Editors Note: The following story was submitted by U.S. Army Lt. Col. Susan H. Meisner, from the Office of Military Cooperation – Afghanistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan Jewish personnel—Soldiers, sailors, Marines, airman and civilians—gathered with their friends and co-workers to celebrate Hanukkah on tiny Kabul Compound, Afghanistan.

While they didn’t have a minyan, they had plenty of spirit, as they took turns reciting the prayers, lighting the candles and singing Hanukkah songs.

On Friday night, civilians from local non-governmental organizations joined in the festivities, a short Sabbath service and the customary Oneg Shabbat.

Of course, celebrating Hanukkah in Afghanistan is significant—it’s an achievement in and of itself. Military personnel and NGOs alike are here to rebuild a war-torn country best known for its suffering under the strict brand of Islam practiced by the Taliban regime.

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We’ve started to hear back from more and more of the deployed troops who received Channukah care packages.  Evidently, the effort was far larger than anyone had imagined.

Jewish troops have been flooded with gifts and treats for the holiday.  All the responses I have received (and seen) have been from very grateful service members who were just amazed at how many people at home were thinking about them.

I think this particularly shows that regardless of how much (or little) you can send, it makes a huge difference in that person’s morale.

I sincerely hope that this spirit of giving continues throughout the year.  Jews in Green will be planning some more mailings for Purim and Passover, so keep those dates in mind.  I’ll post more information on those as we get closer to the holidays.

Read on to see a letter from one of the recepients.

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The Army Times has a story on holiday care packages.

While it’s mostly about Christmas stuff (sigh), there is a tidbit about us chosen people:

One chaplain in Iraq requested 28 Hanukkah boxes for Jewish troops, and has reported back that the ones received so far have caught each soldier by surprise, she said. Each contained a small menorah, a dreidle, Hanukkah cookies, favorite candies, a moisture-wicking T-shirt and beanie, toiletries, hot cocoa mix, and other items.

There is an impressive list of online resources for those wishing to help out deployed troops; everything from “pen-pal” sites to an organization that will send a 2-minute holiday greeting video (from you) to your deployed loved ones.  We’re already a few days deep into Channukah, but remember, those men and women can always use a morale booster.  Take note of these resources and use them year-round.

Original Article Link

The News Tribune reports on the efforts of Army Chaplain LTC Avi Weiss to assist Jewish troops stationed at Fort Lewis.

Rabbi Weiss has been on and off active duty and even spent some time in Jerusalem in-between his tours.  Evidently a Jewish chaplain is a very welcome sight for the Jewish community on and off base.  This will be the first time in three years that they will have a rabbi to lead services.

LTC Weiss also leads weekly Shabbat services and is putting a great deal of work into the construction of a brand new $8 million chapel for North Fort Lewis.  Read the the full story for more info.

Shalom Lamm, a member of JISNA, and a regular reader of Jews in Green, has created a most unique hannukiah this year.

The structure is built around nine 44mm anti-aircraft artillery shells.  The base is built-up wood with dental molding, stained and with cutouts to secure the shells.

The concept was to take objects of war and violence, and to convert them to objects of holiness and light.  This is keeping with the theme of Channukah, and is the basis for naming the menorah “The Isaiah Menorah.”

Into the wooden base, I burned the immortal words from Isaiah (chapter II, verse 4):

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks...”

This is by far the coolest (and perhaps only) military-themed hannukiah I’ve ever seen!  For more pictures read on.  You can also click on any of the images for a bigger view.

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CNN reports on a a Cub Scout pack in Houston, Texas that went out of their way to ensure deployed Jewish troops have a happy Channukah this year.

As part of a service project, Pack 1190 from Congregation Emanu El prepared care packages with Hanukkah candles, menorahs and dreidels—giving Lowit and 150 other soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait a way to mark the holiday.

Although Channukah is certainly the most visible of Jewish holidays, Rabbi Felzenberg (a chaplain in Iraq now) makes a good point that it is one of the easiest to celebrate in the field.  Lighting candles for 8 nights sure beats finding kosher for Passover food for a week, or fasting for a day.

I have been thoroughly impressed with the outpouring of support in the way of cards and care packages sent for Channukah this year.  The only thing that would make me happier would be to see the same energy and effort devoted to the High Holidays or Passover.

Yesher koach to Pack 1190, and to all the rest of you that brightened up the day of a deployed service member this Channukah!

*Special thanks to JIG reader Amy Radinsky for the heads up on this.

Operation Military Pride, a volunteer organization that assists in sending care packages to troops overseas, has a great guide for sending packags overseas.

We have received a lot of requests from readers that want to send packages to deployed troops, so this should answer a lot of questions people have.  You can check out their site at www.operationmilitarypride.org/packages.html.  There you’ll find some do’s and don’ts for care packages as well as a list of needed / requested items and even restrictions for various APO zip codes.

It would be fair to say that OMP is “care package central”.  Even if you don’t have the time to put together your own package to send, OMP offers ways you can sponsor events or even sponsor an individual package.  You can even donate online via Paypal.  Take a minute and check them out.

Speaking of care packages… We just heard back from our first recipient of a Jews in Green Channukah package!  You can see SPC Adam Hoffman’s reply here (scroll down).

No, this isn’t a picture of my Halloween spoils.  These are just some of the things we collected and purchased to send to troops for Chanukah.

With the help of some of our readers, and some local members of the Jewish community in Pensacola we managed to send out a number of bulging boxes of goodies, CDs, DVDs, books, health items, and most importantly candles and menorahs.  We received so much stuff that we wound up sending out a couple more boxes than we had expected to.

A special thanks goes out to the children of the religious school at Temple Beth El in Pensacola.  They made a whole bunch of great Chanukah cards to wish the troops well that will accompany the packages to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The packages went out first thing this morning, then I expect about a month in transit.  Hopefully we will start to hear from some of the lucky recipients soon after that!

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has helped out and offered support for our Chanukah Care Package Program.

We have had a number of people donate items and money (to purchase gifts) to be sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Several readers have also volunteered themsleves and thier community to collect gifts and send packages themselves.

We will be making our final purchases this weekend and mailing out the care packages on Monday morning.

I’ll keep everyone posted on the status of the packages and hopefully have some letters and pictures of the troops enjoying them soon!

With the assistance of members of TheBrave listserv, Jews in Green will be sending a number of Channukah care packages to service members deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

While this is mostly a local effort here in Pensacola, we would be glad to take donations from donors outside the local area.  If you are interested in sending packages yourself, we’d be happy to let you know the mailing addresses of where items are needed.  For more information, please email or .

The deadline for money donations is October 23rd.  You can mail a check or send payment via PayPal.
The deadline for us to receive packages or individual items is October 28th.

For a list of needed items, read the full story.

UPDATE: DC Area collection at Ft. Belvoir
The Fort Belvoir Jewish Youth group will be collecting the following items to send over to Jewish troops in Iraq and Afghanstan - please consider dropping off some of these items in the boxes provided in the chapel when you attend services. The collection will be on going until October 28th when the items need to be sent overseas in a timely manner so the troops receive the items during/before Hanukkah.

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