‘Kosher in combat.' A Surfside group works to help Jews in the military keep the faith

Miami Herald

17-03-2025

For the roughly 15,000 Jews serving in U.S. armed forces, observing religious laws and maintaining a vital religious identity can often be difficult.
Basic challenges can range from eating Kosher in far-off places to keeping Shabbat — the 24-hour period of rest where Jews refrain from all labor — to observing important holidays and rituals.
There also can be feelings of estrangement or isolation among the most observant Jews in the military. Some rabbis who served, for example, recall getting funny looks from other soldiers for their beards — a symbol of Jewish identity for rabbis but once forbidden for soldiers.
Jewish soldiers, military chaplains, service members and their families met earlier this month in Surfside to discuss those issues and others in the largest conference of its kind in the U.S. The gathering was organized by the Aleph Institute, a nonprofit group headquartered in Surfside that has focused on the needs of Jewish military personnel since 1981 with a host of programs and services.
'Whether it's spiritual in nature through the chaplaincy, whether it's religious in nature, whether it's just practical, emotional or financial assistance, we are there to support them through complete gamut of whatever might be going on in their lives,' said Aleph CEO Rabbi Aaron Lipskar. 'Certainly during trying times, such as having a loved one going down range.'
The conference helps military chaplains and others in the service understand what soldiers go through, he said. Discussion panel titles some of the challenges: 'Kosher in Combat,' 'Keys to a Successful Military Marriage,' 'Judaism and Post Traumatic Growth.'
'You imagine that a person who goes through multiple deployments, away from a family ... from young kids, from a young wife for months at a time, the emotional toll that it takes of them,' Lipskar said.
Aleph, through its military programming, says it reaches over 3,500 Jewish military personnel yearly in more than 30 countries and territories worldwide.
One key hurdle Aleph often deals with is 'getting people to understand the importance and the perimeters of Jewish holidays,' said Rabbi Elie Estrin, the military personal liaison for Aleph. 'Jewish holidays are very specific, there's a lot of rules and religious paraphernalia that go along with certain religious holidays.'
For example, during Passover, when the Jewish kosher food laws become a lot more challenging, Aleph might help coordinate food shipments with the U.S. Department of Defense, arrangements that have to happen four to five months before the actual holiday. The group has even delivered overnight shipments for emergency deployments. The institute once arranged for a Purim care package to be airdropped to a Jewish Coast Guard member 700 miles off the coast of Alaska, for example.
Aleph also helps service members, those with the proper educational background, to become military chaplains. The institute has endorsed 47 Jewish military chaplains and contract rabbis to provide guidance to members of all religious backgrounds.
Jews in the military, like all other denominations, are permitted to observe their religious beliefs while serving. But it isn't always an easy process. According to the Department of Defense Instruction, an individual's 'expressions of sincerely held beliefs (conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs)' must be accommodated so long as they don't have an 'adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, or health and safety..'
Aleph's guidance is to contact a unit chaplain to describe the exact religious needs. Then, soldiers can also submit a religious accommodation request.
Different branches have different attitudes towards accommodating religious requests, according to Aleph. For example, the Air Force and Army have more streamlined systems making the process easier. But given the limitations of ships, the Navy and Coast Guard have much less room for allowances. As for the Marine Corps, a more intense branch of service, Aleph says religious accommodations are granted more rarely.
Challenges of chaplaincy
Speaking to the Miami Herald on his way home from delivering Purim services to soldiers at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Estrin said that Jewish chaplains are well equipped to counsel people of all faiths.
There are 'basic elements of morality that Judaism says are applicable to all cultures and all backgrounds...,' Estrin said. 'Part of the chaplaincy is all about conversation, to have conversations to see what you can do for them ... how you can help them.'
Estrin, who has been a military chaplain for over ten years, has counseled people going through the worst times of their life. He's counseled people dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and delivered the devastating news of the death of a loved one to families. Outside of the military, he was on site during the Surfside building collapse in 2021 that killed 98 people. He was there during the Parkland mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It's the chaplains who show up during devastating times, even if it's just to sit with people in silence.
'In many cases, you're just joining them in silence, and there's a connection to God in that silence itself,' he said.
But other experiences, he said, have been more spiritually uplifting.
'I'm lucky enough to see people in their absolute best ... in other words, to help people when they're trying to serve God and country at the same time. There's some really beautiful experiences when you see someone fighting for what they care about.'
On one panel called 'Warfighters Roundtable,' military veterans, chaplains and service members discussed the role of faith for combat soldiers. The goal, according to organizers, was to better understand how soldiers think in order to get ahead of problems like post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
The military members discussed knowing when to seek help, whether from a therapist or chaplain, the mental hardship of PTSD and the jarring return to family life after coming home from deployment. Some soldiers admit they avoid seeking help, fearing how their superiors may perceive them.
'Some of them said it straight up, like, Okay, I'm not going to go to the chaplain, because that sounds like weakness,' said Estrin. That's why its vital for chaplains to learn how to build trust and develop relationships, he said.
When people are forced to forego or ignore their religion or cultural beliefs, it can affect their performance as soldiers, he said. 'When people are spiritually fit, they're capable of fighting better.'
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.