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Sen. Gillibrand Presses Army to Allow Bearded Chaplains

JTA

Col. Jacob Goldstein, one of only seven Orthodox Jewish chaplains in the Army. An exception to the shaving policy was granted to him because of his date of entry into service.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) urged the army to modify a regulation banning facial hair in order to allow rabbis to serve as chaplains.

“It is my understanding that a review of this policy is currently underway at the Department of Defense,” Gillibrand wrote recently to Army Secretary John McHugh. “I write to strongly urge that while this review is ongoing, the Army grant waivers of this policy to prospective chaplains who are otherwise fully qualified to serve.”

In December, Rabbi Menachem Stern sued the U.S. Army, saying it refused his services as a chaplain because he would not shave his beard. Gillibrand and other senators had taken up Stern’s case last August.

“Since writing to you last August about the case of Rabbi Menachem M. Stern, I have become aware of other instances where qualified chaplains have been told by their superiors that they cannot display facial hair while serving in the Army,” Gillibrand said in her letter. “This discriminatory practice forces rabbis and other members of the clergy to choose between their deeply-held religious beliefs and their desire to serve their country in the Armed Forces.”

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  • Colonel Rabbi Jacob Goldstein

    COLONEL RABBI JACOB GOLDSTEIN VISITS CHABAD OF MELBOURNE CBD

    Colonel Rabbi Jacob Goldstein dropped into visit the Chabad of Melbourne CBD, the
    Shliach of the Chabad House Rabbi Chaim Herzog introduced the
    Colonel who relayed some stories of spiritual
    significance.
    He told the lunch time audience about how he became involved in the Army.
    It was a duel effort by the Lubavitcher Rebbe and a Roman Catholic Priest that he was
    convinced to join the reserves.
    Today he is the most Senior Chaplain in the Military Corps in the entire U.S.A.
    Serving since 1977 he has been deployed to Bosnia, Croatia where he reduced a man
    to tears because he was walking to a “Shul” on Yom Tov carrying a Lulav and Esrog.
    He was escorted by a team of 6 Army Police, two were walking with him and four were
    driving behind him. The old man ran and tried to take the lulav and esrog because he
    hadn’t seen them in 60 years. The Colonel invited him to join him in Shul so he could
    use them there.
    He has served in the reserves as Chaplain in South Korea, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay,
    Cuba.
    After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre, he served for 5 months as the Senior
    Chaplain for all military branches at Ground Zero.
    He was in the Palace of Saddam Hussein on Pesach.
    Rabbi Herzog thanked the Colonel and said the topic of “Faith Under Fire” had been very aptly
    covered because the audience were still firing questions at him.
    The talk was followed by Mincha