From Media-Newswire.com:

The candle flame danced a slow mesmerizing dance as it flickered from one side of the wick to the next. The light softly illuminated his face as his silhouette became a portion of the projection behind him—images of Holocaust victims. Soft-spoken yet with a stern demeanor, Rabbi ( Capt. ) Raphael Berdugo’s eyes glistened as he solemnly lead a prayer in Yiddish.

More than 30 servicemembers bowed their heads to pay their respects during the Holocaust Remembrance Vigil held here May 2, to remember the more than 6 million lives lost during World War II.

One of only nine Rabbis in the Air Force and the only one in U.S. Air Force’s Central region, Rabbi Berdugo’s area of responsibility extends far beyond the base.

“I once received a call in the middle of the night from the wing chaplain of a different base, asking me what would be appropriate to do as a memorial service for a fallen Jewish servicemember,” said the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing chaplain from McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.

Read more...

So much of the American Jewish identity revolves around Israel, that it would be difficult to let the occasion pass without comment.

My wife, who teaches in a preschool/kindergarten program at our local JCC, has been busy sharing pictures of an Aish trip she enjoyed to Israel.  My youngest daughter, Amelia, is in her class, and at 3, it’s interesting to see how she relates to Israel, when she doesn’t necessarily understand the distinction between “the city” (NYC, of course) and Pennsylvania quite yet.  I’m excited for the first time she sets foot in Israel, those first moments where we are heavily scrutinized by security at Ben Gurion notwithstanding.  Once I make it safely through our little piece of OIF, I’ve made a promise to my family that we’re going to Israel, not Disneyworld.

This special time for Israel puts us, as American Jews serving in the military, in an interesting place.  Many of us, especially those with command responsibilities or security requirements, live under the specter of Pollard (and now Kadish), and the question of dual loyalty arises from time to time.  Jewish or Israeli friends ask, why not serve in Israel?

How does one celebrate 60 years of Israel without answering to those things?

I respond to the Pollard/Kadish question easily—espionage between allies is wrong.  I am not naive.  I am aware that it occurs.  Nevertheless, spies do not do what they do for altruistic reasons.  They skulk and steal, in direct opposition to our values, almost solely for personal gain.  The aggregate of Jewish citizens should not be judged by the greed of a few.

And we’ve moved past that time in our mutual national relationship.  I point to recent examples, posted on this site, of the extensive collaboration in the War on Terror between just the National Guard Bureau and Israel’s various defense forces.  As we learn from each other and share our resources, I find a great source of pride in that we both stand to contribute to the other’s national security.

Our shared values of plurality and democracy speak to why I see no difference between an American service member and my wife’s late friend Michael Levin, who gave his life as an Israeli paratrooper fighting in Lebanon.  We all combat the same evils for the same righteous purpose, though I envy the national call to service that epitomizes military service in Israel.

Israel at 60 is an achievement for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisroel or in Diaspora.  Its existence is a living, vibrant answer to the horrors of Shoah, and arguably, what could have left us a defeated people instead became impetus for not just the physical rebirth of a Jewish nation, but the reinvigoration of world Jewry. In a sense, with any b’nei mitzvah, brit millah, pidyon haben, or ba’alei tshuvah, the Land grows just a little bit larger, the emotional borders transcending the physical.

In the context of this forum, the pride I take in having “Jewish” on my ID tags is in no small part due to the extent of those borders.  I hope you all get the chance to reflect on what Israel means to you!

From the Wisconsin Jewish Chronical
‘Grateful that I am alive’: Iraq war veterans reflect

By Andrea Waxman
of Chronicle Staff

Racine resident Tom Rodgers, a veteran of the Marine Corps and of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, would “absolutely” make the same decision and join the Marines again, if he had it to do over.

“It is such a big part of who I am. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said

Joshua Warren, 26, a Racine native and now a junior majoring in history at Seattle University, Wash., served in the U.S. Army for three tours of duty in Afghanistan and two in Iraq.

Though he decided to leave the Army after the death of a close friend and also to please his ex-wife, Warren said he too would not choose to undo his military experience.

Rodgers and Warren are two members of Wisconsin’s Jewish community who have served in the Iraq War and in Kuwait and Afghanistan, respectively. Both have ties to Kenosha’s Beth Hillel Temple.

Rodgers, 45, joined the Marine Corps in 1981 at the end of his freshman year of college.

“Being part of the military was part of my game plan for as long as I can remember,” he said. He would have joined right after high school if a girlfriend had not talked him into going to college instead.

Read more...

from the Jerusalem Post

Two years ago, Andrew Shulman’s designated location on Shabbat mornings was the auditorium of the Orthodox Congregation Beth Israel in Malden, a suburb of Boston. Shoulders covered by a tallit, Shulman followed the service in the siddur, lending his deep, ebullient voice in prayer and song. Before services ended and everybody left for lunch, Shulman would stand up before the congregation and discuss the schedule for the following week. This was among his responsibilities as the synagogue’s program director.

Shulman’s wife, Lori, and their two daughters remain in Malden, but Shulman has a new job and a new address. Since last year, he is one of four full-time Jewish chaplains stationed with the US military in Iraq.

Like the Jewish personnel they minister to, these chaplains come from diverse backgrounds. They include a Beverly Hills native whose career included stops in Israel and Massachusetts, an eloquent Pennsylvanian with a history of family military service and a New Yorker who witnessed the horrors of war on a road near Baghdad. In separate e-mail and telephone interviews, three of these men - Shulman, Jon Cutler and Ira Ehrenpreis - discussed the destinations their respective paths have led them to in Iraq. (A fourth, David Goldstrom, did not respond to a request for an e-mail interview.)

Read the rest on the Jerusalem Post.

While America hears reports about the latest American Idol to be sent home, paratroopers returning from Afghanistan live in filth, and it goes relatively unreported in the media.

It’s not just personal because I’ve been a paratrooper (okay, maybe just a little), but troops deploying abroad deserve to return home to facilities that are at least livable.  Paratroopers, by way of their duty, assume risks in training, let alone combat (we’re all “legs” in OIF), that transcend that of their peers.  These are brave men and women who take that extra step, often out the door or tailgate of a C-130, in the service of their country.  They deserve better.

Until new facilities are coordinated on post, I would proffer that paratroopers affected by poor barracks be accommodated at the best hotels Fayetteville has to offer until such time.

Whether it’s one barracks that was poorly maintained by the rear detachment, or many WWII-era stick-built affairs filled with peeling lead paint and crumbling asbestos tile, no military member should be living in conditions we wouldn’t wish on HUD projects.

Bush proclaims Jewish heritage month
from JTA.org

Published: 04/30/2008

President Bush launched the third annual Jewish American Heritage Month.

“The story of the Jewish people in America is the story of America itself,” Bush said in his proclamation Tuesday declaring May as Jewish American Heritage Month. “When the first Jewish settlers arrived on our shores hundreds of years ago, they saw a land of promise and liberty. With hard work and determination, these individuals helped build our country and strengthen our values. Their commitment to religious freedom and their belief in democracy have enriched our society and helped make our country a beacon of hope for all.

“Many Jewish Americans have served in our military with valor and distinction in times of war and peace,” the proclamation continues. “We pay special tribute to all those who stepped forward when our country needed them most. These American heroes confronted grave dangers to protect our nation.”

The first heritage month was in 2006. The original legislation was initiated by a Jewish member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.).

Ed. Note:  I admit a fascination with Jewish partisans during WWII.  Apparently, they are to make a film of this particular story of partisans from Belarus, starring Daniel Craig (the new James Bond).

Jewish partisans remembered; their story to hit the big screen
By Yossi Melman

“Killing a man is like smoking a cigarette,” Itzke Resnik, known as a man of few words, was accustomed to say. Resnik, who passed away nine years ago in Canada, was one of the intrepid fighters in the so-called Bielski commandos, a Jewish group of partisan fighters headed by the Bielski brothers who fought the Nazis from their base in the forests of Belarus.

They did not hesitate to eliminate Jewish snitches and collaborators and were responsible for saving 1,200 Jews from being killed in the Holocaust. Their courageous story went untold for decades but later this year a movie based on their tale and starring Daniel Craig, the current James Bond, will hit the screens. The screenplay is based on a book, “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” written by Dr. Nechama Tec, a sociologist from the University of Connecticut and herself a Holocaust survivor.

More at Haaretz online.

From the Lower Hudson Journal News

WEST NYACK - As a combat infantry soldier in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army, Alan Moskin wasn’t even aware that Passover had come and gone.

There was no matzo, no gefilte fish, no bitter herbs, no Haggadah. Fighting in towns across Europe in the spring of 1945, Moskin, then 18, was just happy to be alive at the end of each day.

“I was on the front line, fighting during Passover,” recalled Moskin, of Nanuet, now 81. “We didn’t have time to stop and celebrate.”

Six decades later, Alan and other Jewish veterans in Rockland are making up for what they didn’t have by trying to make religious holidays more celebratory for Jewish soldiers deployed overseas.

Although combat on the ground dictates whether soldiers can take a break to celebrate Passover, the Rockland/Orange District of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. are making sure they have the religious items required to celebrate their faith.

Passover commemorates the flight of Jews from bondage in Egypt several thousand years ago. It also celebrates the coming of spring and is a reminder of the desire for freedom and people’s willingness to fight for it.

During the eight days of Passover, observant Jews shun chametz, all leavened bread and fermented grains, and recall the hardships of the Jews under Egyptian rule, during the Passover seder. They also enumerate the 10 plagues that Jews believe God brought upon the Egyptians.

This year, the Rockland/Orange District of the Jewish War Veterans, or JWV, have sent 122 care packages filled with Passover essentials as part of Operation Matzoh Meal.

The packages containing matzo; macaroons; canned gefilte fish; grape juice; Passover Haggadah, or guide to the seder; snacks and toiletries have made it to Jewish soldiers stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guam, Japan, Singapore and Korea.

“If you did get a package, it was from your parents,” Al Zeilberger, 79, of Airmont, said, recalling the time when he fought in the Korean War. Zeilberger is now co-commander of the Fred Hecht Post 425, the most active of the JWV posts in Rockland/Orange, along with Aaron Kramer, also a Korean War veteran who lives in Monsey.

“Since the wars of Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan, we as soldiers are more appreciative of what soldiers out there would like,” he said.

Read more...

from Chabad.org

A Passover Haggadah inscribed by President George W. Bush is on its way to a military base in Baghdad after arriving in Kuwait Thursday. For the next week, it will make the rounds of installations throughout the region as a show of support for America’s armed forces in general and its roughly 1,000 soldiers of the Jewish faith serving in the region in particular.

“It must be very uplifting for soldiers with sand in their boots, pressing ahead in difficult conditions, to realize that their Commander-in-Chief cares so much to personally send a special message to them,” said Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the Washington, D.C., director of American Friends of Lubavitch who coordinated the effort. “I hope this will give a new vigor to troops in the theater.”

Shemtov presented two copies of the Slager edition of the Haggadah - published by Kol Menachem, it features a commentary gleaned from the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory - to the president this week as part of an Oval Office meeting on the occasion of the 106th anniversary of the Rebbe’s birth. At the meeting, Bush signed a proclamation declaring the day Education and Sharing Day, USA.

Read more...

Passover on Wheels
by David Geffen
from the Jerusalem Post

At the conclusion of an intense and successful military Korean Pessah mission for 700 Jewish soldiers, Chaplain Oscar Mike Lifshutz wrote an eight-page summary report to Rabbi Aryeh Lev, his supervisor at the Jewish Welfare Board’s Chaplaincy Commission, on May 4, 1951. “We have just returned from the front,"Lifshutz began, “and completed a tour of our men scattered about the Korean peninsula. Operation Passover is over… let me go back, tell you about our project and how it came to be.”

The efforts of Lifshutz were already known widely through a story on Pessah in Korea by George Barrett published in The New York Times on April 22, 1951. It described a “Jewish chaplain officiating under battle conditions,” and Barrett quoted Lifshutz at the Seder stating that “when you fight for somebody else’s freedom you also are keeping your own.”

An Illinois native, Lifshutz received his smicha from the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago in 1945 and immediately entered the US Army as a chaplain. During his studies at the chaplaincy school in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, a biting description of the army’s treatment of the Jewish DPs was published in the Harrison Report by the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School in September 1945. Lifshutz recognized that he would have a chance to assist the survivors of the Holocaust, and did so during the next four years he served at US Army posts in Austria.

Interestingly, he also had a hand in early Israeli history. In the summer of 1949 it was decided to bring the remains of Theodor Herzl and his family to this country for reburial in Jerusalem. As the chaplain in Vienna, where Herzl was buried, Lifshutz organized a memorial service at the main synagogue in the city. Then in his white kittel, he accompanied the honor guard from Israel which came to bring Herzl home to the land about which he had prophesied: “If you will it, it is no dream.”

Read more...