On July, 17, 1862 legislation prohibiting discrimination against chaplains serving in the United States army went into effect, opening the door for rabbis to serve as chaplains in the armed forces.In July 1861, a law was passed in Congress that required each regiment to have a chaplain who was ordained as any type of Christian minister. This was met with protest by the Jewish community in America, which felt that they should have rabbis in the Army for the thousands of Jewish soldiers who were fighting. Days before the bill was passed in Congress, the 65th regiment’s commander appointed Michael Allen, a Philadelphia businessman, to be the chaplain. But when news reached the higher-ups, he was forced to resign. So in his place, Dr. Arnold Fischel, the rabbi of Shearith Israel, was appointed. But the War Department denied this decision, since he was Jewish and not Christian.Rabbi Fischel decided to travel to the White House and speak with President Abraham Lincoln. When the president heard that Rabbi Fischel was waiting on line outside, he called him in immediately. Reading the letters from many Republican politicians, as well as petitions signed by Jews and non-Jews, Lincoln decided that the law had to change. Congress amended the law on this day, mandating that chaplains hold an ordination from "some religious denomination."On September 18, 1862, Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia was commissioned as the chaplain for a hospital in Philadelphia after two Jewish soldiers died there without a rabbi by their side. President Lincoln himself signed Rabbi Frankel’s commission.