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B”H THE JEWISH AMERICAN THE JEWISH AMERICAN ARRIOR “Bringing the Light ofARRIOR Torah to Those Who Serve” VOL. 1 NO. 6 Privileged to Serve: 3 Jewish Chaplaincy Timeline: 10 features Navy Jew: 7 My Life vs. Military Life: 14 Tonight’s Your Sabbath? 8 Special Offers: 42 VOL. I NO. 6 1 TAMMUZ-AV 5780 / JULY-AUG. 2020 1 THE JEWISH AMERICAN THE JEWISH AMERICAN ARRIOR AARRIOR MESSAGE FROM THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE By the Grace of G-d discipline also has a bearing on the subject of Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 5734 Torah and Mitzvot. In the military, no soldier [May 22, 1974] can claim that his conduct is his personal affair; Brooklyn, NY nor can he take the attitude that there are many other soldiers to carr y out militar y Chaplain Israel Haber assignments, but he will do as he pleases. For it Elmendorf AFB, Alaska has often been demonstrated in military history how one action of a single soldier could Greeting and Blessing: have far-reaching consequences for an entire army and country. ... Military service, by definition and practice, very aptly illustrates the basic principle of Every Jew is a soldier in the “Army of G-d,” as The Jewish-American commitment to Torah and Mitzvot, namely is often emphasized in the week’s Sedra - kol Warrior “naaseh” (”we will do”), and then yotze tzovo, “everyone going forth as a is published bi-monthly by “v’nishma” (“we will understand”). soldier.” And he is bound by the same two basic The Aleph Institute rules: To carry out G-d’s commandments 9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside, Moreover, the soldier’s duty to carry out the promptly and fully, without questions (naaseh Florida 33154 orders of a commanding officer, and carry before v’nishma), and to recognize his Tel: (305) 864-5553 Internet: them out promptly and to the best of his ability, responsibility to his people (“All Jews are www.aleph-institute.org is in no way inhibited by the fact that in civilian responsible for one another”), hence the Email: life the soldier may be vastly superior to his consequences of one good deed. To quote the [email protected] commanding officer in many respects. Nor Rambam: “Every person should always Copyright © 2020, The Aleph Institute. does such a circumstance diminish in the least consider himself and the whole world as equi- All rights reserved. the soldier’s self-esteem in obeying the order. balanced. Hence, when he does one Mitzvah, On the contrary, by not allowing any personal he tips the scale in favor of himself and of the Opinions expressed in the Jewish-American Warrior do views to interfere with his military duties, he whole world” (see it at length in Hilchos not necessarily reflect opinions demonstrates his strength of character and Teshuva, 3:4). or policies of The Aleph integrity. Institute. Please direct all May you go from strength to strength in all that subscription inquiries and address changes to our The same is true in the area of Torah and has been said above, in all aspects of Director of Outreach Programs. Mitzvot. One may be a very rich man - in the Yiddishkeit, which includes also influence to ordinary sense, or rich in knowledge of the promote among non-Jews the observance of The Aleph Institute, founded in sciences, or in other achievements in public life. the basic Seven Mitzvot, with all their 1981/5741 at the express direction of Rabbi Menachem Yet, when it comes to Halachah, the Law of numerous ramifications, which are incumbent M. Schneerson, the Torah conduct, he accepts it with complete upon all mankind and the foundation of Lubavitcher Rebbe O.B.M., is a obedience and dedication, on the authority of a human society... not-for-profit educational, fellow Jew who had consecrated all his life to humanitarian and advocacy organization serving the unique Torah study and is eminently qualified to With esteem and blessing, needs of Jews in institutional transmit the “Word of G-d - the Halacha.” environments and anywhere else they and their families may become isolated from their A further point which characterizes military heritage. VOL. I NO. 6 2 TAMMUZ-AV 5780 / JULY-AUG. 2020 2 THE JEWISH AMERICAN ARRIOR Privileged to Serve, Enlisted or Officer CH (MAJ) Moshe Lans Fort Drum, NY was born in 1975 in a small town in Massachusetts, and on me as he described the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, grew up in a very Americanized, Conservative Jewish with the thunder and lightning and all, in preparation for Ihousehold. All things considered, ours was a pretty the holiday of Shavuos. Many years later, as a Sergeant traditional Jewish home: we celebrated some semblance of deployed in Iraq, I received a “thank you for your service” Chanukah, went to shul on most Jewish holidays, made a letter from a student at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva of few blessings that we probably mispronounced, but we did Worcester. I very proudly responded to her that I had the best we knew how. The rabbi of our synagogue was attended the school as a pre-schooler, and remembered the Rabbi Lowell Weiss, who, I later found out, was actually a rabbis, including her own grandfather and Rabbi Fishman. USNR chaplain. He encouraged everybody to be active To my great surprise and pleasure, Rabbi Fishman wrote participants in Judaism. I remember that at back to me. That was a wonderful moment. one point he got very frustrated that his summer synagogue service numbers Later, our family moved to Broward County, would drop, so he offered Red Sox tickets FL, where I went to High School. I enlisted to any kids who’d come to Friday night or on May 20, 1993, while still a senior; Saturday services. interested in the Army both because of my patriotism, but also because of the college My father had been in the Army and served benefits. My senior high school experience in Vietnam, in Armor. He saw quite a bit of ended up being different than that of all my action, and was a Purple Heart recipient a friends; on the one hand I had Drill few times over. My mother was also weekends while they were out partying, but I military; she was a yeoman in the USN, and also had extra money. served stateside. Both served one enlisted contract as Active Duty, and kept pride in My first MOS was as a combat medic, and their military service afterwards. For Basic Training for us was at Fort Jackson. I Armed Forces Day, we always went to was not in shape, and I was in for a shock. A nearby Fort Devins, and we’d tour the drill sergeant pulled out those of us who grounds and enjoy the celebrations. were struggling at PT, and made a pointed They’d feature tanks on display, and comment while looking directly at me about coming from his Armor background, my “the weak guys not making it through”. I dad would explain all the technology and responded, “Drill Sergeant, the US Army developments to me. So I grew up with a will not pay me a penny for the bronze I do lot of pride in the military, and with a lot of patriotism. not have; but they will pay me a dollar for the brains I do have!” The Drill SGT walked away to laugh at the Our family was educated with traditional Jewish education. comment, but of course, he still gave me an extended PT My older sister went to the Lubavitcher Yeshiva of session. I was very insubordinate, but I made it through Worcester until we moved, and I went to preschool in that basic - barely! school as well. Even though I was little, I recall some of the energy of the education there. One of the rabbis, Rabbi Throughout my senior year, I was assigned to a combat Fishman, was a large man with a huge beard and booming support hospital in Perrine, FL. I had a great time there. I baritone voice. He left an absolutely indelible impression was very limited in what I could do because I had not gone VOL. I NO. 6 3 TAMMUZ-AV 5780 / JULY-AUG. 2020 3 THE JEWISH AMERICAN ARRIOR to AIT, so I mostly did training, courses and simple tasks. explosions constantly while we prayed. Chaplain Schranz After I graduated high school, I finally did AIT. There was ran Yom Kippur services at Camp Victory. While I assisted one very interesting note - although I was not religious per him in setting things up, during services I was focused on se, in my high school yearbook, I wrote down that my prayer, so I kept my Tallis over my head. But apparently I dream job would be the Jewish chaplain at West Point. I was also attracting someone’s attention... knew there was a need for Jewish chaplains, but I never thought realistically that I would one day become one. At this point, we turn our attention to Mrs. Laurie Lans, or as she was known then, LtJG Laurie Zimmet. I stayed in the Reserves, and began taking classes at Touro College toward getting a degree. At Touro, I was very I couldn’t get to shul for Kol Nidrei, because the road from intrigued by my Jewish studies course, and found myself my office at Camp Slayer to Camp Victory was too looking for something more substantial than the dry dangerous to walk at night. But I walked the 3.5 miles university classes.