One more Hannukah note:

Military members and families that would like to attend the National Lighting of the Menorah - on the ellipse downtown at 4 pm on Dec 25th - should contact Sara Astrow at 703-806-4196 or via to obtain a ticket.

This Friday, December 16th, there will be a Hanukkah Celebration in the new Pentagon Memorial Chapel.  Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Special Assistant to the SECAF and CSAF for Values and Vision is the special guest speaker!  Come join the Jewish Community in celebrating this special event. Complimentary kosher light lunch (including Sufganiyot) to follow!

Details:
The service will take place from 1230 -1330 in the New Chapel, Room 1E438

Visitor Instructions:
Visitor Parking in South Parking Lane 18a
You will need to provide the name, make of car, license plate #, and state vehicle is registered in. (Send Information to by 12 Dec.)

Arrival time 1145 at Metro Entrance: Need a Pentagon ID for admission, or check in with 2 IDs, one valid photo ID.

There will be a Security Check-In after entrance.  All visitors must obtain a visitors pass and wait in the visitors section for escort.  All visitors must be escorted while in the building by Rabbi or Chaplain Staff to the Chapel.

Every year I look at the up coming Holidays, wondering how I’m going to approach asking for the holidays off.  I took leave for Rosh Hashanah both days this year because I didn’t feel like I knew my supervisor well enough to ask for those days off without leave (I just PCS’d in to the squadron).  A week before Yom Kippur I asked for the days off for Yom Kippur and Sukkot without taking leave.  His response was a serious look and the question:  “Are you devout Jew?” I wasn’t sure what that meant so I really didn’t respond to the question. (I am shomer shabbos and keep kosher)

Later I met with the wing chaplain to discuss the position of the base Jewish lay leader and how I can be involved. Both the chaplain and the senior (assistant) were very friendly and supportive during our meeting, so I asked about the policy of taking a religious holiday off without taking leave.  The senior commented that they have no problem people taking the holidays off (without leave) as long as they are not “all of a sudden observant”.

Noticing a pattern, I began to question why is this an issue every time the topic of observing a Jewish holiday comes up?  It doesn’t make any sense to me. I should have said I totally agree as long as only religious/observant Christians take Christmas off of work.  As secular Christians are just taking advantage of a free day off by claiming a religious holiday!  Also, how does a religious person “prove” that they are religious enough to take the holy day off before they are allowed to take the day? In essence one has to prove they are religious first before they are allowed to practice their religion.

Read more...

This past January, Ch. (Col.) Bonnie Koppell received an invitation she could not turn down.  She was asked to travel to Iraq to conduct Passover seders for Jewish service members.  After two weeks of refresher training in Soldiering/Surviving 101 in Fort Bliss, Texas, Rabbi Koppell left the U.S. just in time for the first Seder.  With the help of many fellow soldiers along the way, she was able to make it to both seders and provide the Jewish troops with what they considered Dayenu (enough for them), “Good food, good wine, and a day off.”

Along her journey, Rabbi Koppell spent a lot of time visiting and talking with soldiers in different units from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison to Saddam’s presidential palace in Baghdad.  She went from a place which one Jewish soldier refered to as the “suburbs of hell” to swimming in Saddam’s pool and smoking Cuban cigars on his lawn.

In a recent article she wrote for Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Online, Rabbi Koppell talks about her amazing experience and what she learned from the soldiers she spoke with.  One thing she gained a better understanding of is the complexity of building a new Iraq from scratch.

I read a report on the status and needs of women, which used the term “social literacy.” That term summarized and expressed the issue that the engineers explained - we can clean up the streets, but if people don’t have the ability to keep them clean or the understanding of why that’s important, then we’ve wasted our time.

Rabbi Koppell was also moved by the positive attitudes of the soldiers.

Many soldiers complain about missing their spouses and children back home. It is an unbelievably challenging environment for families, especially when some soldiers cannot get out when they were promised. On the other hand, there is tremendous pride and enthusiasm regarding what has been accomplished. One Jewish soldier who works in civil affairs described his great feeling of comfort and support from the Iraqi people. He was deeply moved on election day to see people with disabilities walking miles to vote.

To read more about Rabbi Koppell’s Iraq experience, check the full article.  To contact Rabbi Koppell for speaking engagements, email her at .

Believe it or not, it’s already time to start thinking about care packages for the High Holidays.  As usual, JIG will be mailing some packages as well as setting up “givers” with deployed and Stateside troops.

If you are deployed or even at a Stateside location far from home and would like to receive something, please so I can add you to our mailing list.  Please include:

• Your mailing address (duh)
• How many Jews you serve with (to judge package size)
• A “wish list” of items you are in particular need of
• Whether you want to only receive packages from JIG or want to be included in other community/individual mailings

Names and addresses will not be posted online or made public in any way.  Any individuals, synagogues, or youth groups that receive the names are carefully screened.  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to .

I will put together a more comprehensive “ad” for the mailing as the date approaches, but if anyone is interested in donating some money now for the care packages, you can use the PayPal button at the bottom left of this webpage labeled “Make a Donation.”

The Jerusalem Post recently reported on the efforts of the Jewish Chaplains Council and the Aleph Institute to help deployed troops celebrate Shavuot.

The Jewish Chaplains Council teamed up with the Jewish Publication Society to send 2,750 copies of the Book of Psalms and the Torah to Jewish soldiers.  The Aleph Institute sent out more than 1,000 “shelf-stable” portions of cheesecake so the troops could have a traditional dairy meal for the holiday.

The article discusses the two organizations’ overall efforts to support Jewish troops and shares some of the experiences of chaplains in theater.  My favorite anecdote from the article:

[Rabbi] Kronenberg recalls one soldier in Afghanistan who attended every religious service Kronenberg held, and regularly asked the rabbi questions about Judaism.

Before Kronenberg left, the soldier asked him to call his parents to tell them he was OK. When Kronenberg did so a few days later, he mentioned how impressed he was by the soldier’s Jewish commitment.

“That’s funny; he never attended any services here,” the parents said.

For all of you beltway folks, the Fort Belvoir Jewish Congregation has a number of activities planned for the near future.

Sunday, June 12, 2005 - Shavuot Celebration

• 5:30 PM – Dinner at Belvoir Chapel Fellowship Hall - A dairy dinner will be served of Salmon, Blintze Casserole, Israeli Salads, fruit, and of course, Cheesecake!!
• 6:45 PM Service - A Wedding Ceremony where we all marry the Torah will be led by COL. Jonathan Kosarin, as well as a short Yom Tov Service.
• 7:30 PM Study Session & Desserts

Sunday, June 19, 2005 - Father’s Day Fiesta: Come enjoy great company, eat some great chili and hot dogs and, of course, watch a baseball movie – “The Rookie”.  4:00 PM at the Belvoir “Field House”.  Feel free to bring your old baseball glove or football to toss around before dinner!

Friday, June 24, 2005 - Shabbat Outreach Dinner

• 6:30 PM - Dinner at the RE Building
• 8:00 PM - Services with Rabbi Bash at the Belvoir Chapel

For more information about any of these events or to RSVP, please contact at 703-806-4196.

1st Lt. Kristin Burt of the Army News Service reports on a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony held at FOB Salerno in Afghanistan.

For Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah, literally the Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism, the FOB Equal Opportunity Advisor Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Fagan organized a ceremony that encouraged Soldiers and civilians to do just that: remember.

“If we don’t stop to reflect about the atrocities of the Holocaust, it can happen again,” said Fagan. “If we don’t remember and educate others about that culture, we do ourselves a disservice.”

Fagan educated Salerno tenants through an observance that included a candle-lighting ceremony, a poem reading and a multi-media presentation comprising a movie clip and informational posters on the chapel wall.

Read the full article HERE.

Passover is probably a distant memory to most of us by now.  The amazing joy of eating bread has probably subsided, and life is all back to normal.  I had hoped to recap Passover in the military a little better, but my full time job (i.e. being a Marine) has been occupying 110% of my time lately.

There have been a few reports back from the field, and a few stories poped up on the web about military seders.  Here’s what I’ve found for now.  I hope to have more stories and pictures soon.

• Pesach in Iraq and other exotic locations - Jerusalem Post
• An interesting take on Passover at sea - Orlando Sentinal (go to page 2 to read about the military side)

If you have any photos or stories from your own seders, please to me and I will be happy to share them with our readers.  of the JWB is also trying to gather information on Pesach celebrations this year as well.  Feedback (good & bad) can help make future events more sucessful.

Here are some of the photos we have received so far:

If you’ve never seen Shabot 6000 (the robot-Shabbos-goy), you should really check out his latest animation, entiteld Seda Club.

Most of Ben Baruch’s work is in the form of a comic strip, but occasionally he goes all out and makes animations like this.

Very funny!