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As war raged in 1943, Ray J. Kaufmann knew what he had to do—and wouldn’t let age get in the way.
“He felt it was his duty,” recalled his son Lenny.
At 17, Ray J. enlisted in the U.S. Army, lying about his age. He carried a mezuzah from his mother in a small metal case around his neck.
His unit was stationed on the Maginot Line near Metz, France. One night, he was asked to escort a sick soldier to the rear.
“After about 10 minutes en route, I heard a tingling… I opened my jacket—my dog tag chain and mezuzah were the source. I touched them. They had been damaged. Then I passed out.”
Ray had been hit in the chest by shrapnel from a German 88. In the hospital, he was told it had missed his heart by a fraction of an inch. “I believe the shrapnel was deflected by my mezuzah. I was lucky to be alive.”
Ray came home a decorated veteran—Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge. But his greatest pride was his family and their Jewish faith.
“Dad and Mom made sure all six of us were brought up in a very Jewish home,” said his son Bruce.
Ray discouraged his kids from enlisting. When his son Avrum asked why, Ray said: “It was different then. There was something that had to get done, so I got up and did it.”
Sixty years after Ray took off his uniform, something again had to get done, and another Kaufmann put the uniform on. Chaim Baruch Kaufmann, Ray J.’s grandson, is a captain in one of the IDF Paratroopers reservist divisions. What he does is classified, but he continues in the family tradition: proud of their Yiddishkeit, not eager and gung-ho, but ready to serve and risk life and limb for their country and the Jewish People.
Read full story: Lubavitch.com/the-story-of-p…
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