This moving video came in the email from Chabad today.

This wonderful tribute and recounting of the horror that befell these people is all too poignant in reminding us the importance of eradicating terrorists.  The suffering of Jew and Indian alike was utterly pointless.  May our efforts someday make the world safer for the wonderful shlichim who are out there, trying to bring the kind of generous hospitality that these young people committed their lives to.

I’ve heard so many different perspectives on the Fort Hood shootings, but I wanted to share some Jewish ones.

I personally agree with President Obama’s admonition not to jump to conclusions.  For the sake of the dead and the wounded--most especially their families--I’d like to see a thorough investigation.  If Major Hasan reached out to terrorist groups or people sympathetic to such causes, why?  What motivated him to murder so many of his fellow Soldiers when it was highly likely that he would *never* fire a weapon in anger at other Muslims overseas?  Hopefully, since he’s still alive, he can give some accounting for his currently inexplicable actions before his punishment is meted out.

For me, personally, an explanation of “Islamic fundamentalism” is incomplete, too.

The most horrible part is that the sectarian divisiveness, the growing partitions within our own segmented societies, could be as much the culprit in this shooting.  As Jews, we often ask the military for consideration of our beliefs.  Where would many of us stand if our co-religionists were at the other end of our rifles?  That said, the American Muslim contingent within our Armed Forces should be praised for being American first.  Was this inevitable?  Should we be alarmed that if *any* fellow goes off the deep end, that there are extreme fundamentalists from any religious walk of life who would urge a Major Hasan to inflict harm on his fellow uniforms?

The first selection is from Mikey Weinstein, of MRFF.

As we turn our collective eyes to the tragedies of Fort Hood this week, we mourn the men and women who offered themselves up to serve our country overseas, only to make the ultimate sacrifice in a senseless act of violence back home.

But the shootings at Fort Hood should be an important wake up call to the continuing religious intolerance that has been allowed to blatantly and systemically manifest in our nation’s armed forces. Too often, honorable men and women who have joined our military are comprehensively denigrated and made to feel worthless because, although they wear the same uniform, they do not pray in the “approved” church or to the “correct” God or to no God at all.

Let me be clear, there is absolutely no excuse for the alleged actions of Nidal Malik Hasan. What he did is reprehensible, and goes against everything the American military stands for.

But we must realize that the alleged mistreatment Hasan received in the American military almost certainly played a key role in his disaffection. Reliable reports indicate that fellow soldiers gave him a diaper to wear on his head, mocking Islamic headdresses. His car was keyed by an Iraq veteran because he had an “Allah is Love” bumper sticker, and others suggested he should ride a camel instead.

Read the rest at the MRFF’s web site.

For another perspective, I turn to Dennis Prager.

The deaths and maiming at Fort Hood are heartbreaking and angering. But ultimately far more injurious to America than the act of evil that caused those deaths and injuries is the massive self-deception American society engages in out of fear of being called bigoted, racist or “Islamaphobic.”

Any American who is not prepared to lie to himself has reason to believe that Hasan’s religious views were prominent, if not exclusive, factors for why he slaughtered fellow American soldiers. The motives appear as clear as any could be.

Personally, I’ve no idea what to think, so I’ll keep it basic.  Fratricide, or any servicemember-on-servicemember crime, is the worst offense someone in uniform can commit.  Whatever the motives, the circumstances of why pale in comparison to the what.

One thing I do rail against is this concept that this is representative of a military on the brink.  While it seems fair for the media to withhold speculation about Islamic connections, it should be even more reluctant to calumny a force that performs its duties admirably and professionally.

I open the forum for discussion!  Be well, and happy belated Veterans Day!

Dear Chaplain, Lay Leader or Jewish Member of the Armed Forces of the United States of America:

Chanukah Is Around The Corner. First Candle is December 11, 2009.

For more detailed information about the holiday of Chanukah and it’s observances, please visit http://www.chanukah.org

Chanukah Toys Form (PDF)

Read more...

UPDATE: The list has been sorted alphabetically, broken out by rank, service branch, and basic home of record (if known), including sadly the latest casualty.

I think it’s appropriate to remember our Jewish service members who have given all in the Global War on Terror.  If I missed any names, I do apologize.

For families of the deceased:  Ha’makom yenahem etkhem betokh she’ar avelei Tziyon vi’Yerushalayim.

Agami, Daniel - Specialist, Army, Florida
Allen, Howard Paul - Sergeant, Army National Guard, Arizona
Ben Yahudah, Benyahmin - Specialist, Army, Georgia
Bernstein, David - 1st Lieutenant, Army, Pennsylvania
Bitton, Albert - Corporal, Army, Chicago
Blum, Aron C. - Sergeant, Marines, Arizona
Bruckenthal, Nathan - Petty Officer, Coast Guard, New York
Budeysky, Steven M. - Sergeant, Army, Chicago
Cohen, Michael R. - Corporal, Marines, Pennsylvania
Dvorin, Seth - 2nd Lieutenant, Army, New Jersey
Engel, Mark E. - Lance Corporal, Marines, Colorado
Evnin, Mark A. - Corporal, Marines, Vermont
Fairbairn, Aaron - Private First Class, Army, Washington
Farkas, Daniel - 1st Lieutenant,Army National Guard, New York
Fletcher, Jacob S. - Private First Class, Army, New York
Freeman, Daniel J. - Specialist, Army, Cincinatti, OH
Harrington, Foster - Sergeant, Marines, Texas
Jacobson, Elizabeth N. - Airman First Class, Air Force, Florida
Krissoff, Nathan M. - 1st Lieutenant, Marines, Nevada
Mervis, Paul - Lieutenant, British Army, London
Pine, Shawn - Lieutenant Colonel, Army Reserve, Texas
Pontell, Darin - Lieutenant JG, Navy, Pentagon, died on 9/11
Rosenberg, Mark - Major, Army, Florida
Schrage, Dustin - Corporal, Marines, Florida
Schulte, Roslyn - 1st Lieutenant, Air Force, St. Louis, MO
Secher, Robert Michael - Captain, Marines, Tennessee
Seiden, Marc S. - Specialist, Army, New Jersey
Shackelford, Michael - Sergeant, Army, Denver, CO
Sher, Gregory - Private, Australian Army, Melbourne
Sherman, Alan D. - Sergeant, Marines, New Jersey
Sklaver, Benjamin - Captain, Army Reserve, Hamden, CT
Stern, Andrew K. - 1st Lieutenant, Marines, Tennessee
Tarlavsky, Michael - Captain, Army, 5th Special Forces Group
Weinger, Robert M. - Sergeant, Army National Guard, Illinois
Wershow, Jeffery - Specialist, Army National Guard, Florida
Wolfe, Colin J. - Private First Class, Marines, Virginia
Wolfer, Stuart A. - Major, Army, Florida
Wong, Elijah - Sergeant, Army National Guard, Arizona
Yelner, Jonathan - Senior Airman, Air Force, California

Jewish war vets receive monument

BY GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER (Freep.com)

In honoring Jewish military veterans with a stone monument at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township, local vets were sending a message.

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“Jewish people have served in every war this country has fought,” Gerald Order, 65, commander of the Department of Michigan Jewish War Veterans, said at the unveiling Sunday.

Organizer Stanley Eisenberg of Rose Township—a 75-year-old veteran of the Coast Guard who served during the Korean War—said the monument cost about $1,800 and was dedicated by the state’s Jewish War Veterans and Ladies Auxiliary.

The monument stands knee-high along a paved path with other memorials near a quiet, tree-lined waterfront.

“It’s a place where we can come in prayer and thank God for everything He has given us, everything we have worked for, everything we have sacrificed our life for,” said Bernard Feldman, 77, of Southfield, a Korean War veteran who served in the Navy on the USS Smalley.

Officials at the dedication didn’t know how many Jewish military veterans there are in Michigan or across the country. But a document on the National Museum of American Jewish Military History’s Web site, published in 2004, says nearly 1 million had served in the armed services during the 20th Century.

About 60 people attended Sunday’s dedication, including Rabbi Karen Companez of Temple Beth El in Flint.

“We come together to honor the memories of those who are no longer with us,” Companez said.

“We come together to offer support for one another.”

Contact GINA DAMRON: 586-826-7269 or

“Pride, Honor & Courage” New film focuses on Hartford-area Jewish women during World War II

By Cindy Mindell (Jewish Ledger)
Published: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 12:54 PM EDT

Sarah Brody was serving with the Army Nurse Corps in Germany during World War II, when she was shot at a few minutes after this photo was taken. Brody is one of several Hartford area Jewish women whose WWII stories are chronicled in a new documentary that will premiere in West Hartford this month.

Since she became executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford (JHSGH) five years ago, Estelle Kafer has made it a priority to organize oral history projects among the various segments of the local Jewish community.

“It’s important to try to tell the stories of individuals and community members and their experiences within the community, and to use our archives to make those stories come alive,” she says.

In 2008, while planning a women’s oral history project, Kafer consulted with Jayne Guberman, oral history director of the Jewish Women’s Archive, a national organization based in Brookline, Mass.

Guberman mentioned the JWA’s plans to conduct a nationwide survey of Jewish women who had served in the military. To start, JWA hoped to set up “roadshows” akin to the PBS series, “Antiques Roadshow” at historical societies and smaller museums throughout the country. Women would come to give their stories and show their artifacts to interviewees, which would then be added to the JWA collections and displayed in an online exhibit.

Read more here.

Jews in Green fave Alison Buckholtz scribed a great article for Tablet:  A New Read on Jewish Life.

When my husband Scott shipped out to Baghdad last month, he left a lot behind; he knew he’d be weighed down with duffel bags full of body armor, combat gear, and new Army uniforms, so he put aside most of what he really wanted to take. (Although he is an active-duty Navy pilot, he’s in Iraq working with a joint services force for 12 months.) Recently, I gathered these items to include in his first care package. During his many past deployments, including one he returned from barely a year ago, I developed an intimate relationship with the postal service, and as I began to transfer his belongings into multiple flat-rate boxes, I sighed. Here we go, I thought, anxious all over again about the year ahead.

After repackaging the new undershirts, old New Yorkers, phone cards, Speed Sticks, DVDs, and extra flight suits, I spotted the siddur. It’s small enough to fit into the palm of my hand. The black leatherette cover is stamped in gold and reads, in Hebrew and English:

PRAYER BOOK

FOR JEWISH PERSONNEL

IN THE ARMED FORCES

OF THE UNITED STATES

Read the rest here.

I still have my nicely bound Siddur, though mine is dated a little more recently and edited by Rabbi Stephen O. Parnes, the fellow who married Leah and I.  The small Jewish world in which we live…

From the NY Times

Like many veterans, Max Fuchs did not talk much about what he did in the war. His children knew he landed at Omaha Beach. Sometimes, they were allowed to feel the shrapnel still lodged in his chest.  And once, he had told them, he sang as the cantor in a Jewish prayer service on the battlefield.

On Oct. 29, 1944, at the edge of a fierce fight for control of the city of Aachen, Germany, a correspondent for NBC radio introduced the modest Sabbath service like this:
“We bring you now a special broadcast of historic significance: The first Jewish religious service broadcast from Germany since the advent of Hitler.”

Full story here.

Editor’s Note: This is an awesome mitzvah on the part of Capt. Fouere, and we’re delighted he took the time to share the story with Jews in Green.

On the 14th of January 2008 the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) dropped anchor in the tranquil waters of Santa Barbara, California and was warmly welcomed by the citizens of town with the help of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the US Navy League.

The thousands of sailors were treated to wine tasting, jeep tours, a free concert, dinners out and several banquets.  These events and the ship visits were organized, coordinated and ran by the board of the Navy League, the members and dozens of volunteers.  One of the smaller events was a traditional Shabbat dinner catered for a small group of Jewish sailors aboard the ship.

The genesis for this event occurred at one of the Navy League Tuesday night mixers.  I learned that the USS Reagan was returning to Santa Barbara.  I suddenly felt compelled to reach out to any Jewish crew members on aboard. As a Merchant Marine member of the Santa Barbara Navy League and proud Hebrew, I know first hand the uniqueness of being on the ocean while Jewish Holy Days are being celebrated on land by those you love. 

This compulsion to act comes from my own experience.  After one Passover, when I was in transit from the Caribbean to Canada, 100 miles off the Jersey shore I wish I had a just one box of Matzo. Now with the USS Reagan coming to town I felt I had the opportunity to make sure no other Jewish sailor felt left out. Since I was privy to information about the arrival of this ship, I had to keep in mind the old axiom “loose lips sink ships.” Since US warships can not announce their arrival till 24 hours before docking, this turned the planning of this simple event into a clandestine operation.

First some background: The USS Ronald Reagan is a 1092 foot, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that sails with over 5,000 crew members and can stay at sea potentially for years at time.  She is essentially a four and a half acre floating American city that can go anywhere in the world.  The Santa Barbara Navy League has adopted the ship and her crew and when she arrives in port helps to create truly a unique experience for both the sailors and townspeople.

In the US armed forces military members are free to practice their faith and uniformed chaplains are serving alongside these men and women to help and guide them with their religious needs. In the Navy there are rabbis, clergy and imams working amongst the sailors.  With help from the Santa Barbara Navy League Officers and Directors they provided me with the resources to help me orchestrate this small event.  My goal was to bring a small group of sailors to the local UCSB Hillel and to the Chabad of UCSB for a delicious Shabbat dinner.

Shabbat for the Jewish people is the day that G-d rested after creating the Universe and commanded us to do the same.  In our tradition each new day starts at night and Friday night is the beginning of this weekly Holiday.  Friday night Shabbat dinners are a corner stone of the Jewish experience and several occur each week at Rabbis homes and at Jewish temples in the Santa Barbara area each week.

All the feedback I got from SBNL President Karen Crawford was very positive and with her approval Vice President Doug Crawford, SBNL Chaplain Director Sister Christine Bowman, and Legislative Affairs Director Michael Roberts were able to help me coordinate and run the event.

What was needed though was getting through the proper Navy channels in order to get permission and to advertise the Shabbat dinner on shore.  Surprisingly there are many resources such as Harold Robinson of the Jewish Chaplains Council, the Jews in Green website, the nine commissioned Navy rabbis and the numerous and interspersed Jewish lay-leaders.  These organizations helped me find Navy Rabbi Captain Irving Elson and Chaplain Axtell.

On the ground I was coordinating with the Hillel and Chabad Rabbis of the University of Santa Barbara and the students who would make this interaction of sailors and civilians so moving. At the Hillel, Program Director Amber Shields was getting me in touch with students who would shuttle the Sailors.  Rabbi Mendel and his wife from the Chabad of UCSB provided a colorful flyer that was to be posted aboard the ship inviting the sailors to their home. 

Down at the docks the sailors were being shuttled to shore. One of the USCB students Jarrod Goldberg, who is also a member of the ASI (American Students for Israel) and a junior member of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) provided transportation.  We greeted the six sailors around 500 and after some introductions headed over to Hillel to blend in with the student population.

Sailors CSSA Melissa Gumm, SK2 Bella Yusupova and their curious non-Jewish galley mates quickly made themselves at home with the College students, some who were stunned to see women and men in uniform at their weekly Friday night services.  At the Hillel three simultaneous Shabbat services are available, a Reform one led by Rabbi Allison Conyer, a Conservative service lead by students and an Orthodox minyan lead by Rabbi Loschak.

The sailors and the students had a great interaction with each other and planned on getting together later that weekend.  In one amazing game of Jewish Geography played that evening was that one sailor shared a parallel life story to one of the community members.  Many of the students had never met their uniformed counterparts and for the sailors it was a great atmosphere to decompress.  One community member and friend of mine, Larisa Traga, MSW and SK2 Bella Yusupova both had a common history.  They had escaped the oppression of communism in their home country of Uzbekistan with their parents as children and made their home in Brooklyn.  Now they would be here over this special Shabbat dinner.

As the evening came to an end and the sailors and students said their good-byes I realized how great our constitutional democracy is and how fortunate are our fighting men and women are to have enthusiastic civilian organizations comforting to their spiritual needs.  Surely the significance of this event would not be lost to either President Ronald Reagan or the Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (z”l), who both worked in their lifetime’s for democracy, religious freedom and to bring down the oppressive regime of the USSR.

Capt. Elie A. Fouere
US Merchant Maritime Officer

New Jewish Chaplain for the Armed Forces

Manchester Rabbi, Arnold Saunders, is to become the new Jewish Civilian Chaplain to her Majesty’s Forces.

Rabbi Saunders, a graduate of Jews’ College, will take over from The Rev’d Malcolm Weisman on 1st September and will be the first full time Jewish chaplain for decades.  Based at Fulwood Barracks in Preston, he will be responsible for the pastoral care of all Jewish personnel of all three services throughout the UK and on duty overseas.  He said: “I know that the role will be challenging with a small but vibrant and steadily growing Jewish military community.  Our members represent all shades of Judaism but have a strong sense of Jewish identity, pride and belonging and deserve the very best support we can give them.

“I will be working closely with our faith endorsing authority, The Jewish Committee for HM Forces (JCHMF), to ensure that our troops receive whatever religious, cultural and welfare resources they need.  We will also be looking at Jewish educational opportunities for those living far from mainstream communities. I am looking forward to undertaking my new duties and I’m proud to serve alongside our brave servicemen and women.”

In addition to his civilian appointment Rabbi Saunders has been appointed to a Territorial Army commission in the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department and will serve in a muti-faith role with Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force.

JCHMF chairman, Colonel Martin Newman, welcomed the new appointment.  He said: “Padre Saunders will be a great asset to our community.  He has already made himself known to many of our members and has shown a great understanding of the pastoral needs of young servicemen and women often operating far from home and increasingly under very dangerous circumstances.

Padre Saunders will have the distinction of wearing the very rare Jewish cap badge of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, a scarce collectors’ item which has not been worn by a serving padre for some 40 years.