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Picture of the Day: New Chaplain Dons His Uniform

Rabbi Menachem Stern

In a story that has already caught the attention of many major news outlets throughout the United States, Chabad Rabbi Menachem Stern has been granted permission to enlist in the US Army without having to remove his beard.

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14 Comments

  • he-s not the first and not the last!

    his wife and family are joining him! they are all going on shlichus

  • Andrea Schonberger

    Dear #5, This is not a shlichus. My husband was career army so I am familiar with the role of a military chaplain. Military chaplains, regardless of their own personal religion, must service all faiths. This means that Rabbi Stern can be called upon, if a priest or minister is unavailable, to say mass, do baptisms, give sermons with jc mentioned, hear confessions, and give last rites along with alot of other stuff. In no way is this a Jewish outreach. It was our experience that most Jews in the military weren’t really interested or put no preference on their dog tags when it came to religious choice. Rabbi Stern will have a hard row to hoe. I don’t envy him.

  • Milhouse

    #4, First of all, someone’s got to do it. How about to help defend the country? Second, it’s an important shlichus. And third, as #5 says, most of the time he’ll be living with his family. If he’s posted to Iraq or Afghanistan he will obviously not bring his family with him.

  • To #6

    I respect what your husband did during his military career. However, I know to be FACT the only way a Jewish chaplain will mention JC in any of his sermons — no matter the crowd he is servicing — is only if the chaplain and the chaplain alone renders JC’s name mentioned. It says no where in the “Army Code of Chaplaincy” — don’t worry, I made that name up — that a chaplain MUST mention JC’s name during a sermon to, say, a Baptist crowd. Its nonsense!
    Indeed, Stern may be called upon to do a baptism, but as a “non-member” of such groups, he is fully entitled to decline…
    What Stern is doing in a much-needed service to our brethren who are fighting for our freedoms. He may come across having to hear-out a “confession” or two along the route to assisting the Jewish servicemen and women, but that’s perfectly fine in the greater scheme of things.
    It wouldn’t surprise me if there are some shluchim who have been asked over time in their respective places to do similar things Stern likely will be asked to do…

  • In the Know! Read the Facts

    #6, You are obviously not a real Chaplain’s wife… the moto of the Army Chaplaincy is to PERFORM AND SERVE. Perform to ones faith, and serve all faiths. The Army will NEVER require someone to do anything against their faith. and if your (if you are really who you say who you are) husband did any of the above, he went against his convictions and the law. and as the Lubavitcher Rebbe told Chaplains on numerous occasions that it is their responsibility and Shlichus to spread light to all nations.

  • Andrea Schonberger

    Dear #11, I never said that I was a chaplain’s wife. All I said was that my husband was career army which means that he retired after 20 years service as an NCO. In the heat of battle a Jewish chaplain, and any chaplain for that matter, would be required to service all religions. For example, if Rabbi Stern came across a dying soldier whose dog tags stated catholic as the religion he must administer the last rites if a priest is not on hand–giving aid and comfort to the dying is one of his duties. Of course duty on a stateside military base is obviously a different situation and it’s highly unlikely that ministers and priests will be in short supply but Rabbi Stern must still serve the unit he is assigned to and as far as I know there is no exclusive Jewish military unit in the army.

  • Milhouse

    Andrea Schonberger, enough with your lies. You are a delusional character. A chaplain has to give AID AND COMFORT to all soldiers, not to administer foreign rites to them! He will counsel soldiers, listen to their problems and encourage them with some Divine inspiration from the Torah, but under no circumstances will he ever be called on, as you claimed, “to say mass, do baptisms, give sermons with jc mentioned, hear confessions, and give last rites”. That just does not happen and will not happen. Indeed someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus couldn’t do these things anyway; it would have no meaning or effect, so why would they want him to go through the motions?

  • Andrea Schonberger

    A military chaplain must be prepared to provide for the free exercise of religion for all the members of the Armed Forces who come under their care in the unit they are assigned to, regardless of denomination or religion. They must be able to provide a wide range of religious services and pastoral care to those in uniform and to their families, regardless of faith preference. By the way Milhouse, how did you know I was delusional? I finally am forced to admit that I am an escapee from the local mental hospital–I was commited due to my insistance that I am the Queen of England. My husband finally got tired of bowing and calling me ma’am so he had me hospitalized. I split that scene when my crown was taken away.