Uriel Heilman over at the JTA recently wrote a great article about celebrating the holidays overseas.

In the article, Rabbi Felzenberg talks about his battalion’s own Army engineers bulding him a sukkah, “which could likely withstand a hurricane!” He is also trying to get the welders to make “a nice display-size menorah for Chanukah.” How is that for support!

It’s been a little while since the press has covered the Jewish service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this is a nice update on Jewish life in the trenches there.  Check out the full article HERE.

Internet service was restored yesterday, so Jews In Green is back in service!  It will still take me a few days to catch up and start posting again, but the first major hurdle to this has now past.

For those interested, our house fared pretty well.  Power was restored to Whiting Field about a week ago and the water is now safe to drink again.  The closer you get to Pensacola, the worse off things are though.  Many friends who live near the water are still without power and dealing with flooding.  The outpouring of support and help from workers around the country has been amazing though.  It has been a tough season for Florida!

Due to hurricane Ivan, Jews in Green will be out of service for an unknown period of time.  The site will still be online, but we will not be able to post any new content for a little while. 

My wife and I evacuated for the storm, but we will be returning to Pensacola in the next few days.  Exactly when we will be able to start posting stories again will depend on when we have power restored and when life gets back to normal.

In the meantime, please browse some of our older stories and feel free to use the forum.

L’shanah tovah!

Due to hurricane Ivan, Jews in Green will be out of service for an unknown period of time.  The site will still be online, but we will not be able to post any new content for a little while. 

My wife and I evacuated for the storm, but we will be returning to Pensacola in the next few days.  Exactly when we will be able to start posting stories again will depend on when we have power restored and when life gets back to normal.

In the meantime, please browse some of our older stories and feel free to use the forum.

L’shanah tovah!

GMail4Troops is offering free GMail invites to active duty military (with priority to deployed troops).

For those that don’t know about GMail, it is the new email service from Google.  Right now, the only way to get an account is by invitation only.  It’s a big deal for email junkies, because the service offers 1 GigaByte of email storage for free.

GMail4Troops takes “donations” of invites and redistributes them to military members.  Accoording to the site, they have given out over 4,000 accounts since the program started.  You can read a more detailed story about the effort at Stars & Stripes.

Uniform changes make life a little easier for Marines and sailors.

Cammies designed for females will soon be available for Marines.  MarineLink reports on the details.  In short, the cammies are the same as the regular Marine Corps utility uniform, but they will now be available in different (and more tailored) smaller sizes to better accomodate women with small frames.

The Navy announces a slough of new uniform regs. Navy Newstand reports about a number of changes to the Navy’s uniform regulations.  Hihlights of the changes include:

• women’s skirts
• identification badges
• the wear of civilian bags
• women’s handbags
• the wear of cellphones, etc.

You can read the full NAVADMIN HERE.

The New Jersey Star Ledger has a great article about Army chaplain Rabbi Felzenberg.  For those that don’t know, Rabbi Felzenberg is currently serving as the chief rabbi for all of the US troops serving in Iraq.

The brief article gives some insight on the daily life of a Jewish chaplain in Iraq, as well as some specifics about the rabbi.  My favorite quote has to be the rabbi’s response when asked about the sometimes poor attendance at services:

“They have a largely better alibi” than most Jews in civilian life who skip services, Felzenberg joked. “When I say, ‘I missed you at services,’ they can say, ‘I was doing a small arms search.’”

... priceless!

If you are reading this, you are certainly aware that Jews are an integral part of the U.S. military, but did you know that Jews are deeply involved in influencing defense policy as well?  There are many Jews vitally interested in a strong national defense and deeply committed to bridging the information gap between the military and civilian world, and in speaking out to policy-makers about these deeply help beliefs.  These Jews (and non-Jewsl) are part of an organization called JINSA, The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Learn more about JISNA and what programs they have to offer you!

Read more...

There are two places to go for High Holiays in the Pensacola area, B’nai Israel Synagogue (Conservative) and Temple Beth El (Reform).  Both synagogues are offering free services to and welcome all Jewish service members.  For contact information on these two synagogues, visit The Green Pages.

You can download B’nai Israel’s schedule by clicking here.

To see Temple Beth El’s schedule, click “full story”.

Read more...

For everyone stationed in the Virginia / Washington D.C. area, the Ft. Belvoir Jewish Activities Center has provided us with a schedule of events for their High Holiday services.

You can download the word document HERE.

If any other military chapels would like me to list their services or programs for the High Holidays, please with the info.