Morris H. Bell Chaplaincy Collection

Morris Hyman Bell was born in Dorchester, Boston on July 28, 1922, to Jacob and Sarah Bell. Both Jacob and Sarah had been born near Vilna and had changed their names from Abelow. Morris had an older brother, Aaron Solomon (August 28, 1918-August 15, 2003), and a younger sister, Beatrice Frances (1926-May 30, 1941). Morris Bell graduated from Dorchester High School in 1940 and then attended Yeshiva University in New York. Growing up, he was very involved in Zionist activities and clubs, including Avukah and Hecht House, where he was a summer camp counselor and the camp rabbi, as well as the Boy Scouts, a relationship he maintained for the rest of his life.

After graduating from Yeshiva University in 1944, he married Evelyn Solomon (February 10, 1924-November 27, 2009) on August 27, 1944, in Boston. Bell then began his rabbinical studies at the university’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) the following autumn. While studying at RIETS, he was also the principal of the Hebrew School at the Jewish Center of Forest Hills West in Queens. He later transferred to the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR), a Reform rabbinical school that is also in New York. As part of the program at JIR, Bell worked as the rabbi for the tuberculosis centers at Saranac Lake, New York, and studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem from fall 1947-June 1948. He then returned to New York, where he received his rabbinic ordination and Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1949.

After his ordination, Rabbi Bell was hired to be the rabbi of the Conservative Beth Israel Synagogue in Bristol, Connecticut, where he stayed from September 1949 through September 1952. During his time in Connecticut, he was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the New York Board of Rabbis, the Bristol, Connecticut Clergy Association, the Zionist Organization of America, and the American Jewish Congress. Morris and Evelyn’s oldest daughter, Gilah Faith Bell, was born in Bristol on April 3, 1952. Around the same time, Rabbi Bell completed a six-week course at the Institute of Pastoral Care at Mass General Hospital in Boston in preparation for his military service.

Rabbi Bell began his commission as a first lieutenant chaplain of the United States Air Force on August 8, 1952. He may perhaps have been influenced to join the Air Force as his older brother, Aaron, was in the Air Force during World War II, while Morris was at Yeshiva University. Additionally, the position of chaplain specifically for the Air Force was relatively new at the time, having first been implemented in 1949. Rabbi Bell underwent processing at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey between September 30 and October 6, 1952, then attended Chaplain’s School at Fort Slocum in New York from October 6 to November 10, at which point he was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Between November 17, 1952, and April 29, 1953, Rabbi Bell was assigned to the 3700th Air Force Indoctrination Wing personnel squadron. He worked as a chaplain in the reception center, which allowed him the opportunity to meet Jewish airmen as they began their military career and to acquaint them with the types of services that were available through the office of the Jewish chaplain, which was facilitated through the National Jewish Welfare Board’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy.

Rabbi Bell began his chaplaincy at the HQ 6161st Air Base Wing in Yokota, Japan, on June 12, 1953, near the end of the Korean War. He was the only Jewish chaplain in northern Japan, which necessitated approximately 1500 miles of travel each month to provide chaplaincy services. While in Japan, Chaplain Bell’s son, Jonathan Bruce Bell, was born on June 2, 1954. Bell was on active duty through August 27, 1954, after which the family returned to Boston, living for a short time with his parents in Dorchester. His commission ended on September 26, 1954. He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal for his time as a military chaplain.

By 1955, the Bell family had moved to Newton and Bell was a rabbi at Congregation Adas Israel in Hyde Park, Boston, as well as the auxiliary chaplain of the Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham. His daughter, Laurie Beatrice, was born in Newton on April 1, 1957. In Newton, Rabbi Bell was a member of the Garden City Masonic Lodge and the Moses Mendelsohn Lodge, Free Sons of Israel. He also continued his involvement with the Maimonides School, of which his father had been one of the founders, and with the Boy Scouts, leading the troop at Temple Emanuel of Newton, where he was also on the school and rituals committees and joined the Board of Directors in the early 1960s. By then, he no longer worked as a congregational rabbi but instead worked with his brother as a salesman at the J. Bell and Sons furniture company, which his father had founded in 1913. Morris Bell died at the age of 50 on February 27, 1973, in Brookline Hospital.

1918

Aaron Solomon Bell is born August 28

1922

Morris Hyman Bell is born July 28

1924

Evelyn Solomon (Bell) is born February 10

1926

Beatrice Frances Bell is born

1940

Morris Bell graduates from Dorchester High School

1941

Beatrice Bell dies in an accident May 30

1944

Morris Bell graduates from Yeshiva University

Morris Bell and Evelyn Solomon are married August 27

Morris Bell begins rabbinical school at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

1947-1948

Morris Bell studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem

1949

Morris Bell receives rabbinic ordination and Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Institute of Religion

1949-1952

Morris Bell is the rabbi at Beth Israel Synagogue in Bristol, Connecticut

1952

Gilah Faith Bell is born April 3

1952

Morris Bell completes a six-week course at the Institute of Pastoral Care at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston

1952-1953

Morris Bell enters the Air Force as a first lieutenant chaplain, completes training and chaplain's school, works at Lackland Air Force Base

1953-1954

Morris Bell works out of the HQ 6161st Air Base Wing in Yokota, Japan

1954

Jonathan Bruce Bell is born June 2 in Japan

Morris Bell completes his service and the family returns to Boston

1957

Laurie Beatrice Bell is born April 1

1973

Morris Bell dies in Brookline February 27