Jewish soldier killed in Green Zone attack
Jacob Berkman
Instead of writing to their soldier pen pal in the Middle East, students at the Mirochnick Religious School of B’Nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Fla., will be sending condolence cards to the family of U.S. Army Maj. Stuart Adam Wolfer.
Published: 04/11/2008
NEW YORK (JTA) – Instead of writing to their soldier pen pal in the Middle East, school children at the Mirochnick Religious School of B’Nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Fla., will soon be sending condolence cards to the family of U.S. Army Maj. Stuart Adam Wolfer.
The 36-year-old soldier was killed in the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad on April 6.
During his previous tour of duty in Kuwait, in 2004, Wolfer, had been in regular contact with the second-, third- and fourth-graders at the Conservative synagogue to which his parents belonged, according to Cathy Berkowitz, the director of the congregation’s Hebrew school. They sent him letters. He sent them pictures of helicopters, camels and tanks.
And when Wolfer, a lawyer in his civilian life, returned to Emmet, Idaho, where he lived with his wife and three young daughters, their correspondence ended—gladly, Berkowitz said, because he was home, safe. But when the students heard of his deployment to Iraq on Dec. 29, they wanted to continue their letter-writing to him after Passover, she said.
“The next part of it never happened,” Berkowitz said. “Right now the students are on vacation, but when they get back, they will be writing letters to the family. There will be a hard lessons to learn about life and death.”
Wolfer, a reservist assigned to the 11th Battalion, 104th division, served as an intelligence officer, according to a family friend. But he was working out at the military fitness center, in what is considered a safe-zone in Iraq, when insurgents fired several rockets into the area, hitting the gym, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. One other soldier died in the attack.
Described by friends as a religious man, who observed Jewish rituals even in Iraq and prayed daily while wearing tefillin, Wolfer and his wife Lee Ann belonged to the Reform synagogue in Boise.
Wolfer’s family is not speaking to the press right now, but his wife released a statement, describing him as a loving husband and father.
“He called his children beautiful because he said they looked like their mother,” she said. “He held his family foremost in his life. When he’d drop his girls off at school, he’d say ‘I love you, beautifuls!’”
Wolfer is survived by his parents, Esther and Len Wolfer; his wife, Lee Ann Wolfer; three daughters, Lillian Wade, 5, Melissa Lacey-Marie, 3, and Isadora Ruth, 1, and his sister, Beverly Nerenberg.
The Jewish War Veterans believes a second Jewish soldier was killed in Iraq this week as well.
U.S. Army Maj. Mark Rosenberg, 32, of Miami Lakes, Fla., died April 8 in Baghdad from wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device, the U.S. Department of Defense announced in a news release Wednesday.
Rosenberg, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo., was a decorated soldier, having been awarded the Army Commendation medal, the National Defense Medal and the Global War on Terror Medal.
According to an informal tally conducted by Jewsingreen.com, another 25 Jewish soldiers have been killed since fighting began in Iraq five years ago. As of Wednesday, according to the Pentagon, 4,029 U.S. soldiers have been killed.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20080411killed.html