Typically, we associate heroism with bravery and strength, qualities that certainly describe the actions of the first Jewish Congressional Medal of Honor Winner, Private Benjamin Bennett Levy, during the Battle of Glendale just outside Richmond, Virginia on June 30, 1862. A drummer boy in B Company of the 1st New York Infantry, Levy exchanged his broken drum for the rifle of his ill comrade. Shortly thereafter, he saw the color bearer, Charley Mahorn, fall from a bullet wound to the chest. Levy then rescued the flag from capture.
Though saving a flag may seem quaint by 21st Century standards, during the Civil War, unit colors remained an essential component of warfare. Soldiers took their directions from the colors; allowing the colors to fall to the enemy meant certain defeat. Thus, rescuing the colors, an impulse drilled into the hearts of every soldier, was as practical as it was symbolic.
Heroism, in this case, meant something more than just bravery or strength. It meant doing the right and necessary thing, regardless of the hazards involved. On the fields of Glendale, those hazards were mortal, but for us, the hazards are far more often moral, social, or financial. Nevertheless, like Private Levy, we, too, can be heroes, when we possess the courage to do what’s right, regardless of hazard.
— Rabbi Josh Knobel