Religiosity in the Jewish Legion and Reverend Leib Aisack Falk

Jewish units and the Jewish LegionWhen, early in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, Zionist leaders, notably Vladimir (later Ze'ev) Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor, realized that active Jewish support for the Allies would become an important factor in obtaining recognition of national Jewish status after the war.Their pressure led to the formation of the Zion Mule Corps, an officially non-combatant service unit comprising principally Jews who had been exiled by the Ottomans from Palestine to Alexandria.Its commanding officer was Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, DSO (10 November 1867-18 June 1947), a fiery Irish Protestant, veteran of the South African War, big-game hunter, disciplinarian, philosemite, and Zionist. 2 In 1915 the Corps with its mules served with distinction at Gallipoli, becoming for all practical purposes a combatant unit.Trumpeldor served as an officer in the Corps and as Patterson's deputy at Gallipoli.Shortly after the Gallipoli campaign