. Two-prong officer's belt or brocade belt could be worn.


title: Military chaplain

text: Although the official regulation states that military chaplains had to wear golden pectoral cross, there were two standard-issue crosses that were worn:


title: Military chaplain

text: Photographic evidences show numerous variety of pectoral crosses worn by German military chaplains during World War II.


title: Military chaplain

text: Oftentimes, German military chaplains were issued an armband with a red cross sign and violet stripe to show their neutrality on the battlefield, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, which designated chaplains as neutral parties. This was called "Armbinde mit Neutralitätsabzeichen " (Armband with Neutrality Sign).


title: Military chaplain

text: Among other things, military chaplains also wore standard liturgical vestments such as chasuble, cope, and stole.


title: Military chaplain

text: German religious constitutional law and its state-church law is involved in the democratic national identity of modern Germany, especially in various articles of the German Constitution. Initially, a "military-chaplaincy" contract was only signed between the state and the Protestant Church, but was extended to all other religious communities for reasons of parity. Furthermore, the 1930s Reichskonkordat between the Holy See and Germany is still in force. In Germany, military chaplains of the Bundeswehr have no rank but have a special civilian status as part of the armed forces. Military rabbis or chaplain were banned during Hitler’s rule and were reintroduced to the German military on 29 May 2020, by the Germany Parliament into law since 1957. It is the first expansion of the law on the military pastoral care.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Military Rabbinate is a unit in the Israel Defense Forces that provides religious services for military personnel, Jewish and non-Jewish, and makes decisions on issues of religion and military affairs. The Military Rabbinate is headed by the Chief Military Rabbi, who carries the rank of a Brigadier General.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Military Rabbinate constitutes the body responsible for religious institutions in the military. In every unit or military base there are Military Rabbinate military personnel assigned responsibility for conducting or coordinating religious services, overseeing Kashrut laws of the kitchen, and the maintenance of the synagogue and religious supplies. Actively serving military personnel can request Military Rabbinate representatives to perform marriage ceremonies and Brit milah for baby boys. The unit also oversees the legal and religious certification of marriages and divorces of individuals during their military service.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Military Rabbinate is responsible for treating the bodies of soldiers in accordance with religious law, including the identifications and post-mortem treatment of bodies, and conducting military funerals. The Military Rabbinate also coordinates the burial of enemy soldiers and the exhuming of bodies in conjunction with prisoner exchanges.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Netherlands has chaplains of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and humanist faiths, provided by the De Diensten Geestelijke Verzorging (DGV) or the Spiritual Care Services. Chaplains are trained in Vormingscentrum Landgoed Beukbergen.


title: Military chaplain

text: The chaplain service in Norway is called the Feltprestkorpset, or the Field Priest Corps, and is a joint Norwegian Armed Forces service.


title: Military chaplain

text: Chaplaincy in the Polish Armed Forces is led by the Military Ordinariate of Poland. Even during the Communist period, unlike most East Bloc states, the Polish military retained a "General Dean's Office of the Polish Army" to serve as a chaplain unit in the officially atheist military.


title: Military chaplain

text: The position of chaplain in the army and navy of the Russian Empire was present until 1917. In 1914, there were about 730 priests and 150 deacons in the ranks of the Russian Imperial Army, and at the height of the war the number of chaplains in it was about 5,000 people.


title: Military chaplain

text: The first All-Russian Congress of Military and Naval clergy in the Russian Empire was held in St. Petersburg from 1 to 11 July 1914, it was attended by 49 chaplains representing all 12 military districts of the state. It defined the range of duties of the military clergy: in addition to the priestly tasks themselves, chaplains were instructed to assist in wound dressing, to help in the evacuation of killed and wounded soldiers, to notify the relatives and friends of the killed soldiers of the death of soldiers, to participate in the organization of societies to help the disabled, as well as to take care of the arrangement of travelling libraries and military graves.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the Russian Federation, Ukraine (and in most of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact) the institution of chaplaincy is being revived.


title: Military chaplain

text: Since 1968, however, all chaplains have been senior officers and accorded the protocol status of colonel / captain (navy). They carry the military rank of chaplain and the rank insignia, which is unique to the Chaplains Service, comprises a Chi Rho monogramme surrounded by a triangle. The monogramme represents the first two letters of Christ in Greek. It originates from the days of Constantine, the first Emperor of Rome to grant religious freedom to Christians. His own conversion to the Christian faith was initiated by a dream in which the Chi-Rho monogramme appeared to him. The triangle surrounding the monogramme is the symbolic representation of the Holy Trinity.


title: Military chaplain

text: During the vision of the monogramme, Constantine heard the Latin words "in hoc signo vinces". The English translation of these Latin words is: "In this sign, you will conquer". This is the motto of the Chaplains Service and forms part of the Corps Badge.


title: Military chaplain

text: In 1998, after working as chaplain general in exile for the ANC, the African National Congress, during the fight against apartheid, Fumanekile Gqiba was appointed as the first black chaplain general for SANDF, the South African National Defense Force. In 2004, Major General Gqiba left the military to accept his appointment as South African Ambassador to Israel.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the SANDF Chaplain Service, the Hindu faith is represented by a Regular Force chaplain. The rank is Cpln (Vipra) and the mode of address Vipra. The rank insignia is a deepa (lamp) with flame. This is the symbolic representation of enlightenment, the life objective of all Hindus.


title: Military chaplain

text: Muslims do not have Regular Force chaplains in the SANDF because they are small in number. They are however served by part-time workers through the Chaplains Service of the SANDF and are addressed according to their religious customs as imams.


title: Military chaplain

text: Christian chaplains are generally referred to and addressed as Padre. They may however, be addressed according to the practice of their religious bodies e.g., Father, Pastor, Umfundisi (Zulu and Xhosa), Moruti (Sotho), Dominee (Afrikaans) etc. The official written form of address is "Cpln" (for chaplain) followed by the appropriate ecclesiastical title of the respective chaplain e.g., Cpln (Rev), Cpln (Fr), Cpln (Pastor), Cpln, etc.


title: Military chaplain

text: Along with chaplains from many other nations in the southern region of the continent of Africa, South African chaplains participate in SARMCA, the "South Africa Regional Military Chaplains Association", which is a component organization of SADC, the "Southern African Development Community".


title: Military chaplain

text: In recent years, military chaplains have taken a more important role in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Since the Russian military intervention in Ukraine that began in 2014, many Ukrainian citizens with a religious background have volunteered to serve in the armed forces as chaplains to certain battalions and regiments in the Ukrainian Ground Forces fighting in the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone during the ongoing War in Donbass. The purpose of utilizing these chaplains, according to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk was to boost Ukrainian army morale during the conflict. Originally, the Ukrainian Catholic Church designated around 70 priests to work with their designated units, all of which came from the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant faiths. The Center of Military Chaplaincy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is a notable chaplaincy organization in Ukraine that provides counseling and pastoral care to officers, soldiers and their families. Today, a chaplain is not an official military position, but rather a volunteer service. A notable Ukrainian military chaplain is Ivan Hrynokh, who served with the Nachtigall Battalion during the Second World War.


title: Military chaplain

text: The first English military-oriented chaplains were priests on board proto-naval vessels during the eighth century AD. Land based chaplains appeared during the reign of King Edward I, although their duties included jobs that today would come under the jurisdiction of military engineers and medical officers. A priest attached to a feudal noble household would follow his liege lord into battle. In 1796 the Parliament of Great Britain passed a Royal Warrant that established the Army Chaplains' Department in the British Army.


title: Military chaplain

text: The Department was awarded its "Royal" prefix in 1919 in recognition of their chaplains' service during World War I, and the current form of military chaplain dates from that era. A chaplain provides spiritual and pastoral support for service personnel, including the conduct of religious services at sea or in the field. In the Royal Navy, chaplains are traditionally addressed by their Christian name, or with one of many nicknames (Bish; Sin-Bosun; Devil Dodger; Sky-pilot etc.). In the Army and Royal Air Force, chaplains are traditionally referred to (and addressed) as "padre" or as Sir/Ma'am (although not the latter in the RAF). Many Padres in the British Army will insist on not being referred to as "Sir/Ma'am" as they are explicitly outside of the chain of command in the units to which they have been attached, which emphasises their pastoral role rather than a command position.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the Royal Navy, chaplains have no rank other than "chaplain", while in the Army they hold commissioned relative rank but are universally referred to as "padre". On the foundation of the Royal Air Force Chaplains' Branch an attempt was made to amalgamate these differing systems by creating "relative rank", where rank is worn but without executive authority. In practice chaplains of all three services work in similar ways, using what influence and authority they have on behalf of those who consult them or seek their advice.


title: Military chaplain

text: During World War II the head of chaplaincy in the British Army was an (Anglican) chaplain-general, (a major-general), who was formally under the control of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State. An assistant chaplain-general was a chaplain 1st class (full colonel) and a senior chaplain was a chaplain 2nd class (lieutenant colonel).


title: Military chaplain

text: All chaplains are commissioned officers and wear uniform. Army and Air Force chaplains bear ranks and wear rank insignia, but Navy chaplains do not, wearing a cross and a special version of the officers' cap badge as their only insignia.


title: Military chaplain

text: Chaplains in the armed forces were at first all Christian or Jewish. The first Jewish chaplain was appointed in 1892 and some 20 to 30 were commissioned during World War II. Until recent times, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has employed only Christian chaplains, with the Jewish community providing an honorary chaplain under long-standing arrangements, although Jewish chaplains have served in the Territorial Army. In October 2005 the Ministry of Defence appointed four chaplains to the military; one each from the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faith communities. The Royal Army Chaplains' Museum holds information and archive material relating to the history of the Army Chaplains' Department.


title: Military chaplain

text: In the United States, military chaplains have an officer's rank based on their years of service and promotion selection from among their peers. Chaplains serving in the US Armed Forces wear the uniform of their respective branch of service, and normally wear clerical attire only during the performance of a religious service. The position of rank and chaplain faith group insignia varies in each military department and may vary significantly from one type of uniform to another within a military department. The US Army, Air Force, and Navy (as a component of the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps is supplied by US Navy chaplains) require an 'ecclesiastical endorsement' from the candidate's faith group (which in the case of the Navy must be one registered with the Department of Defense).


title: Military chaplain

text: The Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer auxiliary of the US Air Force, also has chaplains, who must meet the same standards for appointment as active-duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard chaplains. They wear the same insignia as US Air Force chaplains and can be called upon to assist Air Force chaplains.