Here is an email from Gina Elise, founder of Pin-Ups For Vets, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that benefits hospitalized veterans:

Thank you so very much for asking your readers to do a mitzvah during the upcoming week in February that has been set aside to honor our hospitalized veterans. I am once again excited to visit and express appreciation to our veterans, both young and old.

I will again be bringing smiles to our hospitalized vets, just as I do all year long, and I would love to be able to bring a donated calendar or a “Kiss A Vet T-shirt” from your readers, along with a personal message from them if they would like.

Here is the information about the upcoming week:

National Salute to Veteran Patients

The purpose of the National Salute to Veteran Patients program is to:

• pay tribute and express appreciation to veterans;
• increase community awareness of the role of the VA medical center;
• encourage citizens to visit hospitalized veterans and to become involved as volunteers

The week of February 14 each year is your opportunity to say thank you to a special group of men and women, more than 98,000 veterans of the U.S. armed services who are cared for every day in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, outpatient clinics, domiciliaries, and nursing homes.

The 2012 National Salute program is scheduled for February 12-18.

You should see the smiles on our vets’ faces — those who are 18 years old to those who are over 100 years old — when they receive a visit from the 1940′s calendar girl visiting them and bearing gifts. You can go to the appreciation page on our website to read letters from some of the hospitals expressing what these visits mean to their veterans.

Also, if you have specific names of Jewish deployed service members and have their APO or FPO addresses — if you go to the “order now” page on the website, you can order whatever gift you want sent, insert the service member’s address, and the order will be immediately sent to our brave Jewish heroes serving our country. I always send them a personal note of thanks along with the gifts.

These donations are tax deductible and the proceeds support healthcare programs in VA hospitals.

Thank you so very much for helping me to bring some thanks and smiles to our vets and troops. I do this project to also honor the WWII army service of my own Grandpa Lou.

Project M.O.T. has announced the packing date for Passover packages this year is March 4th. All donations must be received by February 26th.

If you are not in Los Angeles where Project M.O.T. is based, you can still send donations to be included in the packages (or funds to help with expenses).

Some of the items wanted (and these items must fit into boxes that are 8.5″ x 11″):

Small puzzle and game books

Small packages of Passover candies, cookies, gum and treats

Kipot

Matzah covers

(Haggadot are NOT needed.)

Email projectmot@aol.com or call Joan Rimmon in Los Angeles at 310 339-8566 if you would like to participate on March 4th and/or send donations.

Reminder: Donations must be received by February 27th to be placed in the assembly line on prep day.

Visit www.projectMOT.org to learn more.

P.S. This year the first seder is Friday evening, April 6th. Read the Passover chapter from the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION now.

Reprinted from www.MrsLieutenant.blogspot.com:

The Wall Street Journal had two poignant stories this week about Marines.

The first one, on December 20th, titled “Happy Hanukkah, Marines! Jewish Leathernecks Light the Way,” by William McGurn begins:

When Jews begin their Hanukkah celebrations this week, they will commemorate a 2,200-year old revolt led by Judah Maccabee against a Greek empire attempting to crush the Jewish faith. For some, the holiday holds an added resonance, linking their military service to one of the greatest Jewish warriors of all time.

These are the Jews of the United States Marine Corps.

In the popular mind, a Jewish Marine may sound exotic. In fact, Jews have their own chapters in the history of the Corps. In his book “Semper Chai!” Howard J. Leavitt explains the compatibility with a refreshing lack of nuance: “[M]any Jews were—and are—Marines, and the basic and lofty precepts and spiritual underpinnings of the United States, the U.S. Marine Corps and Judaism are one and the same, without any differences or conflict.”

The second article, on December 24th, titled “Military Families Soldier On: Christmas Homecomings From Iraq Touch a Nerve for Kin of Troops in Afghanistan,” by Tamara Audi begins:

This Christmas, Donna Jones is doing her best to avoid heartwarming scenes of military homecomings. It’s not easy: Thousands of troops are reuniting with their families in a blur of on-camera kisses, and she works on a military base.

“There are all these holiday homecomings, and I’m happy that people get to see their loved ones. I just can’t watch,” Mrs. Jones said. “It hurts when the situation is: Your Marine isn’t coming home.”

Mrs. Jones’s husband, Marine Maj. William Jones, is still deployed in Afghanistan—along with 91,000 other U.S. troops.

Thousands of service members have come home from Iraq, with the last U.S. troops exiting from the country in mid-December. But tens of thousands are still deployed elsewhere, many on the front lines in Afghanistan.

That means many families are facing a holiday season with a loved one still in a combat zone. As the nation celebrates the holiday homecomings, some fear these family members are being forgotten in the frenzy.

The second article also includes these statistics:

2.3 million — Combined total of U.S. service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan

164,000 — Peak number of troops based in Iraq, reached in 2007

91,000 — Troops remaining in Afghanistan

The one thing we back home can do is grant the wish of a military spouse reported in the second article:

We can acknowledge this holiday season that U.S. troops — men and women — are still in harm’s way serving our country. And we can be grateful for their service and sacrifice as well as the service and sacrifice of their families.

Read the entire “Happy Hanukkah, Marines!” story now.

Read the entire “Military Families Soldier On” story now.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the eBook technothriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company’s social media marketing blog.

(This is a guest post from 10-year-old Samuel Knoll, a 5th grader at Fairburn Elementary School in Los Angeles. Approximately 25 veterans attended Adat Shalom’s Veterans Day Shabbat service, mostly from WWII with a couple from Korea and a couple from Vietnam.)

Last Friday was the coolest date of the year: 11-11-11. All those ones and it will not happen again for a hundred years. And at my temple, we did something special that will make me remember this date for a long time.

Our synagogue commemorated Veterans Day at a Shabbat service by honoring past and present men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces. We remembered the people who served in all the wars that our country has fought.

We had special visitors from the Jewish War Veterans and we got to meet some brave men who had served when they were younger. We got to hear from some of them and they told us their stories. The stories were about times that they remembered many years ago and most were about how lucky they were to have survived.

The service was unusual for me because we do not often get to hear the stories of veterans and wars from long before I was born. Their stories were like nothing that I have ever experienced.

I was amazed by how these men were willing to risk their lives for the others who lived in the United States. Looking at them, it was actually hard to picture what it was like for them to be prisoners, to have little to eat and to be so far from their homes.

They all looked like the other members of my temple but they had something very special about their past and I was grateful for them.

That night my grandpa was also there and I knew he was a war veteran too. Having heard some of his experiences and getting to hear the stories of the others that night made me think that I met some real heroes.

Not the superheroes that I see on TV but some real heroes that have made a difference for my country and the way all of us get to live.

(Editor’s Note: While only male veterans attended this Shabbat service, there are Jewish female veterans, especially from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

Here is a guest post from U.S. Army SPC Marissa Spitz, who is currently stationed at USARIEM, Natick, Massachusetts, as a 68K-P9 Medical Laboratory Specialist and Biological Research Assistant, doing research in warfighter performance science. Besides describing her training, she also talks about her experiences as a Jew in the U.S. Army

I shipped out to basic combat training (BCT) in February of 2010, two months after completing my masters degree and ending my career as a student for the seven years or so prior.

I enlisted as a Specialist for reasons such as getting student loan repayment (up to $65,000) and actually getting to do the job I was signing up for — a Medical Lab Technician.

While in college I studied and became very interested in research in the area of exercise physiology, which led me to find the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, one of the highest-quality research institutions in the field.

I was recruited to work there after finishing my initial entry training, which was over a year and a half, and I have been here in Natick for about four months.

Our mission here is to research and develop products, training methods, and nutrition plans to provide the best to our fellow soldiers both in training and overseas. I really enjoy my work here. But I’ve been told, and have somewhat seen, that I’m not living the complete “real” Army life.

Being a Jewish female in the Army has been an interesting experience. At Basic Combat Training in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, I was given permission to go to Friday night Shabbat services, but of course after some scrutiny from my drill sergeants.

Every soldier is allowed to attend one religious service per weekend, and Ft. Leonard Wood happens to have Friday night Shabbats. We always needed to have a “battle buddy” with us so I brought one woman who was interested in seeing what a Jewish service was like.

By week 10 of BCT, I was bringing along three to four battle buddies each week to “Jewish church.” These women didn’t go to any service on Sunday and enjoyed Shabbat with me.

Services were led by a Jew by choice who was raised Catholic. He did a decent job and made everyone feel comfortable and welcome.

Out of the 10-15 soldiers at each service, I was one of maybe two who were actually raised Jewish and knew the prayers. Eventually I was assisting with leading the songs and actually led Passover seder for about 20 people.

It was nice to have a weekly outlet, and I could still feel somewhat connected to my faith.

At Ft. Leonard Wood and then later at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, I was always given the opportunity to practice my religion how I wanted. Being Reform, I don’t do too many traditions such as keeping kosher. But I went to as many services I could, including High Holidays, and I was never penalized or discriminated because of that.

In BCT and AIT (Advanced Individual Training), I expected to be, and was, the only person having any kind of Jewish faith. I was confident that it wouldn’t be a problem in terms of any kind of discrimination from leadership or even fellow soldiers.

But as more people found out that I’m Jewish — jokes, especially about stereotypes, came out more and more. I was, and still am, amazed at how little people know about religions other than their own and especially about Judaism.

There were several instances throughout my training where ignorant comments were said such as “I’ve been Jewed,” or times when people would see a coin on the ground and insist that I wanted it for my piggy bank.

From the soldiers with whom I became friendly I didn’t mind hearing the stereotype jokes; I usually laughed at them. But sometimes the jokes turned sour and alluded to the Holocaust, which is where I’d put my foot down and would actually have to educate people that this was not okay.

Overall, I’ve had to learn how to represent our minority group in this huge club I call the Army. I will always take pride in being a Jew and know how important it has been in shaping who I am today.

I’m hoping that I can continue to enlighten people on the religion and our traditions that come with it. I am proud to serve my country and hope to always have the support of our nation and Jewish citizens.

(Below is reprinted with permission an email sent by Rabbi Dvora Weisberg to HUC’s rabbinic students in Los Angeles.)

Dear Students,

On Monday, November 14, during lunch time, Rabbi Harold Robinson of the Jewish Welfare Board will be speaking about opportunities for rabbis to serve as military chaplains.

The Armed Services has a shortage of Jewish chaplains. Moreover, the number of those chaplains who are liberal rabbis is also small. As a result, many Jewish servicemen and women have inadequate access to rabbis in general and to rabbis comfortable with their beliefs and practices in particular.

Under these circumstances, I want to encourage anyone who might be interested in serving in the military as a chaplain, whether as a long-term career path or for a few years after ordination, to come to Rabbi Robinson’s presentation.

He will be able to provide information about applications, training (which is often done during summers in rabbinical school), positions and compensation. If you are interested in pursuing this course, Rabbi Robinson will be happy to help you through the application process.

We are delighted that with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell the opportunity to support our servicemen and women is now open to all of our students. We hope to see you at lunch.

Rabbi Dvora E. Weisberg, Ph.D.
Director of the School of Rabbinic Studies
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
3077 University Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(213) 749-3424
dvoraweisberg@huc.edu

And read the JTA article “From soldier to rabbi, one Afghanistan war veteran takes unusual path”

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