Editor’s note:  Yeah, they quoted me, but I reached out to Representative Pitts by telephone and fax, rather than a visit to his office.  Also, it bears repeating, the JWV offers a free membership to those in-service.  JOIN!!!

Jewish Veterans’ Group Struggles To Retain Relevance

By Nathan Guttman
Thu. Mar 13, 2008

Washington - On March 7, members of the Jewish War Veterans gathered for an exhibit commemorating one of the group’s greatest moments, a 1933 march protesting the Nazi rise to power in Germany. But while the former servicemen came together to honor their past, the present state of their movement was visibly on display.

Dozens of the elderly men and women in attendance proudly wore service caps commemorating their tours of duty. Veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam were duly represented, but those who had done tours in Iraq or Afghanistan were not to be found.

It was not for a lack of Jewish soldiers who served; by one estimate, there are some 30,000 Jewish men and women currently in the military, though the figure could not be independently verified. The decidedly older crowd, rather, was indicative of the ongoing struggle that the JWV — for nearly a century the representative body of Jewish servicemen — faces in both making its voice heard in the Jewish community and maintaining its relevance for young Jewish veterans, many of whom know little about the group and its long history.

To be sure, the JWV remains a presence in Washington. On March 6, members descended on Capitol Hill to lobby for improved health care and welfare for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. But while such efforts find the JWV in common cause with the broader veteran community, when it comes to specifically Jewish concerns, the group has often found itself fighting an uphill battle, particularly given the paucity of information about the numbers and whereabouts of Jewish troops.

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From the Forward:
Our Troops Need Reform Rabbis
Opinion
By Benjamin Abramowitz
Thu. Mar 13, 2008

In 1916, at the age of 15 and just a decade after landing at Ellis Island, my father enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served with distinction for 35 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

After graduating college, I, too, joined the service, taking a commission in the infantry. I served for 28 years, including two combat tours in Vietnam, and retired as a colonel.

My oldest son, Dave, a 1982 graduate of the Air Force Academy and an Army aviator, is now a colonel serving in Iraq. My two other sons served as commissioned officers in the Army Reserve and National Guard, and my grandson Jacob is a third-year cadet at West Point.

For three generations my family has served this country, and throughout it all we have had help from rabbis in keeping Jewish tradition a part of our lives, even when we were stationed away from an organized Jewish community. Rabbis were always available to meet our needs, including providing a Jewish education for our sons. Indeed, it was at a Seder conducted by Rabbi Judah Miller in a church basement outside of Fort Riley, Kan., that I met my future wife.

Unfortunately, I fear my grandson Jacob may not have as easy a time practicing his faith — and for this the Reform movement is much to blame.

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Weekend for Army Personnel an Inspiration for Wider Community

Chabad.org Staff
Feb 18, 2008

Some 50 Jewish soldiers and chaplains from all branches of the U.S. military, and their family members, turned out for the Feb. 8-9 military Shabbaton hosted by the Aleph Institute at The Shul of Bal Harbour in suburban Miami.

The Aleph Institute, a Chabad-Lubavitch program that provides Jewish soldiers with educational opportunities, on-base Shabbat and holiday programming and kosher food packages, organized the Shabbaton in order to allow soldiers stationed close to home and at far away bases to join their families for a spiritually uplifting weekend. According to organizers, though, the gathering was just as inspiring for The Shul’s congregation.

The traditional Friday-night dinner took place in an ornately decorated outdoor tent, where military leaders and chaplains spoke about the importance of religious connections to America’s Jewish service personnel.

Read the rest at Chabad.org.

Georgia’s First Jewish Military Chaplain Will Get to Keep His Beard
Chabad.org Staff
Feb 28, 2008

In another day and age, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Zalman Lipskier’s full length beard might have prevented his being a military chaplain. But in a sign of the times, when Lipskier is formally commissioned as a chaplain in the Georgia State Defense Force and its Army and Air National Guards, he will become the first Jewish chaplain in the state’s military history, beard and all.

“It’s a matter of having authentic Jewish representation in the Defense Force, or not,” says Commanding General Michael McGuinn about the special waiver that allows Lipskier to keep his facial hair. “Rabbi Lipskier is a fine, fine man, and he will perform a tremendous service for the troops. We’re thrilled to have him join us.”

Read the rest of the story at Chabad.org.

Curator ferried damaged relics from Baghdad
Peggy Lim, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - During her 10-month deployment to Baghdad in 2003, Army Reserve Maj. Cori Wegener helped repair the recently looted Iraq National Museum, clean artifacts fetched from cesspools and rescue Jewish-Iraqi archives soaked from flooded basements.

It was the challenge of preventing wet books from growing mold in 120- degree weather that has pushed her to provide more military training on protecting cultural artifacts. She addressed the topic Sunday before about 265 people at the N.C. Museum of Art.

John Coffey, curator of the museum’s Judaica gallery, said he had originally planned on asking Wegener to speak about the Judaic collection she curates at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. But after talking with her, Coffey thought her Baghdad experiences would make a more interesting topic for the North Carolina museum’s ninth annual Kanof lecture.

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Over a ton of care packages bring the Jewish holiday spirit to over 400 troops

Press Release

“Thanks for being my hero.” Nine year old Rachel of the Monmouth Torah Links Hebrew School in Morganville, NJ wrote these words in a letter she sent out.  Was it to some Hollywood star, basketball player or rising political star?  Nope, it was to a US soldier stationed in the desserts of Iraq, fox holes in Afghanistan or a US battleship in the Pacific Ocean.
Rachel and her friends wanted to show their support and appreciation to the American soldiers who are currently serving overseas. They joined a wonderful program called “Purim TreaTs for Troops”.  The idea was to assemble Purim packages, or Mishloach Manot in Hebrew, that are traditionally given to friends and family on the holiday of Purim, and then mail these packages to the soldiers stationed overseas.  Purim this year falls out on Friday, March 21st and is the celebration of the Jewish victory of Queen Esther over the evil Haman who wanted to destroy the Jewish nation many years ago.
This innovative program is run by Hebrew Schools in the ToTal network throughout the United States.  ToTal, the nationwide Talmud Torah Network is a project of THE AFIKIM FOUNDATION (http://www.afikimfoundation.org).  In its fourth year, ToTal has grown to over 80 locations nationwide and expects to open many new sites next year.  The ToTal experience provides children with a Jewish educational program that is innovative, inventive and fun.

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By Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

BALADIA CITY, Israel – National Guard Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen could one day exercise at a state-of-the-art urban warfare training center here.

From a distance, the National Urban Training Center (NUTC) looks like a bustling desert town. But it’s a purpose-built mock-up on a real-life scale designed as a training ground for military operations on urban terrain (MOUT).

“This is a world-class site that the Israelis have built,” LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said during a December visit. “We probably should have a facility like that of our own; in the interim, we should explore the opportunities to train here.”

Blum and other National Guard leaders toured the NUTC with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officers during a four-day visit to Israel to bolster the Bureau’s relationship with the
IDF Home Front Command and discuss joint exercises and other possible exchanges under the aegis of the U.S. European Command.

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Editor’s Note:  A previous article detailing LTG Blum’s trip to Masada in Israel came from the National Guard news.  This is another of three articles in the On Guard about the trip.

By Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau
HAIFA, Israel – Studying how to respond to sustained terrorist attacks against a U.S. city, National Guard leaders visited Haifa,
which in late summer 2006 was an Israeli city under fire.

LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, stopped here Dec. 4 during a four-day visit to Israel to bolster the Bureau’s relationship with the Israeli Defense
Forces (IDF) Home Front Command and discuss joint exercises and other possible exchanges carried out under the aegis of U.S. European Command (EUCOM).

Blum’s third official visit to Israel included meetings with Maj. Gen. Yitzshak (Jerry) Gershon, Home Front commander, and other senior IDF military leaders; briefings on lessons learned from the 2006 Lebanon War; and visits to military installations and historic and cultural sites such as the Negev Desert, Masada, Jaffa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

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No report yet on the success of the Jewish War Veteran’s Capitol Hill Action Day(s), held March 5th and 6th.

It makes one proud to be associated with this group, that they are out there actively seeking change and protection for past and present warriors.

Here are their key 2008 legislative goals:
• Mandatory Funding
The VA health care system needs a stable funding mechanism to ensure health care “supply” is
available to meet and care for the growing demands for services.
JWV especially desires to see the VA upgrade polytrauma and other specialty care services for
OIF/OEF veterans with multiple trauma injuries including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severe
eye injuries.
• Wounded Warrior “Seamless Transition”
JWV recommends a major overhaul of the disability ratings process to provide wounded service
members comprehensive and fair disability ratings and benefits prior to their medical separation or
retirement form active duty.
• A Total Force Approach to the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB)
JWV notes that no significant upgrades to the MGIB have been enacted since prior to 9/11. This is
unacceptable. A weak GI Bill harms recruiting, hurts transition to civilian life, and denies the nation
the time-tested benefits of a better educated, higher-paid workforce with military experience.
• VA Disability Benefits System
The number of initial claims and appealed claims for service-connected disabilities continues to rise.
JWV recommends the VA automate the claims processing system and move to a paperless
environment as soon as possible.
JWV also believes it is most important to establish uniform standards and procedures for ratings
claims.
• Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness
For thousands, even tens of thousands of disabled veterans, VA decisions on their appealed claims
can take years to resolve. JWV wants Congress to enact “look back” legislation to remove the threeyear
statute of limitations for filing amended tax returns for veterans who have not received timely
disability determinations from the VA.
• Protection of Veterans Personal Identity and Information
JWV commends the VA for elevating the Chief Information Officer and centralizing management
oversight of information security.
JWV urges Congress to conduct regular oversight hearings to identify weaknesses in the VA’s
information security and to order appropriate corrective actions.
• Homeless Veterans
Veterans make up a disproportionate share of homeless people, representing roughly 26 percent of
the homeless. The number of OEF/OIF veterans who are homeless is on the rise including homeless
female veterans.
The VA should expand outreach and intervention programs directed at homeless veterans.

Services set for Chicago soldier Bitton who died in Iraq
By Robert Mitchum and Mary Owen | Tribune reporter
February 25, 2008

Services for Cpl. Albert Bitton, a 20-year-old Chicago Army medic who died last week in Iraq, have been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at a Chicago synagogue, his family said.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m Tuesday in Congregation Adas Yeshurun, 3050 W. Touhy Ave., Chicago. The burial service will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie.

Bitton was so proud of his Army service, friends said, that he wore his uniform everywhere when he returned to Chicago on leave—even to the bowling alley and park.

“He always wore those super-shiny shoes,” said friend Benjy Kandelman. “He never had a scuff on them.”

Bitton was killed along with two other soldiers in Baghdad when the Humvee they were in hit an improvised explosive device Tuesday, according to a statement from the Department of Defense. He was part of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the department said.

The West Rogers Park resident joined the Army in December 2005 and had been stationed in Iraq since October. He was scheduled to return home for leave in August, his family said, and to complete his tour in January 2009.

Bitton is survived by his wife, Melissa Handelman; his parents, Elie and Sylvia; and his sisters, Elizabeth and Jackie

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