Photo from http://www.jcca.org/JWB/ Answering the Call: Commencement exercises at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, NY included two graduates entering service in the U.S. Armed Forces. Steve Rein, left, is accepting a commission in the USAF (reserve component) and will serve as assistant rabbi at Park Avenue Synagogue. Josh Sherwin, right, is accepting a commission in the USN (active component) beginning in the fall. JWB Jewish Chaplains Council Director, Rabbi Harold L. Robinson (RADM CHC USN Ret.), center, attended to welcome them as rabbinic colleagues.

On the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com that I co-host with Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com we interviewed Rabbi Barry Baron, deputy director of the Jewish Welfare Board’s Jewish Chaplains Council.

Rabbi Baron is also a chaplain and a LTC in the U.S Army reserves, and he talked about the outreach undertaken by national organization the Jewish Welfare Board to support Jewish servicemen and women in the U.S. armed forces.

In his U.S. Army chaplain role Rabbi Baron has been to Iraq once and Afghanistan twice for important Jewish holiday periods.

He described to us that after 9/11 there has been an upsurge in Jews volunteering to serve in the U.S. military, and now there is a shortage of Jewish chaplains for the Jewish men and women who serve in numerous military capacities.

Listen to Rabbi Baron’s interview to learn more about Jews serving in the U.S. armed forces today.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs as a National Internet Business Examiner and at Operation Support Jews in the Military and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her newest military-related project is the book/website project In Support of Our Troops.

Phyllis’ company Miller Mosaic LLC provides internet marketing information to help people promote their brand, book or business. On July 1st the company launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

Dear Friend,

We are writing to you because of your past support of ProjectMOT. As you may know we sent almost 100 holiday care packages to our deployed Jewish troops last year. This year for Passover we sent 114. All were well received and enjoyed by our brave heroes in their various parts of the world.

If you have a deployed serviceman or woman who will be away during the holidays, please send us their military address so we can send them a care package.

We are now preparing the High Holiday packages which we will be sending at the end of August, and have orders for 80 at this point. We already have blank greeting cards for them to send home, some candy and cookies, but we really want to make these boxes special.

We have a web page with information about what we are doing and our wish list and invite you to have a visit: www.rimmon.com/ProjectMOT.htm

Our Rosh Hashanah Wish List: (Items must fit into boxes 8 ½ x 11 inches)

Elite/Osem/Streits cookies and cakes

All kosher food and snack items such as candies , bags of dried apple slices or snacks; small plastic jars of honey; individual bags of coffee, teas, hot chocolate

Any small Judaica items

Bentchers and small Jewish calendars

Personal-sized hygiene items

Small games and game books

Books, CDs and DVDs of holiday music and Jewish interest

Pre-paid phone cards

Letters of thanks to the troops

We will welcome your participation in helping us package the boxes at the end of August. Please email us (see address below) if you want to be part of this exciting experience.

If you wish to donate items for the boxes, they can be delivered to Marsha Roseman in Van Nuys. Email for a drop-off time at MRose13432@aol.com .

And if you wish to donate money for the postage of our packages, please also email Marsha at MRose13432@aol.com .

With warmest wishes and thanks,
Joan Rimmon and Marsha Roseman, Los Angeles
Co-Facilitators Project MOT

Here is an email I recently got from GMC (SW/SCW) Peter M. Michelson (Pincus Mendel) that I want to share with you.  He has been in the Navy for 20 years and seven months, in 74 different countries, and in a wide variety of commands.  This recounting of his different duty assignments gives an interesting perspective on the life of a Navy enlisted man.

I am a Chief Petty Officer (CPO) active duty. My rating is Gunners Mate Guns. My Naval Educational Codes or NECs are 9536 OM Level Weapons Maintenance for all Naval Special Warfare Small Arms (NSW) Armorer. I am also a 9525 Ammunition Administrator responsible for managing all types of ordnance. I am also a 0812 U.S. Navy Small Arms Instructor.

While on the USS Caron DD-970 from July 1991 to Dec 1993 I earned my Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Pin (ESWS) and also was advanced to Second Class Petty Officer.

On our 1992 Red Sea Mediterranean cruise I first had the honor of meeting the fine naval Captain Irving Elson (chaplain/rabbi) — 110% true mensch.

From 1994 to 1996 I served on board PRECOM USS CHINOOK PC-9; 1996 to 1998 Combat Camera Atlantic; 1998 to 2002 Amphibious Construction Battalion, Two Little Creek, VA, where I earned my Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist Pin (SCW) and advanced to First Class Petty Officer.

From August 2002 to September 2005 PRECOM and Commissioning Crew for the first ever Naval Special Warfare Logistics Support Unit One for the West Coast in San Diego. From October 2005 to October 2008 Naval Coastal Warfare Group One Imperial Beach, CA.

Selected in August of 2006 and advanced to Chief Petty Officer Sept. 21, 2006. From October 2008 to May 2009 back to LOGSU1.

I was very pleased to receive this email from Jean Kent, who gave me permission to post it here:

I do not know if you are aware of what is happening at Ft. Benning, GA with the Jewish troops.

Under lay leadership led by retired Navy Captain Neil Block from the Columbus, Georgia, Jewish community and occasional rabbinic support, participation at weekly services passes 200 now! This is probably the largest lay-lead program in the United States for the Army.

Each week a brunch is supplied (by Army rules, all services have to be on Sunday morning.). The Jewish Federation of Columbus supplies the lox, bagels, cream cheese and drinks while the local women provide all of the sweets.

Temple Israel provides freezer and refrigerator space so there is a home for all cakes and cookies to be used by this program—at last a good use for all of the extras after onegs, special events in the community.In addition the women have bake nights to make cakes and cookies.

The Federation has received several thousand dollars from soldiers and their families from across the country in support of this worthwhile program.Most of this money is being used to buy  Army-approved siddurs for the soldiers to take overseas with them.

Jean Kiralfy Kent
Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Columbus
Co-President, Jewish Ladies Aid Society of Temple Israel

Below is an email I received from Leonard Jablon.  He expresses the feelings of a Jew serving in the military so well that I received his permission to publish his email here.  (The boldface is mine.):

My name is Leonard Jablon, and I would love to help you in your quest to help Jews in the military.  Currently, I am a teacher in California, and I am a member of Congregation B’nai Tzedek of Fountain Valley, CA.  Our rabbi e-mailed your link to our congregation.

Here is a little background information, which may be of help to you:

I served in the U.S. Navy from 85-91, and I know just how lonely a Jew can feel when away from home for long periods of time.  I was onboard the USS New Jersey BB-62, a battleship based out of Long Beach, CA.  I was the Jewish lay leader on board that ship for my last 2 years in the navy.

I worked closely with the chaplains on board my ship, and I even held a Passover seder on board the Jersey.  When we visited other countries, I always made a point of visiting other shuls, and I was warmly greeted in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, as well as Tazmania.

In the U.S., when visiting Portland, OR, for the Rose Festival, I even stayed with a fellow service member at his home (he was a captain in the army).

I am still in touch with a close friend who was my rabbi while I was stationed at Great Lakes, IL, for training. He is a former chaplain of Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC, and he also happened to officiate at my wedding a year after I left the navy.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience as to how I can help with your organization.

And here’s where I’d like to add that I don’t have an organization.  I only have this website that I hope will serve as an information center to encourage the American Jewish community to reach out to Jews stationed on bases with no Jewish chaplains.  (There’s a severe shortage of Jewish chaplains in all branches of the U.S. military.)

Use the LOCATE NEARBY MILITARY BASES feature of this site to find bases near you, and then contact the bases to find out about Jewish personnel there.

Here is a guest post from Dan Katz, a Special Forces medical sergeant who has just returned from his second Iraq deployment. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and this fall will enter Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

“How much anti-Semitism have you encountered in the Army?” It has to be one of the most common questions I get when I go home.

Embedded in this question is an assumption that any Jew who enters the military has to experience at least some prejudice. However, the true answer to this question is “not much.” Sure, every few months I’ll hear some soldier use the word “Jew” as a verb meaning to cheat or be cheap.

There was the instructor who wondered aloud if I had joined the Army just to kill Arabs, but that’s more ignorance than prejudice. And one time I did hear a DA civilian question the occurrence of the Holocaust to one of his coworkers. But, spread all these isolated incidents out over my five year Army service and it’s really not much.

The Jewish civilians with whom I’ve spoken over the last few years always want to know what it’s like to be a Jew in today’s Army. Most of the time, my bland response disappoints them. Being a Jew has made little difference in my service, probably because I’m not observant.

Were I to follow all the laws I learned in my Orthodox yeshiva elementary school, life would be far more difficult. Training exercises and combat operations do not stop just because it’s Saturday, and while one can request Kosher MRE’s, doing so adds a burden to one’s leadership chain and draws attention to oneself in an undesirable way.

On certain occasions, such as the major holidays and the occasional Shabbat, I have sought to participate in Jewish life. When I have, I did encounter some stumbling blocks. The biggest problem is that there are few Jewish chaplains in the military.

While there is no shortage of interested rabbis (I have no doubt the Lubavitch organization alone would gladly supply enough for every major post), Army personal grooming regulations forbid soldiers from growing beards, which prevents many rabbis from serving.

Support from the civilian Jewish community often makes up for the lack of uniformed rabbis. For the bases close to major cities, the local Jewish community is a great help, as was the Fayetteville synagogue when I was stationed at Fort Bragg. For those farther away, lay leaders and visiting rabbis fill the void.

When I was in basic training at Ft. Benning, a retired Navy Seabee captain led a trio of lay leaders who ran the Sunday Jewish Services. (The services must be held at the same time as the Christian services so that all recruits perform religious worship at the same time.) These devoted individuals were assisted by a Chabad rabbi who made the hour-long drive from Emory University every Sunday to be with us.

Finally, multiple organizations, such as the Aleph Institute and the Lubavitch movement, provide logistical and motivational support to the troops abroad through postal and electronic mail.

Another problem is that we often lack a critical mass of Jews to support religious activities. One exception was Sunday Jewish services that took place during basic training at Ft. Benning, which trains tens of thousands of Army recruits a year. The Jewish services generally muster around 40 troops. Although about a quarter of those were non-Jews who’d heard about the good food at the kiddush that ends every Jewish service and another quarter were just looking for a break from the strictures of Initial Entry Training.

Another exception occurred when I was in Baghdad on my first deployment in spring of 2008. I managed to get to the Passover seder at Camp Victory, on BIAP [Baghdad International Airport], which is home to somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 soldiers. The chaplains managed to gather around 60 Jewish personnel for the event, including contractors and DA civilians.

However, for the more minor holiday of Purim, there were only around 10 soldiers present, including the one Jewish chaplain I met in my service and two non-Jewish chaplains who were attending for educational and solidarity purposes.

When soldiers are in the far less restricted environment of garrison duty, often away from the largest bases, they normally cannot find or do not prioritize attending Jewish activities.

While not an integral part of my service experience, my religion has contributed to several comedic episodes. In basic training, when I would tell my cohorts I am Jewish, they would frequently respond that they knew “a Jew” back home. Most of the time, this Jew was described as the rich guy in the neighborhood.

My religion has also lead to a number of interesting conversations with evangelical Christians, who are often impressed by my being a Cohen, a descendant of Aaron.

I cannot say that there is no anti-Semitism in the military. There may be some lurking under the surface, but fear of the Army’s ever-vigilant Equal Opportunity (EO) system keeps it in check.

I say this because, unfortunately, I have encountered a fair number of soldiers who harbor anti-black prejudice, but the white soldiers who hold these beliefs do not voice them around black soldiers. These white soldiers know that doing so would likely result in an EO complaint and, subsequently, the end of their careers.

For me, being Jewish has only lead to good-natured banter and mockery among friends, to which everyone from every socio-demographic group is subjected.

Being a Jew seldom makes a difference in the Army for most of us. I’ve actually found that being from a wealthy, intellectual, and cosmopolitan background causes more difficulties in relating to other soldiers than religious differences do. There is, sometimes, a feeling of isolation, of being far from home and the communities to which we are accustomed.

Most of the time though, that feeling is overcome by another feeling, one of belonging to a different brotherhood, the one that connects all servicemen and women who fight for the same flag.

Needed: Blank Greeting Cards for ProjectMOT for Deployed Jewish Military Personnel

ProjectMOT sends Jewish holiday packages to Jewish men and women serving with the U.S. military in Iraq, Afghanistan, aboard Navy vessels, and in other places in harm’s way. Included in the packages are blank greeting cards for the deployed military personnel to use to send home to their loved ones.

These personalized cards mean a great deal both to the sender and the receiver — and we can all help!

Round up all those blank Jewish greeting cards you have received from various Jewish organizations soliciting funds. Send the blank cards and envelopes in a large envelope to:

Joan Glanz Rimmon
P.O. Box 49456
Los Angeles, CA 90049

For more information see www.rimmon.com/ProjectMOT.htm

And read Joan’s ProjectMOT blog post here — especially the grateful comments from recipients of ProjectMOT holiday packages.

The following poem from the book THE HARDSHIP POST is by Jehanne Dubrow, whose husband is career Navy currently serving on a destroyer out of Virginia.

MEZUZAH

Look closely at the metal sleeve, a case
no bigger than my thumb. You’ll see it shows
a month of prints: some dirt I carried in

under my nails or dust I carried out,
a trace of flour from bread I baked,
and inky spots from messages I wrote.

Write them upon the doorposts of thy house
and on thy gates. In Deuteronomy,
we Jews are told that even entrances

and exits from the home must have their rules.
If only habit could convert to faith.
My fingertips have brushed the case, a touch

as quick, unthinking as a gust of wind
across the water’s surface. I’ve kissed my hand,
returned the blessing to my lips, hoping

a taste would help me understand our laws.
The rabbis say that guards cannot protect
a king, but Torah keeps a beggar safe.

Beneath the silver lid, a parchment scroll
is rolled too tight to let in disbelief,
the prayer facing in upon itself,

the words like lovers in a darkened room.
A name of God is written on the square—
I cannot see it, but I know it’s there.

Below is the opening paragraph of the new post on my blog MrsLieutenant.blogspot.com. What I didn’t include in this intro is that Capt. Schwartzstein is Jewish, and he describes some of his experiences as a Jewish Merchant Marine in the two blog posts also referenced below. Read this intro and then click through to read the entire firsthand report about standing pirate watch on the high seas off Somalia.

The news is full of the successful rescue by U.S. sharpshooters of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. Joseph Schwartzstein, Captain, U.S. Merchant Marine, LTJG, USNR/MMR, who wrote about serving as a Merchant Mariner in a February 1st blog post and a February 2nd blog post, offered to give the readers of this blog a firsthand account of standing pirate watch — unarmed:

Read the entire guest post now.

It’s a few days before Pesach this year and I’m reading the novel A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini, the author of THE KITE RUNNER, which I’d previously read. The novel takes place over several years in Afghanistan against the background of the political turmoil of fighting the Soviets and the coming of the iron grip of the Taliban.

As a counterbalance to these thoughts of our military servicemen and servicewomen deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, I wanted to offer this Pesach poem sent to me by 85-year-old Canadian Rose Paull. (My husband and I on our honeymoon in Israel in 1969 met Rose and her husband Harold, visiting Israel on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary.)

Rose’s Passover poem beautifully captures the best sentiments for our holiday as well as for the people of the whole world.

May the bells of freedom ring out for you and your family
Freedom from stress
Freedom to give zdaka
Freedom from illness
Freedom to study
Freedom from debt
FREEDOM to laugh
Freedom to love
Freedom to forgive
Freedom from loshenhor
Freedom to cry (only for a short while)
Freedom from darkness
Freedom to read
Freedom to have pleasant thoughts
Freedom to enjoy nature
Freedom to appreciate good music
Freedom to hug a child
Freedom to write
Freedom to respond to this greeting
Freedom to have a wonderful joyous Passover
Freedom to visit family and friends
Freedom to kiss someone you love
… and I love you all who read this little greeting

Rose Paull (MOM BUBBY and friend)

If you’d like to email Rose, send an email to me at pzmiller@millermosaicllc.com and I’ll forward it to her.