Army chaplain talks of service to war’s Jewish troops

Clad in khaki camouflage fatigues, from the boots on his feet to the kipa atop his head, Colonel Ira Kronenberg told a Monroe Township audience about the challenges facing the approximately 800 Jewish military personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a chaplain in the U.S. Army reserves, the military man and ordained rabbi has officiated at Passover, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot services in the region, bringing a touch of home and tradition to front-line soldiers.

“The Jewish kids range from those who know nothing [about Judaism] and are Jewish in name only, to those with a yeshiva education,” Kronenberg said, in an Oct. 14 talk at The Ponds arranged by Concordia Unit #5266 of B"nai B"rith International.

Overall, Kronenberg said, support for American efforts in the Gulf region remains steadfast among Jewish troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It"s stronger than that of the general [military] population,” he said. “They are very proud to be over there serving their country.”

Kronenberg spoke of one 22- or 23-year-old soldier, whom he remembered as “a typical wise guy who knows everything, with nothing scaring him.”

During a Passover service held in what once was Saddam Hussein"s palace, Kronenberg said, the soldier “came to the seder and started to recite Mah Nishtana,” the ritual Four Questions.

“I started to cry. It really hit me that far away from home,” said Kronenberg, who would normally have been celebrating the holiday back home in Passaic with his wife, Faigie, and their four children.

The chaplain also told of another soldier who, two months after being interviewed at the seder by a TV reporter, was killed by an IED (improvised explosive device).

The network “played the interview on the day of the funeral,” Kronenberg said. The soldier “said he was proud of the fact he was Jewish, serving in the American army and taking care of people.”

Kronenberg, who was ordained at Yeshiva University"s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, attended chaplain duty school at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn in 1972 and soon was serving as a chaplain in Vietnam. After he was discharged, he was named director of religious services at the Daughters of Miriam/Gallen Institute in Clifton senior center, where he has served for 31 years. He attributed his affinity for the army to his mother"s service in the Women"s Army Corps during World War II.

In an interview before his official presentation on Oct. 14, Kronenberg characterized the groups to which he has spoken as, for the most part, “conservative, not anti-war.”

Read the entire story on NJ Jewish News.

By Jonathan Tobin, the Jewish Exponent

One thing is constant about life on an aircraft carrier: the noise.

The roar of jet aircraft engines on the deck is complemented by other sounds heard throughout the ship and below deck: the explosive booms coming from the catapults launching planes and the reverberations of the restraining wires on the steel deck that enables others to land.

Yet the sound that seems to garner the most attention on board the USS Harry S. Truman is, ironically, among the softest they will hear: the even tones of Capt. Herman “Herm” Shelanski.

“I’ve never heard him even raise his voice,” says one of Shelanski’s officers, who admits that this low-key style is hardly typical of naval behavior when it comes to the person in charge. “But he’s always in command of the situation. He’s the sort of a person who makes you want to meet or exceed his expectations.”

Another officer, referring to the captain’s average height of approximately 5 feet, 7 inches, says Shelanski’s “physical stature isn’t so big, but his presence is huge. Everyone on board feels it.”

Shelanski, a native of Wynnewood, Pa., is a 27-year Navy veteran who has risen from a young aviator piloting E-2 Hawkeyes to being the commanding officer of one of the Navy’s elite weapon systems.

Read the entire article here.

If everything is working properly, you should be seeing the new look at Jews in Green. The old look was getting a little outdated and had some display problems on some browsers. I did a lot of testing with the new layout, but if you run into any problems please . 

I took the opportunity to make some content changes as well, inclusing simplified member account management and some changes to the forums. There are a few additions specifically for chaplains and layleaders that will be rolled out shortly.

Enjoy the new look and feel free to let me know what you think. 

It made our local news, and didn’t exactly make national news, but the National Guard of various states received alert orders for possible deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan within the next year or so.

My own unit from Pennsylvania, the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, along with a North Carolina brigade, are deploying for full-spectrum combat operations, while four others deploy for security operations.  A seventh brigade, from New Jersey, will be deploying for “detainment operations.”

For Reservists and Guard, a year’s notice really amounts to about 50-60 days of training prior to deployment, which I’m sure will include some kind of decent train-up or qualification at a mobilization site or national training center.  My serious concern is our personnel strength for the deployment, and the availability of volunteers in time for team-building and useful training on the Stryker and our super-cool equipment.

I’m not sure if LTC Seidman, our state’s only rabbi, is deploying with us or not.  In the meantime, I’d like to know of any Jewish soldiers in the 56th SBCT who will be deploying, so maybe we can get a jump-start on an in-theater minyan.

Stories from Jewish Soldiers in all these Guard units are encouraged as well.  2009 looks like it will be the “Citizen Soldier” year of the Global War on Terror, and it would be sweet to have anecdotes from Jewish members of the National Guard prior to and while it happens.

Chaplain Shlomo Shulman, who frequently sends pictures for our photo gallery, has a great first-person account of his time in Iraq on Aish’s website.

Click here for the article.

Editor’s Note:  It is so encouraging to see our endorsing agencies so publicly doing so much for us and our families.  I’m pleased to report this and the program (below) sponsored by the JWB Jewish Chaplain’s Council and B’nai Brith International.

Aleph is offering FREE Chanukah Menorahs, Candles, Complete Story of Chanukah booklets (which include the blessings and laws for the lighting of the Menorah) and Dreidels (traditional spin-tops commemorating the miracle of Chanukah) to all Jewish military personnel and their families for the Chanukah holiday. It is customary that each individual light their own Menorah.  Aleph is therefore willing to provide individual Menorahs and candles for each and every Jewish member of the Armed Forces.

We will ship all these items at our expense to any address where Jewish men or women are stationed—FREE OF CHARGE --

Aleph will continue to support the Jewish men and women of our Armed Forces in any way that we can.

Please feel free to contact us for all of your Jewish religious needs.

Please take the time to respond by providing us with the following information:

1) Name of chaplain, lay leader or other person to whom the packages should be sent at each location (We’d like to ship them in bulk wherever possible.)
2) Complete mailing address (APO). If your location is in the United States please do not give us a military (APO) address as we prefer to ship packages via UPS.
3) Which bases or location of troops the delivery will cover (so we do not duplicate.) Please copy all other Chaplains, Rabbis or Lay leaders that may also be ordering for the same personnel on your email response to us.
4) How many of each item do you need for the Jewish military members at your location?

PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR RESPONSE TO:

For more information or to order by phone please call (305) 864-5553.

Aleph is offering a new program for the children of active duty and deployed Jewish military personnel

Since many deployed and active duty personnel may find it difficult to buy and send their children gifts for Chanukah, Aleph is offering to do it for them. We will ship Chanukah gifts to all the young (age 15 and under only) children and grandchildren of active-duty and deployed military personnel! The children will receive an age and gender appropriate gift and the gift will look like it came directly from the parent or grandparent. Attached, please find a form which can be filled out scanned and emailed back to us or faxed back to us at 305-864-5675.  If you cannot print and fax the form back to us please send us the following information by e-mail to :  Your name and email address, name of child, relationship to child, age of child, gender of child and address of child, (Please make sure to include apt #’s and any other information). Please let us know what you would like the card to say (i.e. “from Mommy”, “from Daddy”)?

Please forward the attached form or this offer to all Jewish military personnel.

Benjamin Nadler has penned an in interesting article, titled “The Few, The Proud, The Jewish” in the Jewish Post.

You may read the article here.

Interestingly, a bigot author recently used the same statistic of 1500 self-identified Jewish service members to claim we don’t do our share.  I still argue that there’s no way to garner an honest statistic for Jewish service.

Many don’t affiliate or identify as Jewish, and as I recently found in my unit, there are a number of soldiers with matrilineal Jewish heritage that would count to us.  Those that recognize patrilineal heritage might find similar situations.  On the whole, I think it’s more important to weigh our contribution over the ambiguity of our numbers.  I’d like to see a stronger call to military service in our synagogues and other institutions in our community, but we do what we can.  As I’ve observed in my own congregation (and amongst my religious school students), there’s no lack of love for service members in our community.

I’d take the quality Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that this site has the privilege to write about over plain numbers every day!

Hat tip to LTC (Rabbi) Eli Seidman, our chaplain in the Pennsylvania National Guard, and the Pittsburgh eruv web site.

Rabbi Nosson Sach’s blog
Victor Stiebel’s blog

A few months back I mentioned that I was looking for someone to take the reigns at Jews In Green.  SGT Kresge answered the call and has done an exceptional job since.  I’m writing today about an even bigger change that is in the works.

Numerous times I had toyed with the idea of the Jewish Welfare Board taking a larger role in JIG.  They would be better served with a bigger online presence and JIG would be better served by having the backing of an established organization like the JWB.

Well the stars have finally aligned and the JWB will be integrating JIG into their organization.

What does this mean to you?  In the near future the average reader won’t notice much of a difference.  SGT Kresge will continue his excellent writing and stay in his current position as senior editor.  You might see a few minor changes in the site’s format, but all the features you’ve come to love will remain unchanged.  In addition, you’ll see more JWB news directly from the source.

I’ve been working closely with Rabbi Brad Hoffman at the JWB and with the help of their own technical adviser, he will be heading the JIG project.  I have been impressed with Rabbi Hoffman’s passion for the project and have full confidence in his ability to sustain JIG’s success.

I’ll still be around as a technical adviser and my hope is to help implement some exciting changes that will revolutionize how Chaplains and Layleaders communicate with one another and the JWB.  This will take some time to work out the details and to eventually implement, but the potential benefits will be well worth the wait.

It has been an honor to serve my fellow Jews in uniform in this special way.  Like a parent watching their child go off to college, I’m a little sad to let go, but I’m also very proud and excited about what the future holds. 

The Jewish Welfare Board / Jewish Chaplains Council Assumes Responsibility for Jews in Green
Messages from Capt Jason Rubin, USMC and Rabbi Brad Hoffman, Deputy Director of the JCC follow.

Capt Rubin and those working on Jews in Green have done an excellent job is developing and establishing this supportive website. Many of the Jewish chaplains I work with consider the website an invaluable tool in the rabbinic work they do.

The JWB/Jewish Chaplains Council sees JIG as invaluable asset to the Jewish military community. We want to maintain the quality and accessibility for all the members presently using the website and those who might join in the future. As we assume responsibility we want to ensure the continued success of the site. To this end, I have had extensive discussions with both Capt Rubin and SGT Kresge about ensuring a smooth transition. We have decided to leave the site and SGT Kresge’s role untouched. The JWB/Jewish Chaplains Council does not want to tamper with success.

The JWB/Jewish Chaplains Council views JIG as a means of interaction and community building for Jewish military personnel deployed at home and throughout the globe.  We will continue to support the mission of “learning what resources are available for them, share their experiences with one another, and offer support when needed.”

Rabbi Brad Hoffman
Deputy Director
Jewish Chaplains Council