Chabad rabbis, students find a home in military
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Dean Moshe Herson, right, greets, from left, West Point Chaplain Shmuel Felzenberg and Marine veterans Ben Kroker and David Luna at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown.
Photo by Robert Wiener
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September 16, 2009
Three men who have served in combat units in Iraq say their military service in no way conflicts with their practices as Lubavitcher hasidim.
And, said career officer Rabbi Shmuel Felzenberg — who became Jewish chaplain at the West Point Military Academy 10 weeks ago — in his more than 10 years in the military, he has “personally never witnessed a single anti-Semitic act or gesture,”
His decade of Army service has included tours of duty in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
A graduate of the Rabbinical College of America, Felzenberg joined two former combat veterans from the Marine Corps in a conference room on the Morristown campus.
The three of them — along with Felzenberg’s parents — were invited by the college dean, Rabbi Moshe Herson, to join in an informal conversation on Jews in the military with NJ Jewish News on Sept. 9.
Both David Luna and Ben Kroker are current students at the seminary, which trains men to become rabbis and educators in the Chabad movement.
Luna — a Californian who was part of the Marine force that invaded Iraq in 2003 and then “served on a reconnaissance team” — declined to provide specifics about the missions he took part in.
“I saw a lot of combat but I don’t want to go into the nature of how that affected me or my friends,” he explained.
He said he is fluent in Arabic and intends to become a chaplain in the Marine Corps.
Kroker, a Philadelphian, has not yet decided whether to become a rabbi. But he said his four years of service in the Marines “helped me at the rabbinical college. It is a very tough schedule and I have to push myself here.”
Unlike the other men taking part in the interview, Felzenberg meets Army regulations by being crew-cut and clean-shaven. The only obvious sign of his observant Judaism is the yarmulke on the back of his close-cropped hair.
In previous assignments as a chaplain, he ministered to the spiritual needs of Christians and Muslims as well as Jewish GIs.
His parents, Chaya and Victor Felzenberg of Morristown, said they are proud of heir son.
“We were very supportive from the first time Shmuley told us he joined the army,” said his mother. But, she conceded, his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan “made for some sleepless nights.”
Now in the far safer surroundings of West Point, Felzenberg collaborates with a local imam whose Muslim congregants at the academy have halal dietary restrictions similar to those of kashrut.
But generally, he said, his mission “requires direct attention to the Jewish cadets.”
Although less than one percent of all Army personnel are Jews, Felzenberg said, 65 of the 4,300 cadets — one and a half percent — “clearly identify as Jewish.”
“It is very rewarding to be a Jewish cadet at West Point,” he said. “Jewish cadets have the benefit of a dedicated Jewish worship facility. There is no other dedicated Jewish worship facility in the U.S. Army. In terms of services and kosher food and any program that would benefit them spiritually — whether it is a recurring holiday or a special event — I would say they are taken care of.”
As he prepares for the High Holy Days, Felzenberg said he expects his congregation to be larger than the 120 people who generally show up for his Friday night services.
He said the chapel will offer “morning and night services throughout Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and follow them up with some form of fellowship.”
Cadets will “absolutely” get time off from studies and training activities to observe the holidays, said the rabbi.
Although freshmen — “plebes” — “have it a little rougher” than upper classmen, he said, all cadets “have full access to the religious support program.”
As such they are permitted to daven, eat kosher food, and observe religious rituals “within reason,” he explained. “Obviously, there are field exercises and training, there are early or late classes in different programs that may run a little interference, but they can generally take care of business.”
While Felzenberg was raised in an Orthodox family in Elizabeth and attended the Jewish Educational Center, the Orthodox day school system there, both Kroker and Luna have far different backgrounds.
“I was a secular Jew who went to a Reform synagogue,” Kroker said. Rather than begin college after graduating from public high school, “I wanted to go to combat,” he said. “I wanted to go to Iraq.”
After serving as an enlisted man in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, “putting in plumbing and other niceties to make people’s lives better,” Kroker was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif. A friend took him to a Chabad house near the base. “I started going once a week, then more often. It was my last year in the military, and I was able to have a family at Chabad.”
Luna was raised as a Mormon by parents who converted from Judaism.
“I did not have any Jewish upbringing but there was always a sense of Jewish identity in the home,” Luna said.
He married, then divorced, a non-Jewish woman. Together they have four daughters who range in age from two to eight.
After finishing military service, Luna spent a year studying in Israel. When he returned to visit his family, he said, his father “wouldn’t speak to me. I was very hurt because he thought I should have made a bigger concerted effort to pull the family back together. But things did not get put back together,” although he still remains in touch with his children. He said he is gradually reconciling the estranged relationship with his parents.
“They don’t think I’m as crazy as they thought I was, and now they are very supportive of my religious beliefs,” he said.
After listening from a seat in the corner of the room, Felzenberg’s father offered an observation.
“Many people ask, ‘What is a nice Jewish boy doing in the military?’” said Victor Felzenberg. “The answer is ‘great things.’”
Comments
David Luna
September 21, 2009
Just a correction in regards to the above segment:
“After finishing military service, Luna spent a year studying in Israel. When he returned to visit his family, he said, his father “wouldn’t speak to me. I was very hurt because he thought I should have made a bigger concerted effort to pull the family back together. But things did not get put back together,” although he still remains in touch with his children. He said he is gradually reconciling the estranged relationship with his parents.”
I spent two years in Israel. A little over a year of that time was spent learning in a Yeshivah (Rabbinical School). It was during the first year in Israel, while in school, that my father would not speak to me.
Although there was some estrangement, due to my being in Israel and various other changes, the “estrangement” was only during this first year.
-David Luna
Alec
December 01, 2009
Very interesting article. I am a jewish military member with 21 years of service thus far. I come from a family who has served more than 122 years amongst 4 members ( grandfather in WW 1 for 3 years, grandfather in WW 2 for 39 years, father for 42 years). It is not easy being Jewish these days, never mind being Jewish in the military. I have had some bad experiences with anti-semitism, especially in the south, where I have lived for 13 years now. I am 40 and am interested in becoming a rabbi. I have flown for the Air Force for 21 years now, and have flown as a civilian pilot for 23 years as well. I have seen so much of the world, it’s amazing. Been there, done that. Now I’d like to give back to the community. My family is from New Jersey, not far from Morristown, where I used to pump aviation gas at the local airport. I hope my next adventure as a rabbi is as fulfilling my Air Force career has been.