David Max Eichhorn was born in Columbia, Pennsylvania, on January 6, 1906, the son of Joseph and Anna Eichhorn. He attended the Temple Shaarai Shomayim religious school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was confirmed there in 1921, and graduated from Columbia High School in 1923. He enrolled at Hebrew Union College in 1924. He graduated, and was ordained as a rabbi in 1931.
In 1941, Eichhorn enlisted in the Army as a chaplain. In July 1942, Eichhorn was stationed at Camp Croft in Spartanburg County, SC and evidently assisted the local Jewish congregation, which was then without a rabbi.[1] Throughout World War II, Eichhorn was assigned to serve in combat units in France and Germany, and was among the troops that liberated Dachau.
After returning from the war in 1945, Eichhorn retained his active military status in the United States Army Reserve. He worked for the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities (known later as the Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy) of the National Jewish Welfare Board as Director of Field Operations of the federal chaplaincy program. The Board is authorized by the Government to serve the religious needs of Jewish military personnel. He was also the president of the Association of Jewish Chaplains of the Armed Forces from 1953 to 1955. He retired from the military with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1968.[clarification needed]
Temple Israel was founded in about 1965 or 1966. It met in a church in Cocoa Beach, Florida, until a permanent home was found. Land was purchased on Merritt Island, Florida. The congregation moved to their new home in 1970. Rabbi Eichhorn served as a part-time rabbi to Temple Israel along with student rabbis starting in 1966. He officiated over the congregation's first Confirmation class ceremony June 16, 1967.[citation needed]
He resigned from the National Jewish Welfare Board in 1970.
Eichhorn lived in Satellite Beach, Florida and wrote a number of books. He was known primarily for research in the areas of interfaith marriage and religious conversion.