Rabbi Lob, at right, gave a blessing at the Pearl Harbor Day Remembrance
Rabbi Eli Lob, Savannah Chapter Director of NCSY, spoke and offered a blessing at the Pearl Harbor Day 72nd Anniversary Memorial Review on Wednesday at the Benedictine Military School, a Catholic military academy in Savannah. Four hundred people were in attendance.
NCSY is the international youth program of the Orthodox Union.
In addition to his role as Savannah Chapter Director at NCSY, Rabbi Lob is employed as youth director for Congregation Bnai Brith Jacob synagogue, an OU member congregation in Savannah.
Rabbi Lob declared, “I have a very unique situation at the school, where as a volunteer I give a class on Judaism every day for Jewish students, similar to the Jewish Student Union classes in public high schools. Since I am a rabbi, they asked me to offer a blessing at their Gannam Day Ceremony, for Pearl Harbor day. The school lost a lot of alumni at Pearl Harbor, some of whom were Jewish.”
Rabbi Lob explained that the ceremony is called Gannam Day because the first person from Savannah known to be killed on December 7, 1941 was an alumnus, Staff Sergeant George K. Gannam of the Class of 1938. The ceremony was held prior to Pearl Harbor Day because of the school’s schedule.
“Last year was the first time they decided to have a rabbi at the ceremony in addition to their priest. They asked me to do it again this year. It was a beautiful experience, a big Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of God’s Name), and it helped the Jewish students strengthen their pride in their Jewish identity.”
The Orthodox Union, known by the OU symbol, is the world’s largest kosher certification organization. Founded in 1898, the OU certifies nearly two million products and ingredients in 8,000 plants in more than 83 countries. The OU impacts the larger Jewish world through its youth and educational programs like NCSY, NCSY Alumni, JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus), Israel Free Spirit-Birthright and others, Yachad and its disability support networks, the OU Job Board, the OU Advocacy political action arm, Synagogue and Community Services, OU Israel, the OU Press publishing division, OU.org and OUTorah.org, and Jewish Action magazine. Each and every day, countless Jewish individuals and families around the world are positively impacted by the work of the Orthodox Union.